Fuel Prices Set to Rocket - Start Making your Own Fuel!

Looking at the news I'm afraid its all bad as far as fuel prices go.

The USA has not allowed the drilling and pumping to start again single the disaster in the bay and cancelled 70+ exploratory drilling operations on land.

That can only result in less tax income for the government and less capacity at the pump - even Saudi Arabia cannot increase output enough to cover the deficit.

That all adds up to a price hike for joe average. Want my prediction? I predict that prices in the USA will hit $7 a gallon early this year. The UK is already there and they need to brace themselves for at least a 10% non tax based rise this year just because of the fall in supply.

2011 will see the highest prices for fuel in living memory. Don't wait any longer, go out invest in the equipment and start making your own biodiesel at home this month. With these price hikes the return on investment can be measured in months - and that means more money in your pockets for the things you love.

UK Government Pushes Fuel Prices Sky High

If ever you needed a financial incentive to make biodiesel at home then the government can certainly be credited with making it more and more cost effective.

Bear in mind we are in the hight of an international recession and the UK government having already demonstrated its total inability to manage the economy has compounded this by demonstrating its out and out greed.

The last time I benchmarked the fuel price in the UK it was £1.11 per litre - of that 65% went to the government 56.2p in fuel duty and 16.7p in vat. Of course since then both fuel duty and vat have both been..........(unbelievably) INCREASED!

If you are sick of being robbed blind by these useless, unaccountable amateurs then I strongly suggest that you invest in a small biodiesel processor, switch to a diesel car and start making your own fuel because as far as I can see the price is only going to keep on going up at the pump.

You'll here all sorts of excuses coming from the muppets that "run" the country, it will no doubt include "responsible cuts and spending", "reducing the nations debt" and of course "the environment, carbon emissions" . All the usual hogwash to cover up the fact that they were reckless for 12 years of bad government and now need to squeeze every penny they can out of the population.

Making biodiesel might be about being green for some of you. For me its about being in control of my hard earned cash instead of having the governments hands in my pockets at every possible moment.

Making Biodiesel Isn't Boring if you Have a Diesel Motorbike

Despite vast improvements in diesel engines over the years I still here people saying that they wouldn't have a diesel because they are so boring (i.e. slow and low performance) to drive.

Of course I have to take exception to that (a) because these days it simply isn't true and (b) of course I want people and society to reap the benefits of making biodiesel at home.

So I was delighted when quite by accident I discovered a whole new world of diesel motoring in the form of diesel motorcycles - yes you read that right, motorcycles with diesel engines. I quickly found dozens of suppliers of these fine machines :

This is the Sommer, but Diesel Bikes lists dozens of suppliers of diesel bikes of every shape and size your heart could desire.


And yes of course these bikes will run on biodiesel blends as high as 80%. Typically the bikes run Yanmar diesels displacing just over 400cc which means a power output of around 8kw or upto 15 bhp although some 1 litre examples are available and options such as inter-cooled turbochargers add even more fund to the mix.

If you make your own biodiesel then you'll find your $1 a gallon home-made fuel goes a very long way indeed with bikes demonstrating well over 100mpg! The Somer above delivers 117mpg on average along with classic looks that will leave most weak at the knees.

OK on a standard bike you may not ever win a MotoGP or even come close but then again with the sun on your face, the wind in your hair and 117+ miles to the gallon under your right hand - do you really care?

Why “The cost of fuel will continue to rise” is a lie – and why it means you must start making your own fuel at home.

It seems like every day now I read or here somewhere some luminary saying that no matter what the cost of fuel will continue to rise. The fact is that’s a lie. Let me qualify that; I can say for certain that the cost of fuel does not have to rise, it’s a choice.

Since the summer the fuel you buy at the pump whether gasoline or diesel is blended 5% with biofuel – ethanol in the case of gasoline and biodiesel in the case of diesel. As part of the governments plan this will be progressively increased over the coming years to 20%.

Simply put that means that 20% of the fuel that goes into your tank will not be dependant on the price of fossil oil. But will that mean that the cost of the fuel you put in your tank goes down by 20%. Sadly no. In fact you’ll be lucky if it just stays the same.

Why? Afterall biofuel is cheap and easy to make. It can be made locally from local waste products removing transpostation costs and waste processing costs. Duty on biofuel is discounted – so why won’t the price of fuel go down like it should?

Your government has a vested intrest in maintaining the cost of fuel – it is one of the highest reliable tax earners in the governments arsenal. They know that after a century of promoting private car ownership and use they have created a captive market of fuel users. We have followed their advice and built our career choices, social lives and family lives around the automobile and the fuel it runs on.

Fuel Duty in the UK is £0.5035 per litre (2.2890/imperial gal or £1.91/US gal). 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 128.8p/litre (typical for diesel as at May 2008), this would put the combined tax at 69.53p/litre, or approximately USD$5.20 per US gallon. Thus without tax, the retail price would be 59.26p per litre, making a combined tax rate of 117%. Fuel taxes in the United States vary by state. For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax was 28.6 cents per US gallon, plus 18.4 cents per US gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per US gallon (56 ¢/imperia gal; 12.4 ¢/L). For diesel, the average state tax is 29.2 cents per US gallon plus an additional 24.4 cents per US gallon federal tax making the total 53.6 cents US per gallon (64.3 ¢/imperial gal; 14.2 ¢/L).

