" - but I don't know about ships - are they run on diesel?"
Ships can run on all sorts of stuff -- including kites.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1487522/posts
Very interesting, I missed that. It seems ridiculous at first glance (like the spaghetti tree joke of years ago on BBC), but it must make sense to people who are using it. I'd sure want to tie some tails on it, though, lol!
Well, anyway, I asked that because I was wondering if Hawaii produced cellulose ethanol from sugar cane, what it would cost in money or energy to transport it.