There's gold in them-thar bellies!
I'm not sure if this qualifies as a smack your forehead, why didn't I think of that story, but you have to admire the lateral thinking.
Lauri Venoy, a Norwegian businessman, has apparently signed a deal to obtain over 11,000 litres of human fat a week.
What will he do with all that fat you ask? Well he sees it as white gold - he plans to convert it into combustible, foreign-oil-dependence killing, car-fueling, biodiesel!
Wisely, he's not basing his business in Norway, but rather in the USA where there is much greater abundance of natural resources.
Ever the businessman, Venoy plants seeds for growth stating,
"Maybe we should urge people to eat more so we can create more raw material for fuel"Thankfully for Venoy, there is no shortage of people trying to convince us to eat more (Big Food, and these days in Canada, Health Canada) and with 65-75% of North Americans overweight or obese, there's no shortage of "raw materials".
Don't worry about the cost at the pumps though, the $5,000 a litre is for the patient.
I imagine once outside of the body, human fat's probably pretty cheap.