Lodgepole pines | flickr user gregor_y

Weird. The Post reports that some clever folks have found yet another use for beetle-kill wood — motor fuel.

Its not exactly turning a sows ear into a silk purse, but Cobalt Technologies Inc. is aiming to transform pine-bark-beetle-killed lodgepole pines into motor fuel.

A Colorado State University lab is preparing to test the brew from the California startup company in a four-stroke, overhead-valve Honda engine.

Plus, if you read the story, you’ll learn a little about the differences between ethanol and butanol.

So here’s a dumb question — what’s the demand for beetle-kill wood looking like? Or what would it look like if a few people started using beetle-kill butanol?

For your enjoyment:

I say “slightly” Swiftian because Sari’s satire is actually just a touch behind the curve, as evidenced by this boat that actually ran on human fat (via liposuction!) as early as 2007.

From the New York Times, a cool story on some adventurous energy entrepreneurs working on carbon-reducing algae fuel:

With the twin goals of making fuel from algae and reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, a start-up company co-founded by a Colorado State University professor recently introduced a strain of algae that loves carbon dioxide into a water tank next to a natural gas processing plant. The water is already green-tinged with life.

The Southern Utes, one of the nation’s wealthiest American Indian communities thanks to its energy and real-estate investments, is a major investor in the professor’s company. It hopes to gain a toehold in what tribal leaders believe could be the next billion-dollar energy boom.

Related:

• Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises biodiesel
• RMSE, Gray Oil Co. deal press release