National Geographic News portal published a story on this plant as a part of special series that explores energy issues. Though the news is old but its significance is always new as the whole world is looking for an alternate source of energy. The story talks about the feather palm Arenga pinnata as an important source of energy.  Marianne Lavelle for National Geographic News quotes Willie Smits, a tropical forest scientists, “The deep-rooted feather palm Arenga pinnata could serve as the core of a waste-free system that produces a premium organic sugar as well as the fuel alcohol, ethanol, providing food products and jobs to villagers while it helps preserve the existing native rain forest”.  Find out more A Rain Forest Advocate Taps the Energy of the Sugar Palm

In India, in the eastern part, the sap is harvested for yielding jaggery or gur. Fibres produced from this plant  are highly durable, resistant to sea water and easy to process. It goes well in agroforestry systems too. In some parts this is used in traditional system of medicine and is considered for its stomachic pectoral diuretic and atihemophilic properties.
Domestication and further exploration of this plant needs more attention.