# Vegetable-powered cars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2000, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240 "2000-09-23T03:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240/41 "2000-09-26T13:57:11Z")
Can we bioengineer comon plants 9to produce oil)? Take a common weed that grows everywhere, and insert a gene from a plant that produces a lot of oil (like the jojoba planr). Copuld such a new plant make oil economically? Thomas Edison once had a project to make rubber from a common plant (forget what it was, something like milkweed). Anyway, he was almost at the point of being able to make rubber competitive with the stuff from rubber trees in Asia. Of course, we have much more sophisticated techniques today (like gene splicing), and better research than anything in Edison’s day. So why can’t we produce plants that will make raw materials for us? ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240/42 "2000-09-26T15:05:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*I would like to see any support for your assertion that the San fernando valley could feed the planet. I do not believe that even for 40 microseconds. In any case it is much more productive if used to grow fruits or other crops than if to make fuel for cars. > \*\* Sailor, I really don’t follow you around and try to give you a hard time, but… When you say productive I think you mean “profitable.” My understanding is that if you can grow corn, than corn is the most productive. Corn give you more calories per acre than any other crop. BTW, I’ve always heard it say that the USA could feed the world, not the San Fernando valley. And this would only apply if the people of the world ate lots of corn bread. You can build a world witch doen’t rely on fossil fuels. The chinese did it for about 5000 years. I haven’t yet figured out how to get about 90% of the population to live in mud brick houses and grow corn for a living. How are ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240/43 "2000-09-26T15:16:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Thomas Edison once had a project to make rubber from a common plant (forget what it was, something like milkweed). Goldenrod. Ford backed this project, and presented Edison with a Model T with tires made out of goldenrod rubber. The process was never commercially developed, but they did have an experimental plantation in Florida. Think of what THAT place would do for your hay fever … ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240/44 "2000-09-26T23:17:55Z")
Did anyone notice that the example I used was the one that used the most fuel?? $9.00 instead of $3.00. Also the yields were very poor compared to Iowa’s which can run 60 bu. 60 bu. is somewhere around 3600 pounds per acre. Thats 60pounds per bu. At the Kurtzes 15% oil per ton thats somewhere around 450 pounds per acre.Thats 64 gallons of oil per acre. Have a nice day ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240/45 "2000-09-27T00:31:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by labdude \* > > When you say productive I think you mean “profitable.” > My understanding is that if you can grow corn, than corn is the most productive. Corn give you more calories per acre than any other crop. > > BTW, I’ve always heard it say that the USA could feed the world, not the San Fernando valley. And this would only apply if the people of the world ate lots of corn bread. > > You can build a world witch doen’t rely on fossil fuels. The chinese did it for about 5000 years. I haven’t yet figured out how to get about 90% of the population to live in mud brick houses and grow corn for a living. How are ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm… 🙂 > > \*\* Corn isn’t the best food to base your diet on. If you read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, he notes that the fact that corn was the predominant grain in the Americas probably contributed to its slow rate of progress compared to Europe and Asia. This is because maize has a lower protein content than wheat. It may have a higher calorie content, but it will probably end up producing a population that is fat or weak. Maybe it would be better to feed it to cattle and eat the meat instead? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetable-powered-cars/34240.md?page=2)