An Auckland adventurer wants overweight people to have liposuction so he can turn their fat into biofuel to power his boat around the globe.
Peter Bethune's biofuel-powered attempt at the round-the-world powerboat speed record will run on his own fat, and he hopes, many more well-endowed contributors.
The Dominion Post reports the lean Auckland adventurer has had about four syringes of fat removed by liposuction from his own "love handles", but needs others to donate their fat for his cause.
If Mr Bethune, 39, gets enough fat he will have it refined and converted to fuel for his 24m trimaran.
The Dominion Post reports that as part of a publicity gimmick to promote his adventure, he asked a couple of fat friends whether they would be willing to donate their spare kilos, and they told him he must do it first.
But the surgeon who donated his services could only extract 100 millilitres of fat from Mr Bethune's 70kg-frame, compared to an average haul of 3kg, which would produce three litres of refined biofuel.
The $2.6 million Earthrace craft will begin circumnavigating the globe in March and aims to cut the 75-day record - it is expected to use 70,000 litres of biofuels. |