diesel and Aus politics dont mix... apparently

[gldgti]

Hi there fellow converts,

thought i'd start a bit of a commentary on my take on the current situation in australia as far as energy and sustainability goes. It's something I'm passionate about, and i think its omething everyone should atleast be aware of, given the current world climate (climate in every sense of the word).

As keen dieselers you guys are all automatically aware of the importance of fuel economy, or you would have petrol guzzlers... no offence ot the petrol heads either.

I know some of you guys are into bio-fuel as well, which for me is very encouraging. My father has been making his own bio-d and running it in golfs and a 240D merc for almost 4 years i think it is now. having to drive 100km round trip to work each day means he's saving thousands per year on fuel, with an outlay in time and effort at home. but even then, the principal behind bio-d alone is enough for dad to make it, as it is carbon neutral and cleaner than dino-diesel.

Some of you may have heard that ABG, the Australian Biodiesel Group, has recently brought in their new factory outside Brisbane. Unfortunately, they also announced that due to lack of support from federal and state governments, further plans to expand are not being considered at this time. They will instead turn theire focus to the US, which for all its current bad politics, is more supportive of biodiesel research than we are, apparrently.

This is saddening news for me, as it shows that although there is significant industrial and commercial interest in building this sustainable energy infrastructure, there is clearly no political support for it.

Even more discouraging are certain other aspects of the encumbant industrial commercial and political heads policies seeping down the the next generation of engineers and specialists, and the population as a whole:

In the last week, as a member of Engineers Australia I have recieved invitations to tour the new coal loading facitly at Kooragang island, set to increase total output of the facility to 111 Mega tonnes/year (thats 111,000,000 tonnes exported); and to an information/promotion night for "the hybrid evolution", a seminar on the benefits of hybrid technology, and a toyota prius on display.

given that both of these areas are, to my point of view, dead end roads to an unsustainable future, it seems annoying to me that separate industry orgainisations like IEAust are placing such positive wraps on these areas that I think i ought to be trying to think AROUND, and not WITH.

Anyway, if anyone has some comments i'd love to hear what you guys all think.

Cheers,

Aydan

[smithy010]

Tell me, is the government only expecting us biodiesel producers to pay 19c/l, or are they expecting the full 38c/l?
That alone seems like enough reason to accuse the government of not encouraging the use of biofuels!

[brackie]

Let's get the biofuel thing into perspective.

* It's great.
* It's renewable.
* It does wonderful things for your injection pump.
* It's emissions are less.

BUT:

* It's taxable.
* If you use waste it's a bugger to get clean.
* If you use virgin it's not much cheaper than petrodiesel. (When I was about to start using it virgin poppy seed oil was 50c/L. Now it's in demand it's over $1.00. Canola is 20c/L more expensive. By the time I get it delivered or pick it up from 100km away it costs more than petrodiesel.)

AND:

If we were to grow enough oilseed crops in Oz to fuel our diesel fleet we would use ALL of our arable land to grow it plus have to import about the same again from overseas. If I was to put all of my farm under canola I could produce enough biodiesel to power my cars and tractors for 1 month of normal use.

Not the answer I'm afraid. But, that not saying, "Don't keep on making biodiesel". Good on ya. Something is better than nothing. I still run canola through my fuel systems periodically 'cos I know it's good for them.

[smithy010]

Hmmmmm.

I understand bio fuel should still be taxable, because in the end we are all road users and we gotta pay for the roads somehow.

As far as i know, there is still the standard 38c/l excise on biodiesel. Added to this, there is no incentive for transport operators to use biodiesel, because they can no longer claim their diesel fuel rebate (12c/l) on biodiesel. If the government were to actively encourage the use of biofuels, surely more people would use them.

Is this what you were getting at Ayden? Or was it more the idea of diesel in general.

[peter_j_g]

In the EU there is a directive that 5.75% of all fuel use is to be biofuels by the year 2010 - that's only 4 years away.

Biofuels are hitting the mainstream here. Recently in Germany i saw many service stations selling biodiesel at 99 euro cents/litre, normal petrodiesel is 1.30 euro/litre.

In Sweden I noticed a Saab 95 with a small biopower badge on the back. Then I saw another, and another, and another... Also noticed many service stations selling E85, ie a mix of 85% ethanol 15% petrol. The Biopower version of the Saab 95 uses E85, and actually produces more power than the standard version. You also benefit from a lower annual tax, and are exempt from Stockholm's congestion tax charges. By the way, traffic in Stockholm is worse than in Sydney!

In Finland biodiesel is becomming readily avaliable - and produced locally. A large plant is under construction - details at: http://www.nesteoil.com/default.asp?...1261,2357,2515

This plant alone will provide around 15% of the country's diesel. Note that it's being built by a major OIL company... There are also several other plants for both biodiesel and ethanol under construction. The quest for self suffiency is certainly on in this part of the world!

[smithy010]

Great to hear the EU is getting their act together.

15% biodiesel- that's pretty awesome!

[Golf Loon]

Yeah and the New Saab running better on higher concentrations of ethanol is clever use of turbo technology and getting less engine knock than on petrol.

The Swedes care about the environment and technology though.

[GoLfMan]

have you heard about the 5 fuel volvo???

[gldgti]

just to answer a few questions...

it was put to transport minister last year the question of tax, and his answer was along the lines of:

"small producers for private use only still have to pay 38c/l tax, but we dont really care if you dont pay it"

the taxation spokesperson at the time said:

"everybody will pay 38c/l tax"

- take from that what you will.

now the question of oil:

there is a great deal of misinformation going about about the amount of land needed to grow oilseed crops, etc. calculations about oilseed growing take into consideration current fuel useage rates - not target rates.

heres some important things to think about:

> using biodiesel (and ethanol) is not the answer to all our problems. however it is the answer to some of them - heavy moving, industry, country people need to drive a long way etc...
> if we plan to exist for the next thousand years we need to be prepared, and indeed, welcome some change in how we think about, and the way we utilise resources such as waste oil and biomass.
> energy sources will need to be de-centralised and become area specific if renewables are to be successful

[smithy010]

An interesting thought experiment i did for one of my tech electives.

From my moderate knowledge of canola in the riverina region of NSW,

Avg yield= 1.5t/ha

Avg oil content: 35%

=0.525tonnes of oil per ha.
= about 570l of oil

now, if my diesel golf does the claimed 5.5l/100km, i should be able to travel 10300km on one hectare of canola.

Obviously this is greatly simplified, because the methanol is not factored in, nor is the power to plant, harvest, and press the canola, but it's a pretty cool thought!

I think for the amount of oil i am using, Mr Howard can go and get F%^&*d.