Why else do you imagine with two viable, long range performance electric cars now available from two manufacturers (the UK Lightning and the US Tesla) that the government hasn’t leapt into action to promote the technologies they have developed, to subsidise their manufacture to ensure that we all drive clean green machines? Because with your garage roof covered in solar cells and a usable electric car in the garage you don’t have to pay them a bean!

So instead the government will continue to charge up to 117% tax on fuel - regardless of what actually goes into your tank.

Fortunately whatever side of the atlantic you are on there IS something you can do about it. You can make biodiesel at home, you can even make ethanol at home. All the equipment you need can be purchased or assembled from £200/$400 upwards, the consumable supplies easily ordered online and the process in each case takes no more than a couple of hours in the weekend. The government even sanctions home production tax free (because they know most people won’t bother).

However unless you make biodiesel or make ethanol at home you are surrendering your self to a future or spiralling fuel costs, 85% of which will be government tax.

And consider this; the average cost of homemade biodiesel and ethanol is around £1/$2 per gallon, which if you do some simple napkin maths means Joe Average could easily save £2000 / $4000 per year, every year, and that’s just the average value.

Crazy European Biodiesel Race

Hey there Biodiesel fans. I'm delighted to announce that a crazy Brit and his girlfriend have just announced a crazy biodiesel fuelled rally across Europe from the UK to Greece (..or is that grease...?)

Up to 20 entrants so far (and if you hurry you can still join them) will be driving 10+ year old diesels, many of them with 100,000+ miles on the clock from one side of the continent to the other.

But here's the thing - THEY MAKE THEIR OWN FUEL AS THEY GO!!!



No I'm serious! Each team has their own biodiesel processor in the back of the car/van/whatever; when they stop at the end of the day they go scavenging for used oil set up their processor and let it run overnight so they can refuel in the morning for the next days rallying!

Follow the greenest and grubbiest banger challenge ever. Start your diesel engines for the summer drive to the beaches of Greece, powered by waste cooking fat scavengened from restaurants and burger bars en-route.

Yes, they’ll be filling the tanks from chip fryers and schnitzel shops all the way down through Europe.

The challenge is to "Fat-Find" your way from the UK to the Mediterranean without using fossil fuels, and The Golden Lard Award awaits those that make it all the way on waste vegetable oil. Some teams will be running on pure grease, while others will be brewing up biodiesel from they fat they find on the way.

The 2-week trip, departs on August 16th: Diesel cars don't need to be converted to take part but it will be an advantage if they are.

2008 is the first time this has been attempted, and all fat-finding novices and pioneers are welcome.

If you can't join them for the entire trip then go and see them off from the Ace Cafe, North London on the 16th at 4pm and join us for the Sausage Smoke Cruise, through London following the Thames.

Or follow their insanity at www.fatfinding.com

I don't know about you but I'M IMPRESSED! Look if these guys can pull it off making biodiesel on the road then ANYONE can start making biodiesel at home, right??

Till next time.

Mike

Making Biodiesel is Better & Cheaper than Using the Train

So I'm in the UK for a while as most of you know - and why not, it's one country where the government sure does like to tax the hell out of the automobile owner and especially their fuel.

Heck did you know that in the UK a US Gallon of Gas would cost $3.41 for the gas itself, plus $4.92 in government "fuel duty" (a tax), PLUS 17.5% sales tax on top!! What's that, about $10 a US gallon?!

Oh and that's just Gas by the way, Diesel is nearly 20% more expensive!!!!!

Anyhoo, I digress from my origonal story. I'm also a motorbike nut (and with the cost of gas in the UK you need to be......ok ok I know enough already) so I've been scouting around for a particular British bike I want, a Triumph.

I was lucky enough to find one, but at the other end of the country about 180 miles away according to my UK mapping software. So I jumped in the car which as it happens was empty, as an experiment I went to the local gas station and filled up. The total cost of the diesel was $150 or there abouts.

Driving the 180 miles (pretty fast I'll admit) used less than half a tank. I bought the bike ( a real piece of sex on two wheels I might add) and rode it home.



So the next day of course I have to take the train to collect the car. The cost of the simple, cheapest, 1 way ticket for the journey? Can you believe this? $125!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then of course I have to shell out $10 in cab fare from the station, so $130 in all for the same journey using public transportation. That's damn nearly $1 a mile.

Now the simple fact is WORST case scenario I can make my own biodiesel for $3 a US Gallon and BEST case I can get it down to just $1. My car will hold 10 UK Gallons thats 8.3 US Gallons, so a full tank of home made fuel will cost me between $8 and $25 and take me 440 miles.

Now I know I end most of my posts with the same childish rant these days but it's only because I want to save you guys from yourselves - BUY a biodiesel guide, MAKE a simple processor using a tea urn like I showed you last time - START MAKING BIODIESEL AT HOME.

