How Green Acres Costa Rica is Changing the World for the Better:

As the most advanced biofuel plantation in Central and North America, which began research and development projects on Jatropha more than five years ago, Green Acres Costa Rica is spearheading the Costa Rican Jatropha Initiative. Our eighty hectare plantation has been the center for a world-class annual event, the Jatropha Harvest Experience beginning in April of 2009. Each year this three day visionary conference brings together investors, researchers and governmental agencies from twenty different countries to meet, learn and share information about this amazing new biofuel crop.

The world has moved, by necessity, into a new era of alternative energy solutions. Three critical factors have motivated Biofuel development into the largest growth industry in the world.

1. Peak oil, the singularity when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is attained and thereafter declines, will be reached in this decade. Oil levels should be near zero by 2050.

2. Rapidly industrializing nations such as China and India are placing ever-increasing pressure on the already strained global production lines of petroleum. This trend only shows signs of worsening over the next two decades and is predicted to drive up the price of a barrel of crude oil to between $200-$250. (Goldman Sachs, 2009; Gazprom, 2009)

3. The realization that global consumption of fossil fuels has pushed greenhouse gas emissions to a dangerously high level has resulted in a Global Green Movement socially as well in the financial sector.

These three critical factors, buttressed by numerous others, have lead to a search for alternative energy sources, with particular interest in a step-in replacement for gasoline and diesel. Biodiesel, which is the production of diesel from plants and algae instead of petroleum, shows incredible promise. However, most of the plants under development as sources contain serious caveats such as being primary food stocks or requiring prime agricultural land on which to grow.

One plant, Jatropha Curcas, lacks these drawbacks and is emerging as the premiere eco-friendly alternative to both petroleum and other bio-energy sources. There are other plants or trees that fit this category too. These are plants not used for human food consumption that don't require quality agricultural soil and are also strong producers of quality green oil. These plants are known as petroplants.

The Feedstock of Choice

Jatropha Curcas is a non-food crop that originated somewhere in Costa Rica near a town called Tempate and was exported throughout the world during the 1700's. This amazing plant has many beneficial uses in addition to the oil producing seeds from which the biodiesel is made, including medical and cosmetic applications for the seedcake, glycerin and latex by-products.

Jatropha is seeing enormous growth and worldwide cultivation with almost five million hectares already planted. If this current trend continues, more than 13 million hectares will be planted by 2015, generating an estimated $10 billion annually. (USD)

While worldwide growth of Jatropha continues to increase, Costa Rica is in a unique position to become the world leader in Jatopha production as the seeds from Jatropha currently growing in Costa Rica have oil content as high as 38% and one hectare of this incredibly robust plant can produce 600 gallons of Jatropha crude oil (JCO).

Green Acres / C-FELA
Million Gallon Challenge
Green Acres Costa Rica, partnering with Clean Fuels and Energy Las Americas, has initiated the Million Gallon Challenge in order to produce the highest quality crude vegetable oil for conversion into clean fuels including green diesel, JP-8 and J-A jet fuels. Meeting this goal will require the cultivation of 400,000 hectares of Jatropha plantations regionally, producing 1million gallons per day initially and 2 million gallons per day within seven years in addition to generating over 85,000 new jobs, plus 16,000 additional indirect jobs such as those found in oil extraction, transport and blending.

Yo Vivo Verde! "I Live Green!"
In response to this Million Gallon Challenge, a Jatropha National Cooperative has been initiated within the small town of Tempate in Costa Rica, which has long been considered the birth place of Jatropha and the source of its local namesake. The slogan Yo Vivo Verde! "I Live Green!" has been chosen for the campaign, as over 10,000 hectares will be planted in the region. And the town of Tempate will be the first town to not only be carbon neutral, but also the first where the economy will entirely be driven by the production of green diesel and the byproducts.

These two initiatives, the Million Gallon Challenge and the Jatropha National Cooperative, together will help Costa Rica to achieve its ambitious goal of being the first country to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2021. The local economies of small towns and rural communities will benefit tremendously as Jatropha compensates for other crops that have seen sharp declines in revenues over the past ten years due to global competition.