Of course, a few noble souls are searching. Some even freeze patients’ fat in case some future discovery is made. A few surgeons move fat from one unwanted location of your body to another while research labs constantly look for medical uses.
Suddenly, a really practical thing comes along. Now, human fat can be used to power your speedboat! Why didn’t somebody think of this before? Will bass fishing ever be the same?
The Earthrace -- World’s
First Blubber Boat
In New Zealand, Pete Bethune, a former oil industry worker, created the Earthrace, a US$3 million dollar ship that will try to break the world’s speed record for zipping around the globe. The boat is powered by natural biofuels which usually combines recycled restaurant grease with some diesel fuel. Actually, Pete wants to promote biofuels more than snaring the world record.
To attract attention, Bethune and others underwent liposuction, collecting two gallons of fat that can drive the boat about nine miles.
Is that to say human blubber only gets four and one half miles per gallon? Well, it depends on what you’re driving and how fast you are going. At 23 tons, the Earthrace is a really big boat that goes really fat, er, that is, fast at a blazing 23 to 29 mph.
If all goes according to plan, the boat should take 75 days to race 32,000 miles around the world, thereby breaking the record by 10 days.
Unless they have to stop to take on more fat.
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