Mention alternative fuels to most people, and they think of ethanol-spiked biodiesel and perhaps cooking oil … unless, that is, they're Andy Pag and John Grimshaw. The BBC recently reported that the British environmentalists were attempting to drive a Ford Iveco Cargo truck fueled by chocolate some 4,500 miles across Europe and Africa. Their purpose, they told reporters, is to raise awareness of "green" fuels and the dangers of climate change.
Pag and Grimshaw brought along fuel made from cocoa butter extracted from nearly 9,000 pounds of chocolate "misshapes"—the equivalent of 80,000 chocolate bars—to power the truck. Their final destination, Timbuktu, is threatened by the encroaching Sahara Desert, which has been expanding as average temperatures in the region have risen. "I wanted to do something that's carbon-neutral," Pag said. "What we [are doing] is actually carbon-negative."
