Judean date palm 2005, before knowing the gender of the palm tree, Dr. Solowey was hoping that it would turn out to be female, for which there was a 50% chance, because that would have allowed it to give fruit; on the contrary, "if it's a male, it will just be a curiosity." Methuselah flowered in March 2011 and is male. As of 2012, there were tentative plans to crossbreed the palm with what was considered its closest extant relative, the Hayani date from Egypt, to generate fruit by 2022. By 2015 Methuselah had produced pollen that has been used successfully to pollinate
Palm oil one-half of Europe's palm oil imports were used for biodiesel. Use of palm oil as biodiesel generates three times the carbon emissions as using fossil fuel, and, for example, "biodiesel made from Indonesian palm oil makes the global carbon problem worse, not better." The organic waste matter that is produced when processing oil palm, including oil palm shells and oil palm fruit bunches, can also be used to produce energy. This waste material can be converted into pellets that can be used as a biofuel. Additionally, palm oil that has been used to fry foods can be converted into methyl