Double Green

On the slopes of an old inactive volcano on one of the 345 beautiful islands of Fiji, with tropical plants everywhere and a great view of the sea, careful waste avoidance, use of renewable fuel and green operations have long been the rule.

Coconut husks, shells and old coconut trees fuel the boiler..that produces the steam.. that runs the steam engines.. that drive the generator.. that provides power for the coconut oil press, machinery and lights for the factory and workers' homes. Large quantities of diesel fuel would have had to be burnt to substitute.

Husks and shells being loaded into the silo for storage

In 1961, the owner of the coconut plantation where our oil is produced, had their first steam engine made from the drawings and design of a steam engine originally built in 1895! The steam engines are used to drive the electric generator to produce power to run the oil press, other machinery and to provide light for the workers' homes- it is energy production and recycling at its best.  

The fuel used comes from some of the old coconut trees as well as from the husks and shells of coconuts that are opened for copra (copra is the dried meat or kernel of the coconut).  The coconut meat is dried in warm air then cold pressed in the press for its oil. The steam generation method is now used instead of using diesel fuel in the diesel engine to drive the generator.

Old technology is the most appropriate technology to take advantage of the reusable fuel. Their carbon footprint is very small for each ton of oil produced. Diesel is only used in the tractors and trucks. The old unproductive trees (often 70 years old and 80 ft high) are replaced in a cycle of 30 acres at a time (on the 1100 acre plantation) with new trees and coconuts growing again and taking up carbon dioxide from the air. The carbon is recycled. All organic products are green as they do not use fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides produced with and from oil. The extra "green" making the double green is from the recycled fuel (husks, shells and old trees) used in the production. It is unique in the world.

The cost of diesel there today is 16 times greater than it was in 1961 and the wisdom of their use of renewable fuel has paid off in a huge reduction in expenditure on diesel.

Eight years ago the plantation was certified organic to USDA NOP standards. The owner is now 83 years old and his son does much of the work on the plantation and continue the pattern and cycles of green technology.

You can choose "green" Nature's Approved Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil for its better coconutty taste and to help expand their operation and reward their efforts.