Biodiesel – miles better!

Ecoliving business development manager, Iain Thomas, shares his experiences of running a car on biodiesel. Iain explains that there were 3 main hurdles identified:

• Sourcing a reliable and plentiful supply of used vegetable oil
  • Initial research locally seemed to suggest that the majority of used vegetable oil was already spoken for.  Although small quantities were still available it was not clear if this would be dependable enough to run a family car driving an average of 25,000 miles per annum.  In speaking to the various manufacturers of the conversion plant, it was discovered that given their vested interest, they had secured many options for direct supply in large quantities.

• Satisfying the tax requirements
  • Recently the government has relaxed its tax burden.  You can now privately produce up to 2500 litres per annum before tax.  Based on a typical diesel car, this equates to 16,000 miles at 30mpg or 22,000 at 40mpg per annum.

• Finding an environmentally method of disposal of the main by-product, glycerol
  • Make soap!
  • Some geothermal drilling companies use glycerol as a drilling lubricant

I have converted somewhere in the region of 1200 litres of used vegetable oil since the turn of the year and run this in both our cars successfully.  I have also donated some to relatives for them to try with great success.

I have had only one issue and that was during a cold spell in January of this year.  The temperature overnight dropped to around -22degC and as biodiesel is not best suited to temperatures below -12degC, I could not start the car.  Once the day had ‘warmed’ to around single figures minus, the car would have started, had I not flattened the battery at 6am…

Biodiesel in general:

Biodiesel is a perfectly suitable replacement for fossil diesel, in fact it has better lubrication qualities than fossil diesel and recent tests by Porsche on behalf of Mercedes proclaimed that the qualities of Biodiesel could extend an engines life considerably.

As well as being a good lubricant Biodiesel acts as a solvent and cleans out the contaminants and dirt left by fossil diesel in your engine.  These are deposited on your fuel filter, which may mean that when you start to use Biodiesel you should change your filter after the first few hundred miles.

Each car manufacturer has their own recommendations as to whether you can use 100% or a mixture of biodiesel and fossil diesel.  German manufacturers tend to be a lot more clued up about its use as it is widely available at the pump in Germany.

For those still unsure about putting 100% biodiesel in your car it mixes perfectly well with fossil diesel so you could try that first.

There are several companies that manufacture and sell domestic biodiesel processors from 50 litre units to 400 litre units.  They will also sell you all the products associated with Biodiesel production such as Methanol, Caustic Soda, Titration kits etc.  It is also the case that some sell extra storage tanks, waste drums, dispensing pumps, hoses and dispensing nozzles, basically, anything you require.

Production costs at domestic level work out at approximately 15p per litre plus the cost of your oil. If you collect your own from local chip shops, cafes or restaurants (currently they have to pay people to take it away) you could get it for free.  If you buy in recycled oil, there are good reputable waste oil dealers throughout the country and your total production costs per litre should not exceed about 40p, considerably cheaper than fossil diesel!

Aside from its better running qualities, biodiesel is more importantly better for the environment.   Biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic and typically produces about 60% less net carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum-based diesel, as it is itself produced from atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthesis in plants.

 

Good News from the White House!

President Obama announced yesterday the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the US.

One hundred and eighty three projects in 43 states will receive support which is expected to create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs.

The Tax Credits are good news for the planet as they will advance clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies. This is also a step towards meeting the President’s goal of doubling the amount of renewable energy the country uses in the next three years.

 

What difference are you going to make in 2010?

It has been fascinating to see how many commentators reflecting on the anti-climax of Copenhagen have mentioned the need for us as individuals to act. My hope for 2010 is that we see a tidal wave of behavioural change in the developed countries by individuals, communities and organisations including businesses taking action to reduce their impact on the environment.

In the developed countries we have choice, so much choice, and we need to realise that with this comes responsibility. Before each decision, we need to learn to stop and think and make sure we are making the right choice for the planet. It is these decisions that affect the lives of billions who don’t have the same luxury of choice but who are the first to feel the impacts of our wrong decisions and our lack of responsibility. The impacts that are affecting them will affect us. Mass migration from drought affected areas to temperate climates is an example and there are many far worse destabilising scenarios. We are kidding ourselves if we think that: a. we will be fine and things will sort themselves out and b. we don’t have to take action and change because someone else will (Copenhagen showed us this).

The chances of failure are huge and very real but I don’t believe we will fail because I believe that at some level we know that we value the environment above all the trappings of our ‘developed’ societies and lifestyle. Deep down we know that we rely on the environment for our sustenance and our very survival.

