A sad sight

Today I saw one of the saddest and most affecting things I've seen so far in Indonesia - a biodiesel plant. This was bought buy the local government in 2007, and could be a way of weening Indonesia off its dependence on fossil fuels, turning plantation crops into usable fuel, locally and potentially sustainably.

I asked how much fuel it could produce in a day. "We don't know", was the answer, "we've never been able to work it." Hence my sadness - someone, somewhere, had a good idea, and got enough money (GBP80 000, which is a huge amount here) to almost make it happen, but forgot that people need to know how to use it as well. So the money has been spent, and the plant sits slowly rusting in the damp Indonesian air.

I wish I knew more about biofuels and could help - there's a project here waiting for the right volunteer.