Till next time.

How to Make Biodiesel at Home with a simple Machine you can put together for less tha $200!

This is an excerpt from the Ultimate Biodiesel Guide 2008 (www.ultimate-biodiesel-guide.com):

One of the main objections I get from people when I talk to then about making biodiesel at home is that it takes a lot of fancy equipment and that it's expensive to get started. They've usually had a look on the web and found biodiesel processors like the FuelMeister and so on which cost upwards of $2000 dollars.

Now I know that with gas getting more expensive it's easier to justify spending money to make your own fuel but even so $2000 is $2000 bucks.

But what if you could put together a small processor for home use for less than $200, one that was small enough to run in your workshop? What if it required no welding, no mechanical skill, was safe reliable and easy to use? (..and this works for any country by the way..)

The good news is that I faced the same challenges when I started out. I'm no DIY exert I can tell you, and I sure as heck didn't have $2000 to spend. In the end the solution was simple....and here it is:



What the heck is it?

For the uninitiated this is called a "catering urn" - enter that into your search engine or ebay and you'll find you can pick these up for about $100 or less! Basically catering operations use these to keep up to 60 litres of water hot for tea and coffee at big events.


What's so Good about it?

To make biodiesel you need a reaction chamber that you can heat the oil in and add the methoxide to. That's exactly what this Urn is! It has a built in heating element, it even has a tap for easy draining!

Add to that it's stainless steel so it will handle the temperature and it's easy to clean. It's discreet, it's compact, it comes in a variety of capacities from 5 litres to 60 litres. It's just as safe as a "store bought" processor (maybe more safe....it's not plastic so it can't melt for a start).

Of course you will need some extra bits and pieces to complete your setup, a thermometer, something to stir the oil, some jerry cans for oil, biodiesel and methoxide etc etc. However there is no reason why you can't put together everything you need for $200 MAX.

So.........what's your excuse now for not making biodiesel at home?

All the best


Mike

Is Making Biodiesel Better than Public Transport?

Well here I am in the UK. This is a country that really taxes the car owner and tries to brow beat the general public into using public transport - especially in major cities. It's a growing trend accross modern western socieites.

But is it right? Should you be looking to sell your car and take the bus?

Maybe my own experience in one of the UKs biggest cities will help provide the answer. I was in Birmingham, to watch a game of cricket (well it IS England). I should emphasise that this was a match scheduled months in advance, the numbers of attendees were known in advance, and the city itself spends over $240 Million each year on Transport.

After the match I joined the thousands of fans seeking a way back to the centre of town to catch trains etc home.The stadium sits at the cross roads of two major roads each with bus stops every few hundred yards.

So I stood at the nearest stop with about 100 other people, in the pouring rain (well it IS England) and watched in horror as not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 4 double decked buses passed right by with "out of service" signs. Then a 5th went through the intersection north/south also marked out of service.

So let me ask you this; if a major city with $240M to spend on transport can't organise enough buses at a known location at a known time for a known number of people - what chance is there for any town?

When you consider that the alternative is to jump into your own warm, comfortable car, parked just round the corner, and drive straight home on clean fuel that you made your self for a few dollars a tankfull - what are you going to do?

Join the Biodiesel Revolution...

With the price at the pump rising by nearly a penny a week now is the time for ordinary people to join the biodiesel revolution - and I don't mean buying the stuff!

For just $200 in second hand parts and with no assembly required (so no mechanical skill needed....) you can put together a simple but effective biodiesel processor that you can operate from home making 30-40 litres of clean cheap fuel at a time.

I took a look at the VW Bluemotion2 this week. Ok I know it's not many peoples idea of a hot auto BUT....it looks good, it sounds good, it drives really nicely, and best of all - it gives a genuine 70 miles to the gallon of diesel. I'm guessing based on past experience that that will equate to between 65 and 75 miles to the allon of biodiesel.

So.....if you put together my little biodiesel processor (I can say build or assemble even because there is none of that to do) and had one of these VW Polo BlueMotion cars you could make enough fuel at home to travel 1950 miles every week.

Viva the revolution people!

Mike C

www.ultimate-biodiesel-guide.com

Biodiesel - Whether you Want it or Not!

From April something new will be appearing in your fuel pump. There will be no visible difference to the eye, there has only been limited publicity and the chances are your local petrol station will not even be inclined to tell you what is happening.

In a bid to tackle carbon emissions from cars, the EU has introduced the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation. It stipulates that all petrol sold in the UK must include at least 2.5 per cent biofuels, rising to 5 per cent by 2010.

What are biofuels?

Biofuels are a renewable alternative to fossil fuels. To classify, the fuel must be made from biological materials, for example biodiesel is made from processed vegetable oils such as soya bean oil.

They are renewable fuels because in the case of plants they absorb carbon dioxide during their growth. So when burnt they are merely releasing what they have already absorbed. In effect, they are carbon neutral.

