I know what you're thinking. When you go to the oil aisle at the market, why is it that corn oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, and palm oil are all so cheap, and then olive oil is at least 6 times the price of the others? Well, would you mop up canola oil with a piece of bread and take a bite just for the taste? I didn't think so. Olive oil is expensive not only because of its superior flavor but also because it is costly to produce. The yield of oil that comes from olives is nowhere close to that of corn and other vegetables. So, more olives must be used to make product than corn. Also, corn is much more common, and can be grown almost anywhere, whereas the climate suitable for olives is much more limited, and therefore olives are more expensive. So, at the end of the day, in my opinion we're getting a good deal. And since olive oil has such a distinct, soothing, almost spicy flavor, I love to use it on most of my Italian cooking. With some classmates, I went to visit an olive oil producer that was doing much of its production sustainably. They used solar power for most of the oil production, and much of their facilities were heated and powered by energy produced by the skins and seeds of the olives. Not only was this very impressive from an engineering perspective, but also admirable considering the producer was choosing to put in extra effort in order to work sustainably over achieving higher short-term profit margins.
Here is a video of our experience watching sustainable olive oil production. You will notice state of the art equipment, and hands on interaction with machinery which is all powered by solar panels.