MIAMI – Florida oranges might not just fuel consumers anymore – the citrus fruit might help fuel cars, the Miami Herald reports. FPL Energy revealed plans to work with a citrus processor and a new energy firm to build one of the world’s first processing plants that would use citrus peels as the base for ethanol.

If built during the next two years, the plant could output approximately 4 million gallons of ethanol. On day, the technology could produce as much as 60 million citrus-to-ethanol gallons, a mere fraction of the 8.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed in the Florida.

“The idea is we would have the land produce both our food and our fuel,” David Stewart, president of Citrus Energy, told the newspaper. Citrus Energy will assist FPL in constructing the plant with approximately $3 million in state financial aid. “We’re turning a liability for the citrus industry into an asset.”

Citrus peel more easily converts into ethanol than corn and, since it uses a waste product, doesn’t use food for fuel, Stewart said.

Gov. Charlie Crist praised FPL for looking into alternative fuels. In 2006, Florida produced approximately 110 million 90-pound boxes of oranges.