• Learn more about making biodiesel

All cars can cope with a blend of up to 5 per cent biofuels without any modifications to the engine. Some specially designed models on the market can now take a blend containing up to 85 per cent biofuel.

Production of biofuels has soared in recent years as countries look for alternatives to oil, which has become increasingly expensive and whose supply is heavily dependent on politically unstable regions, such as the Middle East.

However, as countries like the United States and Brazil have turned from growing corn or sugar for food to using it to produce ethanol, it has had a devastating side effect; food prices have been going up.

Food wars

The more land farmers give over to producing energy crops the more food prices are pushed up by falling supplies of key crops. The issue is particularly acute in the Americas where at least a quarter of the US corn crop and more than half of Brazil's sugar cane crop is used for ethanol production.

However, European officials insist the continent is not contributing to the problem, with only 2 per cent of cereal production used for biofuels. But, there is no guarantee where the biofuels used in your petrol will come from. In addition, it’s not just instability in the food markets that is being blamed on biofuels.

Deforestation

The biggest concern of environmentalists is that as crops such as palm or soya bean become the new oil so more Asian and South American countries will be tempted to clear rainforests to grow them. Then not only would biodiversity-rich landscape be lost but also trees that absorbed vast quantities of carbon dioxide and helped reduce global carbon emissions.

Although recognising the benefits biofuels offer as an alternative to fossil fuels, many environmentalists now question whether we should be pushing ahead with adding them to our petrol just yet.

Friends of the Earth claim a recent poll found that almost 9 out of 10 Britons had no idea that biofuels were about to be added to their petrol. They argue that more resources should be put into making vehicles more fuel efficient and improving public transport.

“Most people will be horrified to know the Government is putting biofuels in our petrol when the damage they do to forests could make climate change worse,” said Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner, Kenneth Richter. “People want to see real green transport solutions that will make a difference to their lives - like better public transport and smarter cars that burn less fuel,” he added.

Will the cost of Fuel go Down Then?

Absolutely not! Despite that fact that biodiesel can be mass produced cheaply from industrial waste and ethanol can be cheaply imported or produced locally you, the consumer, will not see one penny reduction in cost. So just as I predicted previously, it's not about the cost of oil at all, it's about the government putting their hand in your pocket for tax revenue on commodities they know you cannot live without.

Conclusion

The ONLY and I repeat ONLY way to escape this taxation trap is to make your own fuel! For a modest investment you can quietly make your own fuel in your shed for a few pennies a litre. You have been warned, stay keen stay green!

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).

5 Years to Biodiesel Powered Jet Airlines

I'd bet good money that we are just 5 years away from major airlines runnig their aircraft on clean, green, renewable, biodiesel.

Why? Well aviation history was made earlier this week in the high desert at the Reno-Stead Airport when an L-29 military aircraft piloted by Carol Sugars and Douglas Rodante succeeded in completing the world’s first jet flight powered solely by 100% biodiesel fuel. The Czechoslovakian-made aircraft is rated to fly on a variety of fuels including heating oil, making it the preferred platform for testing biodiesel in jet engines.

The experimental test flights were conducted starting with a blend of jet fuel and biodiesel. The engine data was measured and the performance was evaluated and found acceptable for continued use, eventually resulting in the landmark flight using 100% renewable biodiesel fuel. According to Chief Pilot Carol Sugars who wrote and conducted the test program, “As we gradually increased the amount of biodiesel in the fuel blend, the data confirmed that the aircraft continued to perform well, giving me the confidence to transition to 100% biodiesel.” Flight tests were conducted up to an altitude of 17,000 feet showing no significant difference in performance compared to conventional jet fuel.

“This test program between Green Flight International and Biodiesel Solutions was a unique and exciting opportunity to show what can be done in renewable fuels.” said Rudi Wiedemann, president of Biodiesel Solutions. “The very idea of using 100% biodiesel to fly a jet aircraft makes a compelling statement about the possibilities for the future of renewable energy and a healthier planet.”

Out of concern for our global environment, Green Flight International was conceived by Douglas Rodante in April 2006 to serve as a platform for future development in the use of environmentally-friendly fuels in aviation and elsewhere. “It is imperative that the global community take immediate steps to reduce our carbon footprint, because we can no longer afford to wait while our environment continues to degrade.” said Rodante. “By implementing even a small amount of bio-degradable fuel in our transportation system we can significantly reduce the CO2 (greenhouse gasses) and NOx (the precursor to smog) that contribute to global warming.”

In the near future Green Flight International expects to announce plans for another record-breaking aviation event. They invite aviation and biofuel enthusiasts to inquire about how they might be able to participate in this exciting venture. For more information contact Doug Rodante at (407) 880-2501 or doug@greenflightinternational.com .

Brazil Embarrases USA - Makes Biodiesel Deal with Jamaica

Surely I'm not the only person in the so called "First World" that is both embarrased by our own lack of progress and impressed with Brazils entrpreneurial approach to assisting its Carribean neighbour?

Jamaica is now poised to benefit from bilateral arrangements with Brazil in the area of biodiesel production, which is presenting great opportunities for farmers of the country.

