Pete Bethune designed his breakthrough biodiesel-fueled powerboat to set new world records in speed as well as environmental technology.

New Zealand’s Pete Bethune, a former oil-exploration engineer turned environmental activist, envisions a world where renewable fuels will power not just cars but all forms of transportation. “The world’s current reliance on standard fossil fuels is unsustainable,” he explains, and he emphasizes that it will take leadership and vision from forward-looking companies and individuals to develop and promote cleaner, more sustainable alternatives.

As one of those forward-looking individuals, Bethune is devoting his time, energy, and personal resources to help raise awareness and promote positive change. With hybrid innovations in the auto industry and rumors of alternative fuel-powered jets, he has focused his expertise on designing the Earthrace, a boat fueled entirely by biodiesel, and using it to prove the feasibility of alternative fuels. This ambitious project combines Bethune’s environmental passion with his business acumen and love for a challenge—for not only has he designed and built Earthrace, but he has also entered her in a competition sponsored by the Union International Montonqutique, the world’s governing body of water sports. He and the Earthrace’s crew plan to break the world’s powerboat circumnavigation record with the first vessel that runs solely on renewable fuels.

Earthrace represents the latest in environmental technology as well as the ultimate in powerboats, giving Bethune and his team the cutting edge they need to shatter the eight-year-old record set by the British boat Cable & Wireless. All they have to do is complete the world’s longest race (24,000 nautical miles) in less than the current 75-day record—and they’re planning on doing it in less than 65!

The race has simple rules: the boat cannot be more than 150 feet in length, it must meet certain safety standards, it cannot be refueled on the water, and it must successfully pass through the Suez and Panama Canals. These requirements leave lots of room for the racing crews to determine their individual route, boat design, and refueling options.

Rather than running on fossil fuels, Earthrace will race her way to the finish line fueled by a biodiesel derived from soy, canola, and animal fats, a fuel alternative that is renewable and produces 50 to 100 percent less environmentally harmful emissions than petroleum-based diesel.

Just how committed is the skipper of the Earthrace to leading the world to switch to renewable fuels? Well not only has Bethune spent his life’s savings on this mission and taken out a mortgage on his New Zealand home, but he has also undergone liposuction to contribute a small portion of his own body fat to be filtered into biodiesel fuel. “One of the great things about biodiesel is that it can be made from so many sources,” he notes. As for whether or not his own body fat could be used to power the Earthrace to victory, he points out that the dominant molecular structure in body fat is triglycerides, and those are “ideal” for making biodiesel. While the amount of “fuel” made from Bethune himself will not get the Earthrace completely around the world, it still proves the point that sustainable fuels are all around us. —John Crow To follow Bethune’s race blog or for more information on Earthrace please visit earthrace.net.

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