Clean Green Tuk Tuk?

I'm still over in Thailand looking at the positive effect that the demand for biodiesel is having on previously poor farmers out here. With the price for raw palm oil rising steadily there's a little more money to go around down here - and that's no bad thing.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the use of LPG however I was in for an even bigger shock which only hit home this week. Check out the picture below:

See that big organge canister below that Tuk Tuk? Guess what.......yup thats LPG. Every single Tuk Tuk I have seen in Thailand uses LPG as its fuel! Vehicles once notorious for noise and pollution all run on cleaner greener fuel.

The Thai government has been smart enough to keep duty on LPG ultra low to encourage its use, as a result even in a hot and busy city of 10 million people like Bangkok you don't end up drowning in smog.

Compare that to the UK where duty(tax) on LPG is being increased 0.35p ABOVE the rate of increases in petrol and diesel duty! Add to that the average $3000 dollar conversion cost and you need to be doing starship milage to reap and kind of decent ROI.

How long can we continue to call these countries "third world" when it is clearly they and not us who are driving genuinely green agendas?

UK Government Rips off Motorists Again

If you ever needed a good reason to start making your own biodiesel in your back yard just take a look at what the UK government are doing to their motorists - and take heed America because you're next!

The UK government have just announced that they are going to add another 2p a litre of TAX. The chancellor says its an important part of their "green" credentials!! Edmund King threw his personal credibility on the fire by saying that "fuel price instability is largely influenced by the market."

I was outraged to read a news feed that stated: "Motorists can expect more pain after oil prices in New York reached a record high of more than 109 US dollars a barrel on Tuesday."

What utter nonesense! Hogwash! Rubbish! Utter LIES!!

I'm sat in Thailand today where the price at the pump for 98 grade fuel is 35 Baht a litre, that's 56 British pence or about $1. I checked with the local government rep here and NO the Thais don't source their oil from a magic fairy in the mountains, they buy it from the same places we all do, in dollars like everyone else.

The inconvenient TRUTH, is that 85% of the cost of fuel in the UK is TAX. It's an easy source of revenue for the government who know we can't do without it. Hiding behind the word "green" is just a pathetic insult to our intelligence.

- sorry I need to amend this with the following note: Note: in the UK, Value Added Tax (VAT), currently at 17.5%, is also charged on the price of the fuel and on the duty. At a pump price of 100p/litre (typical for unleaded as at November 2007), this would put the combined tax at 65.24p/litre, or approximately USD$4.84 per gallon. (Thus without tax, the retail price would be 34.76p per litre, making a combined tax rate of 188%.

You have been told. Buy a diesel car. Quietly make your own fuel in the shed. Stop taking the shaft from politicians (who by the way get a generous fuel allowance paid for by you the tax payer).