The establishment of two biodiesel plants is being considered with the assistance of Brazil that has over 30 years of experience in the production of fuels.

The arrangement is in the early phase of development, but the exploration of possible crops for the production of biofuel has already begun.

The oil crops presently being grown in Brazil and identified as possible options to be used in the production of biodiesel here, include: soya bean, sunflower, castor bean, cotton seed, peanut - which is used in rotation with sugar for the production of both ethanol and biodiesel, jatropha and macaw palm.

It is not certain whether all of these will be compatible with the Jamaican climate. However, the Scientific Research Council has already done feasability analysis on one of the proposed crops - castor bean, but requires further research to determine which variety to plant.

Brazil's main oil source

The oil content of soya bean is about 20 per cent, with a yield of 3,000 kilogrammes per hectare. It is currently the main source of oil in Brazil. About 34 million tonnes are produced worldwide.

Sunflower's oil content is about 44 per cent of yield, which reaches 1,500 kg per hectare. It can be used for both edible oil and feedstock meal. Production worldwide is about 10 million tonnes.

A it relates to Castor beans, the oil content is 48 per cent. It yields 2,000 kg per hectare. The plant is suitable for growth on marginal lands and under extreme weather conditions.

Jatropha's oil content is 38 per cent with a yield of 4,000kg per hactre and produces inedible oil. Peanut has oil content of 54 per cent and is an attractive market. It produces both edible oil and can be use as meal, with mechanical harvesting possible.

Palm has oil content of 22 per cent with yield of 4,200, the highest of all commercial oil crops. It is however limited to rainy regions with world production of 36 million tonnes.

The production of biodiesel provides the twin goals of reducing petroleum import and supporting the country's agricultural sector.

But production of the biofuel will take an integrated approach, incorporating both the agriculture and fuel industry. The process will also involve small-scale farmers as an integral partner in the process.

Five key concepts

The production of biodiesel includes five key concepts: verticality, demand, competition, coordination and leverage. "These concepts are key to the production process," said Professor Aziz da Silva Jr., who was speaking at a two-day seminar on biofuels organised by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and the Brazilian Embassy at the Pegasus hotel on August 9.

It is anticipated that the demand for biodiesel will increase over the next few years, as it can be used both as an end product and for input in other industries, such as refineries.

Some 500 billion cubic metres of biofuels are produced annually and are presently sold at US$600 per tonne.

A software - biosoft has been developed to conduct sensitivity, and scenario analysis to arrive at the most appropriate production levels using both social and economic indicators.

Brazil's diesel consumption is estimated at 40 billion liters (10.6 billion gallons) per year, with imports accounting for just eight to 10 per cent of consumption.

New Cheap Way to Purify your Biodiesel

A group of Chemists from the University of Leicester have developed a way of purifying biodiesel made from vegetable oils, which is cheap, simple and low in toxicity.

The team, led by Professor Andrew Abbott is able to remove glycerol, the main by-product of vegetable oil-based biodiesel, using ionic liquids made in part by vitamin B4 (choline chloride).

If left in biodiesel, glycerol (a syrupy sugar alcohol) would damage engines but this technique simply washes it out of the fuel. The ionic liquid developed by Professor Abbott uses a complex of choline chloride with glycerol to extract more glycerol out of the biodiesel.

The Leicester process is greener than traditional processes and effectively provides a sustainable methodology for the purification of biodiesel without the production of significant waste.

Professor Abbott commented: “We hope that further research will optimise the ionic liquid recycling and recovery of the glycerol. We are hoping to collaborate with a biodiesel producer to test this technology further.”

This process offers tremendous potential, if it becomes a commercial product it will be a very low cost low toxicity option to the current "dry wash" solutions.

Making Biodiesel - For Aeroplanes!?

If you're reading this then you are probably making biodiesel at home or at the very least intrested in making and using biodiesel. One area that up until now has seemed largely ignored by the comercial biodiesel producers is aviation. Now the press and the government is starting to show an intrest in how much pollution aircraft cause and contribute to global warming - the dreaded words "carbon footprint" have been heard.

So I did some digging around on the subject and came up with some very interetsing developments at Perdue University:

As a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University, Bernie Tao has worked on several experimental projects that challenge biomass parameters.

Over the years, Tao and his students have explored changes in plant microbial behavior to create useful products that people can use. One example is biodegradable plastics made with animal fat. The U.S. government has also asked Tao to look at vegetable oils and soybeans to create renewable products that would replace petroleum, a limited resource. For him, the projects aren't about repeating what scientific advances have already been made, such as renewable fuel, but discovering new products that perhaps no one had thought of before.

"We didn't have any use in making biodiesel fuel because it's pretty simple," Tao said. "But people would approach us and ask, 'What else can you do with this?' So we began to look at what other things you can make with it."

As Tao and his students have proven, the possibilities seem endless.


