Eeeewww!!!

Alfenposten (Norway) reported Wednesday about a new source of bio-diesel fuel.

Lauri Venøy wants to use the product created from liposuction to develop bio-diesel.

Bio-diesel can be produced from plant oils and/or animal fat, and the Norwegian sees the scheme as a renewable energy source, newspaper Dagens Nærinsgliv reports.

More than sixty percent of Americans are overweight and the Norwegian's firm in Miami, Florida is in the process of signing an agreement with US hospital giant Jackson Memorial. This deal would give Venøy & Co. around 11,500 liters of human fat a week from liposuction operations, which is enough to produce about 10,000 liters of bio-diesel.

As an aside, I love the way the British use the word, "scheme," the same way Americans use the word, "plan." In America, a scheme is some nefarious plot, so when I read articles written in British-English, their schemes give me a smile. It's cute.

Back to the story. The rest of the world loves to describe Americans as uncouth, uncultured, unrefined, and just plain barbaric. But just where does the inventive genius for this plan originate? Norway. Land of Scandanavian culture and refinement. The place where rogues don't exist and everyone is peaceful and well-mannered.

But underneath, there's apparently a bit of a ghoulish streak. In the interest of the environment, of course.

It's a little odd, though, that businessman Venøy sees liposuctioned fat as a "renewable" source of fuel. There may be a continual supply of it from the Miami hospital, but I would hope that the same individual doesn't have to keep coming back to donate to the national fuel supply. But Venøy has this comment about the renewability of the fat:

"Maybe we should urge people to eat more so we can create more raw material for fuel," Venøy said.

Maybe. And maybe this really is just a scheme. In the American sense of the word. Ugh!