Going bananas for biofuel…peeling away at sustainability

What is yellow on the inside and green on the outside? A banana dressed up as a cucumber.

That may be a lame joke, but these days bananas really are dressing up green. Rotting banana skins are the latest additions to the growing list of raw sources for biofuel.

The banana biofuel has been most successful in countries across Africa where bananas are commonly grown and where cheaper alternate fuel sources are essential for survival, leaving no room for monkeying around.

According to scientists, every ton of bananas produces approximately ten tons of waste, made up of skins, leaves and stems.

Waste not, want not. The skins and leaves are now being mashed into a pulp, and then mixed with saw dust. The banana skins act like a glue, effectively binding the other materials together. Formed by hand or moulded into a brick using a press, the liquid can be squeezed out, producing an entirely different type of banana bread.

After two weeks baking in the sun, the briquettes become dried fuel that can be lit, used for heat or to make a cup of tea.

Other attempts at creating fuel sources in Africa have never succeeded since they were either too expensive or did not take local needs into consideration.

This simple and accessible solution may reduce wood consumption as a primary energy source, helping deforestation concerns in banana-producing countries like Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi.

As you can imagine, everyone is going bananas over the idea.