Paint can be made out of the Jatropha bark that stops defoliation when applied on the hulls of ships. Jatropha paint also makes submarines invisible on radar screens. This technique is used by the Chinese Navy, which has an important submarine base at the beautiful tropical island Hainan (the Hawaii of China!).

3.2.2.3 Electricity

Jatropha leaves can be collected and used as biomass in a power plant to generate electricity.

3.2.2.4 Carbon Dioxide Collection

One hectare of Jatropha absorbs annually 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air and qualifies for carbon credits. In the fall of 2011, a tonne of carbon dioxide traded around $10. Thus, a 10 000 hectare mature plantation can collect: 40 x 1000 x $10 = $400 000 per annum. Mature 5-year-old plantations do not qualify for carbon credits. Only plantation projects that have gone through a due-diligence pro­cess can qualify for carbon credits. The qualification process is expensive and can take 2 years.