Getting the most out of biodiesel
The highest value petroleum product in the energy sector is aviation fuel, according to Tao. It differs from ground transportation fuel, and the main challenge is its cold temperature behavior. A biodiesel-fueled car has no problem running in weather 5 or 10 degrees below zero. However, biodiesel in airplane engines would easily crystallize with temperatures in the atmosphere between 40 and 58 degrees below zero. To obtain a more ideal aviation fuel, Tao and his students created an efficient fractionation method for biodiesel, extracting the materials that would quickly freeze in the fuel. Tao's improved biodiesel is being tested in commercial airline engines at Purdue University Airport, where Tao's students measure thrust, emissions and power of various biodiesel blends.

Make Biodiesel – Beat the Great Petrol Rip-Off.

If you needed any more convincing when it comes to whether or not you should start making biodiesel at home then here it is – the latest prices that people are paying around the world for petrol:


United Kingdom £3.76/gallon
Norway £3.41/gallon
Italy £3.10/gallon
Japan £2.70/gallon
Brazil £2.20/gallon
Australia £1.70/gallon
USA £1.35/gallon
Mexico £1.30/gallon
Saudi 49p/gallon!
Kuwait 40p/gallon!
Venezuela 8p/gallon !

And for those of you in the first 7 countries, guess what ? Most of what you are paying is tax to the government!

So don’t just sit there use one of the links of this blog and start making your own fuel TODAY. You will never look back and your bank balance will remind you of the wisdom of your actions.


N.B. It is unlikely in the extreme that these prices will do anything other than continue to go up…………..

Biodiesel or Death?

I just read an article by Chuck Cole, the "Biodiesel Doctor" in Farm and Ranch News which raised my blood-pressure and it should raise yours too.

I don't agree with Chucks view, I think to be frank he misses some crucial facts, however I do agree that the situation means that we should all be making biodiesel and we should be completely independant from the middle east.

Here's Chucks main pitch: " Because the worldwide demand for oil is increasing and the supply is decreasing, it is clear that the long-term price of oil will continue to rise. Considering that the United States is the largest oil consumer in the world, this continuing price escalation should cause us serious concern. But that’s not the scariest part. Iraq and Saudi Arabia combined are the largest single geographical source of oil in the world. We all know that Iraq is extremely unstable. If we pull our troops out, who knows what could happen to this supply of oil. What most people don’t know is that Saudi Arabia is likely to become extremely unstable also.

Saudi Arabia is a ticking time bomb. In the 1980s, Saudi was a very rich country with $120 billion in cash reserves. Today, the reserves are les than $20 billion. The middle class of the country has literally been wiped out financially supporting the royal family. In 1981, the average Saudi citizen had an income of over $28,000 per year. By 2001, that income was down to $6,800 and is still decreasing today.

The oil income is going to support a huge royal family. The average Saudi prince fathers from 40 to 70 children during his lifetime. Thus, the royal family is growing at an unbelievable rate at the expense of the average citizen. Is it any wonder that al-Qaeda is becoming popular with Saudi’s disintegrating middle class? Sooner or later, the house of Saudi will fall. What then?

Who knows, but we can easily imagine a very, very serious interruption in the supply of oil. What if the downfall of Saudi Arabia also takes out Iraq? Or the fall of Iraq takes out Saudi Arabia?"

What you need to bear in mind is the following:
- in the last 10 years the population of Saudi has doubled, 20% of that is made up of foreign nationals so given that they don't levy taxes of course the average salary has declined. However with no taxes and a fairly low cost of living $6800 goes a very long way.
- that $20 billion is cash, lets not forget that the USA and the UK economies are massively in debt by comparison
- Saudi is the heart of the Islamic faith which is part of what gives it its religious stability and makes it potentially volatile.

I don't think any of these things that get Chcuk so excited are really the problem, or at least the whole problem.

In the seventies the USA persuaded the arab states lead by the Saudis to agree to only sell crude in US dollars. To sweeten the deal the US government promised to defend the Saudi families right to rule with military force if required. Last year Iran bodly stated its intention to break from this and sell its oil in Euros as many of its clients are European and the Euro is increasingly strong against the falling dollar. It should suprose no-one reading this that US military threats aimed at Iran have little to do in reality with their nuclear power program.

So two stark and frightening scenarios potentially extend from this: (1) Iran could lead a consortium of arab states to move away from the US Dollar standard and sell in Euros. If this happens the USA will no longer be able to manage economic inflation because the worldwide demand for dollars will fall and they sdimpy won't be able to mop them up - the effect will be to send the dollar in a further downward spiral and the ceonomic consequences will be catastrophic.

(2) Chuck may be right, perhaps there is socio-political instability in Saudi Arabia, perhaps Iraq or the threats to another Muslim nation (Iran) will push fundamentalists over the edge and cause a revolt.

What frightens me - and it should frighten you - is that the answer in both cases is war. Either an invasion of Iran to prevent them using the Euro, neatly wrapped up in a "Nuclear Weapons", WMD, spin story. Or a counter insurgency operation in Saudi to defend the royal family as promised.

In either case more American and UK soldiers will die and their citizens and economies will have to carry a heavy tax burden long into the future.