History shows us what can be achieved in the name of a cause, a       common, meaningful objective that pulls individuals and communities together. Surely our move to low carbon, sustainable communities is the cause for our generation?!

We must act now! We must show leadership by taking action and showing others. There are many things we can do and most of them we all know about. If we act in sufficient numbers and are focused on the same objective we are capable of acheiving amazing things! Let’s make sure that in the first weeks and months of 2010 that we do actually take action and make a difference!

Over the next few postings I will be looking at some of the things that we can do. Let me know what you or your community has done to make a difference. By sharing what’s working we can educate and inspire others.

Best wishes for a happy, fulfilling and sustainable 2010!

 

What now after Copenhagen?

Signing up to action on climate change

In the immediate aftermath of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference we are left searching for strands of comfort and hope for our planet, the precious place 6.8 billion people call home. The cold reality dawning is that of little change and what will probably go down as one of the greatest missed opportunities of our time. The ‘Copenhagen Accord’, a loose agreement in principle, is far short of expectations and nothing close to the legally binding treaty that many had hoped for.  In fact neither any indication of when and how legally binding targets will be agreed nor any declaration of an aim to keep global temperature rises below 2°C.

So what next? Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the UK’s prime minister, talks of Mexico in December 2010 being ‘the last chance saloon’ for a legally binding protocol but isn’t that how Copenhagen was billed? There were 2 years worth of talks leading up to this summit, so was it all hot air on top of the 121,500 tons of CO₂ that represents the conference’s carbon footprint? I wonder if the result would have been different if the conference had been held in a hot location where delegates would have been closer to the effects of climate change rather than the cool, clinical sophistication of Copenhagen. Somewhere like Tuvalu, the Maldives or Bangladesh perhaps?

Bringing it home - Climate Change poster at Copenhagen airport during COP15

So, we are left with more questions than answers and probably my biggest question is now, can political leaders be relied on to take the action required to avoid the series of disasters and crises predicted as a result of climate change: drought, inundation, mass migration and conflict as a result of water and food shortages? Surely, if Copenhagen has proved anything, it is that politicians are entrenched in a mindset that makes it extremely difficult to move away from political and economic self interest to address a shared urgent global problem. Yes, this is in stark contrast to the financial crisis and it is revealing that the estimated spend of that recent rescue is being put at $12 trillion in bailouts and $14 trillion in the value of the world’s companies wiped out. Compare this to the $9 trillion estimated global cost of climate change presented in the Stern Report.

We also need to face the fact that nations and governments around the world are at different stages of development and consequently cling to different paradigms. Consensus on this scale is difficult so is there an alternative? The majority needs to act on collective wisdom and there are probably more countries in general agreement on carbon reduction targets than ever before. Another positive outcome we can take from Copenhagen is the massive increased awareness of the impending dangers of climate change and the rapidly growing body of millions of engaged individuals and groups around the globe. With a rising movement of more and more individuals taking action by making the right day to day choices for the environment and calling for action we are already seeing change.

We, in the developed world, need to show leadership and step up to our responsibility. We have been the major polluters, we have the evolutionary maturity to comprehend what is at stake here, we have the desire and the belief that we can make the transition to low carbon, sustainable communities and we can better afford to take action. We have the technology and the know-how. We owe it to ourselves, to our children and to the rest of the world to take more urgent action than we are currently. We need to take a lead and as individuals, communities and organisations to invest in the choices that will turn the tide towards the sustainable future that heralds a new beginning and sees us reach our true potential.

Our governments will follow and accelerate the process as soon as they see sufficient numbers of individuals taking action and soon we will have those countries unable to make the commitments in Copenhagen on board too, embracing new paradigms and keen to be part of an exciting new future!

We need to demonstrate environmental responsibility in our choices, our buying decisions, our investments, our work and our leisure time. We must guard ourselves from thinking that it doesn’t matter what we do, that it is insignificant. Far from it, everything counts! Nothing we do is in isolation and the positive impact of our actions inspires others and leads them to awareness and change. With the social media tools so many of us are using, the potential for influence and shared action is growing exponentially. The time for hot air has come and gone and the millions who have engaged with the process at Copenhagen and signed up for a sustainable future now need to show strong leadership by taking action in their lives and their communities around the globe.

www.ecolivinguk.com/whats-new

www.renaissance2.eu

www.worldshift2012.org