Boating

A pair of former investment bankers based in Hong Kong has launched a new business that aims to persuade owners of diesel-powered pleasure boats, of which there are plenty in local waters, to run their craft on waste vegetable oil (WVO). And, like all good sustainable business ventures, this one looks capable of making a healthy profit while also helping the environment. The idea of running a diesel engine on vegetable oil is not new – inventor Rudolf Diesel having demonstrated one of his eponymous motors fueled by peanut oil at the 1900 Paris Exhibition – but neither is it commonplace, especially in Asia. In the intervening century or so the idea has been largely ignored because of the prevalence of low-cost petroleum diesel oil.