Honda banks on African grass for fuel

HONDA   SUSTAINABILITY   FUEL

Global - Honda is planning to use miscanthus, an African grass, to fuel a power station slated to be built for its car factory in the UK.

The low-maintenance grass is already used alongside coal in some UK power stations, driven by environmental concerns and uncertainty over UK's power supplies.

Honda is approaching local farmers to sign long-term growing contracts to supply the factory with the crop, WSJ reported. "We're still at the feasibility study stage but we are getting together the supply chain and technology," Brain Hunt, an agricultural technical specialist at Honda said.

However, some farmers are reluctant to grow the crop as miscanthus takes up to three years to generate its first income compared to an expected return of 12 months for other crops.

Farmers interviewed believe growing miscanthus is risky as the biomass plant does not establish well on the plots.

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