If we make biodiesel, if we make ourselves fuel independant then this kind of action is both unneccessary and indefensible. My suggestion? Make biodiesel at home, campaign for more biofuels, bombard your goverment representatives with requests to support biomass fuels.

Only when we are producing our own bio-fuels will be free of this threat, and able to build a stable economic future for ourselves and our children.

Promote Biodiesel & Kill the Drug Trade?

I was astonished to learn recently from roving reporter Michael Kanellos that Columbian farmers are starting to turn Coca fields over to growing crops for green fuels.

It's an amazing thought that without massive expense and bloodshed we could actually start to turn the tide in the South American drug trade by giving farmers there a lucrative alternative to growing drug crops.

There's the added advantage that it would also reduce the pressure at home to give over good arable land used for growing food for fuel crop production which , as we have already seen this year is pushing the price of corn, maize and flour steadily up in price - a trend that simply is not supportable in the long term.

One of the benefits of certain fuel oil crops, used for making biodiesel, like Jatropa for example is that it will produce a good yeild but will grow on absolutely marginal soil unsuited to food production - you know the kind of barren mountainside used to grow Coca and Marijuana, and in Afghanistan opium poppies used to make herion.

The main reason farmers turn to these crops is that it simply pays better than growing anything else. Now we have an opportunity through promoting the manufacture and use of biodiesel to offer them an attractive alternative which benefits us both.

You can support this move - Use biodiesel! Start making biodiesel at home and using biodiesel fuel in your car, generator or home heating system. The more your actions increase the demand for biodiesel fuel the more seed oil crops will need to be grown globally.

Looking to the future and notwithstanding the environmental, cost and freedom benefits of biodiesel I dare to hope that another collateral benefit with be a reduction in the growing of drug crops which ultimately fund terrorism and blight the lives of so many people.

Biodiesel Beats Ethanol Every Time

It seems like forever that I have been banging the table and saying that ethanol is not the answer to the fossil fuel or climate chnage crisis. I'm not alone in this and often others don't say it inplicitly but instead clearly point a finger in the same direction. I thought I would share with you an article written by one of my associates By Nick Louth who writes for MSN and who in this article entitled "Why biofuels won't help climate change" points us in the direction of biodiesel once more.

What Nick doesn't implicitly state but we know is that not only does biodiesel have all the same climate benefits as ethanol when burnt, it can be grown on marginal land, from crops that grow quickly with little energy. Crucially though the average person can make biodiesel at home either from fresh or used oil making it a far superior and sustainable choice. Enjoy.

For all the excitement over the issue, biofuels are not going to be much help in reducing carbon emissions, or in slowing the consumption of oil reserves.
In fact, the entire biofuel industry is already in deep trouble because of that old adversary: economics.

Brazilian buses, the perfect scenario
The excitement of biofuels is in theory understandable. A bus in Brazil, running on ethanol derived from locally-grown sugar cane, produces 90% less carbon dioxide than a petrol-powered bus. The reason for that is the carbon absorbed from the atmosphere by the growing cane offsets almost all the carbon returned to the atmosphere by burning the ethanol to power the bus.

Better still, the bus would produce much less particle and sulphur dioxide pollution, even if running on a mix of petrol and ethanol. By using local crops a whole series of important developmental boxes can be ticked: rural incomes boosted, technology transferred to less developed countries, a useful new export for poor agrarian countries and so on. Landlocked African countries, using the Brazilian experience, could cut their reliance on pricey foreign fuel by growing sugar cane for ethanol.

Holy grail scenario
This is the holy grail of biofuel. Growing fuels to substitute for increasingly scarce oil supplies, and cutting reliance on energy from unstable regions like the Middle East.
We know it works, because until fuel prices crashed in the 1990s and made it uneconomic, Brazil was a huge producer of ethanol for domestic use.

So much for theory. The carbon gain isn’t automatic. It hinges on growing crops to make the fuel that would not otherwise be grown. If the crops are merely diverted from other uses then there is no new crop growth, and no offset to the carbon produced by the fuel burning.

Don’t use the rainforest
However, if new acreage of crops is grown this is most likely to be provided by the destruction of existing forest. “If even 5% of biofuels are sourced from wiping out existing ancient forests, you’ve lost all your carbon gain,” said Doug Parr, chief UK scientist at Greenpeace.
It is far from certain that there is fallow, non-forested but productive land available on the scale required to make the carbon equation of biofuels stand up.

Yet there is no doubting the official enthusiasm for biofuel. The European Union earlier this month set a target that by 2020, 10% of all petrol and diesel used in vehicles should come from biofuels. From farmers to financiers, £1 billion a year has been raised to plough into biofuel production.

Biofuels: one clean drop in an oily bucketful
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that demand for crops for biofuels will soar from 41.5 million tones of oil equivalent in 2010 to 92.4 million by 2030. With government subsidies it may climb faster to 146.7 millio tonnes by 2030, the IEA predicts.

