{"id":4377,"date":"2009-04-07T06:55:29","date_gmt":"2009-04-07T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4377"},"modified":"2009-04-07T06:55:29","modified_gmt":"2009-04-07T12:55:29","slug":"westward-ho-hong-kong-tycoon-to-invest-in-africa-based-biofuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/westward-ho-hong-kong-tycoon-to-invest-in-africa-based-biofuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Westward Ho! Hong Kong Tycoon to Invest in Africa-based Biofuels"},"content":{"rendered":"
Geocapita<\/a>l, a Macau-based investment holding company started in 2007 and comprised of partner investors Stanley Ho and Jorge Ferro Ribeiro, is in negotiations with the Government of Cape Verde to install a biofuels research and development center on the African archipelago, Portugal’s Lusa news agency<\/a> recently reported.<\/p>\n The pair hopes to take advantage of Cape Verde’s experience producing biofuels from jatropha<\/a>, a crop that yields ten times the output of corn plants. Jatropha-based biofuel is considered one of the best candidates for future biofuel production, and has already been successfully tested as a substitute for jet fuel in commercial airplanes. The poisonous seed has a long history as a fuel source: in the early 1900s, it was exported to France and Portugal for use in streetlamps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ho and Ribeiro plan to plant jatropha in Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique<\/a>, where they also own biofuel production facilities, later this year, and start producing the biofuels within two or three years.<\/p>\n Ho hopes to become one of the world’s top investors in biofuels, pledging nearly US$40 billion over the next ten years in biofuel production throughout Portugese-speaking countries. According to his firm’s estimates, Geocapital’s production is expected to reach 14 million tons per year within 10 to 15 years, roughly one-tenth worldwide production.<\/p>\n As long as oil prices remain at their current levels, however, Ho’s biofuel play alone will not soon restore him from his current ranking of #703 on the Forbes billionaires list<\/a>, to within the top 150, where he previously reigned. Perhaps he should consider drafting a “Ho Plan” for Hong Kong, or China, just to be safe.<\/p>\n Photo Credit: MyPhotoIg via Flickr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hong Kong magnate Stanley Ho is at it again. Not formulating a “Ho Plan” for Hong Kong energy security that centers around wind power, as the growing similarities between him [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":4383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,9,24,7],"tags":[100,557,3063,3064,3065,3066,626,3067,3068,3069,1632,3070,3071,3072,2715],"yoast_head":"\n