Here comes Flax fuel ....

to help us throw away the yoke of Arab oil dependence. This kind of environmentalist is the kind  we can hope will succeed in every way possible.

Margaret Wente writing at Globe&Mail:
....You’ve probably never heard of flax fuel . But Toronto is using it to power city transit vehicles. The local Steam Whistle brewery uses flax fuel, and so does the Rogers Centre. Flax fuel can operate in any diesel engine and emits no greenhouse gases. It’s a clean alternative to petro-diesel, and it even competes on price.

Flax fuel is the brainchild of Jon Dwyer, a 29-year-old green energy entrepreneur. Like many people his age, he’s passionate about environmentalism and sustainability, and he wants the work he does to reflect his values. He also thinks the environmental movement has got it all wrong. Environmental initiatives will never succeed so long as they depend on government subsidies, he believes...........

........Mr. Dwyer’s mini-factory, located on Toronto’s Port Lands, is a model of efficient low-tech engineering. It takes flax seed (of which Canada has an abundant supply) and turns it into three products: flour, biodiesel and animal feed. The flour is used to enrich a variety of foods with omega-3, a fatty acid that’s prized for its nutritional benefits. The animal feed also contains omega-3. .........

...........Mr. Dwyer’s mini-factory, located on Toronto’s Port Lands, is a model of efficient low-tech engineering. It takes flax seed (of which Canada has an abundant supply) and turns it into three products: flour, biodiesel and animal feed. The flour is used to enrich a variety of foods with omega-3, a fatty acid that’s prized for its nutritional benefits. The animal feed also contains omega-3. ....

.......All around the world, renewable green schemes, subsidized with vast amounts of public money, have crashed and burned. Germany has spent more than €100-billion on solar subsidies, with next to nothing to show for it. Another notorious example is ethanol, a biofuel derived from corn, which by law has to be blended into gasoline. The ethanol mandate has driven up both food and gas prices, and makes no sense environmentally. Even Al Gore has apologized for supporting it. (The corn lobby loves it, though.).......

.......The environmentalists who will change the world are not the ones who believe that business is a dirty word and capitalism is evil. They’re the ones who understand how things actually work. They aren’t fooled by mirages like electric cars, because they understand that electric cars, from the paint on in, are made of oil. “I’m not anti-oil,” Mr. Dwyer says. “Oil created the middle class. Until we create alternatives to it, we shouldn’t criticize.”.........

..........As one disillusioned B.C. environmentalist wrote me recently, “There are many here who would make a valiant effort to chain themselves to a tree, but make little effort to get up every day and work at a job that may make a difference.” I have no idea how Jon Dwyer’s green business will pan out (although having met him, I’d say he will definitely succeed at something). But I do know we need more people like him........