Yet that is still a drop in a bucket compared to the 3,809 million tonnes of oil consumed annually worldwide. Oil consumption is set to grow every year by 3.2-3.6%, according to the IEA. A single year’s growth would thus eat up the entire 2030 cumulative biofuel target. Plainly, we are hardly going to see much difference in fuel demand or in reliance on the Middle East because of these alternative fuels.

Besides, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reckons it would take 70% of Europe’s farmland devoted to biofuel crops to provide just 10% of road transport fuel. “Biofuels are not any kind of answer to global warming,” Parr concludes.

Corn to ethanol: Just a waste of energy?
Biofuel cultivation make most sense in the tropics where intense sunshine promotes rapid crop growth and carbon uptake, where labour is cheapest and where expensive (and oil-derived) fertilizers are not required. In temperate latitudes, though, the energy balance is reversed in crops like maize (corn), wheat and rapeseed.

Temperate ethanol production actually wastes energy. David Pimentel, Professor of Ecology and Agriculture at Cornell University in New York showed that it took 6,597 kilocalories of non-renewable energy to produce a litre of ethanol from US-grown corn. This ethanol contains only 5,130 kilocalories of energy per litre, essentially getting 22% less out than you put in.
Yet it is in just those traditional farming areas of Europe and North America where the enthusiasm, the spending and the government subsidies have been greatest. It is also there where protectionism has been most evident. The US currently levies a 54 cents a gallon tariff on imports of Brazilian ethanol, the one biofuel which actually is efficient.

Not about saving the world, more about farm subsidies
It is hard not to come to the conclusion that the greatest beneficiary of biofuel will not be the world’s energy users, but the rich world’s grain farmers. With £306 billion annually spent subsidising global agriculture, it is no surprise that farmers are standing in line to receive yet more handouts to support the markets for what they grow. In 2006, US farmers received over $5 billion (£2.6 billion) in subsidies to grow biofuel.

In Europe the crops grown for electricity generation biofuels, such as elephant grass and short-rotation willow coppice, are on fresh land. This is a carbon gain, but at some subsidy cost. The land most often used is “set-aside”: European farmers are paid once not to farm under EU rules, and then paid a second time to farm, so long as they grow only non-food crops. It’s a classic EU subsidy tangle that we taxpayers are funding.

Now economics weighs in
However, the soaring cost of the crops needed to produce biofuels is already threatening to make them uneconomic and ensure that they could not survive without subsidies. Prices of maize, wheat, palm oil, rapeseed (known as canola in the US) and soy oil futures are all soaring, making the price of biofuels much more expensive than the fuels they are intended to displace in our fuel tanks.

Maize prices (corn in the US) have reached a 10-year high of $4.31 a bushel in recent days, double the level of a year ago, while crude oil prices, having reached $76 a barrel in August are now back at levels of a year ago, $60. The rising cost of grain has been driven by an awful harvest of wheat this year in Australia, normally one of the world’s largest producers, plus increasing demand for biofuels. India, the world’s second largest wheat producer, has banned exports and released 365,000 tonnes from its strategic reserve to curb price rises.

Now beer drinkers need to worry
And it isn’t just bread eaters who need to be concerned. Beer drinkers too are likely to face price increases. The price of barley, an important constituent in beer production, has soared 86% in the last year because farmers are switching away from the crop to grow biofuel crops like rapeseed instead. Lager-maker Heineken has already warned that this is causing problems. Once again, note what is happening: the acreage devoted to biofuels is coming from switching crops, not growing anything new. There is no carbon gain.

Technology and mix problems
Biofuels face major technical and market problems too. Spanish engineering group Abengoa has threatened to suspend output at its largest bioethanol plant, which uses wheat to make a biofuel for petrol. But in Spain most drivers use diesel and ethanol can only be blended with petrol. The 200,000 tonne-per-year Dunkirk biofuel refinery planned by Neste of Finland and Total of France is jeopardised by technical problems because of the higher-than-expected temperatures required to turn vegetable oils into hydrocarbons.

Taxation: nein!
In Germany, demand for biodiesel has fallen 30% this year after the Federal government put a nine euro cent tax on each litre, with plans to escalate this to the 45 cent level on existing diesel by 2012. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme said in a recent article: “The market acceptance of biofuels will accelerate if the costs of climate change and pollution are captured in the price of energy, an omission that unfairly makes conventional fuels look more financially attractive than they really are.” He’s right that conventional fuels don’t capture their climate change and pollution cost, but wrong to believe that biofuels always do.

Biofuels do not provide a pure carbon offset unless the crops would not otherwise be grown, their production is often highly energy intensive, and without a big rise in the price of oil they will continue to cost more to produce than the fuel they are supposed to replace.

A role to play, but lost in politics
Biofuels could have a role to play if they are grown only in the tropics, but the western world’s farmers do not want to lose out on the subsidies. And to keep biofuels competitive will cost a lot more in taxpayer subsidies. Are we really prepared to do this when they aren’t going to help us win the war on climate change?

In the end, if we are to tackle climate change we need to take a more fundamental look at the amount we drive and fly, how we heat our homes and the food and consumer goods we buy.
It’s never going to be fixed by merely changing the fuel we put in the tank.