KOTA BAHARU, Dec 5 (NNN-BERNAMA) -- The seeds of the Jatropha Curcas Linn, locally known as pokok jarak pagar, used as fuel by the Japanese for its aircraft during the Second World War, have the potential to be commercially processed into environmental-friendly biodiesel and biopetrol.

The plant, normally used as traditional medicine, especially by women as contraceptive, is also grown as garden hedge by households.

Get your car insured by Ecoinsurance!

Good news for biodiesel car owner! In the UK, ecoinsurance (owned by the CooperativeInsurance) is introducing a policy which will help the greencar owner to offset contribute more to the planet. According to the official ecoinsurance website, they will offset 20% of the car´s CO2 emissions with no extra cost charge to the customers and customers who drive cars that emit less than 100 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometer receive an extra 10% discount on their policy.

So how it works?

• we'll offset 20% of your car's CO₂ emissions* by investing in projects like rainforest reforestation, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency
• responsible repair network - we make sure that repairers reuse/recycle materials like old body panels and plastic parts wherever possible.

The first comprehensive analysis of the full life cycles of soybean biodiesel and corn grain ethanol shows that biodiesel has much less of an impact on the environment and a much higher net energy benefit than corn ethanol, but that neither can do much to meet U.S. energy demand.

The study, which was funded in part by the University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, was conducted by researchers in the university's College of Biological Sciences and College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

The researchers tracked all the energy used for growing corn and soybeans and converting the crops into biofuels. They also looked at how much fertilizer and pesticide corn and soybeans required and how much greenhouse gases and nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants each released into the environment.