Do they mention that crops like mustard give a completely inedible seed oil that is ideal for making BD?

BP, there are countries such as China that are taking inhospitable land and using it to grow bushes that have oil seeds - inedible seeds, but ones that can provide a feedstock for biodiesel. That, and perhaps algae farms, seem like a reasonable alternative to taking prime farm land and using it to produce fuel.

My point in posting the article is that the homemade biodiesel crowd does not interfere with the food chain. The cooking oil is still used in food production. It is only afterwards that we get our hands on it and turn a waste product into fuel.

I got back from the meeting with the Treasury in Canberra. What a place (what a waste of money!)

There were several people from Treasury and The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources also several people from industry. The meeting was to discuss some changes in the off-road credits. I did manage to bring up the homemade biodiesel issue.

While listening to some of the industry members talk about biodiesel it was interesting to hear the representative from Treasury say that Treasury wasn't interested in issues about the environment or fuel standards. - Hello, what have all these letters from Treasury been saying?

It was refreshing to hear some honesty for a change. They stated that the only thing Treasury was interested in was the collection of revenue. As if we didn't know that already - so why all the BS before?

The BEER issue came up and Treasury wouldn't touch the beer comparison. As far as they are concerned the only comparison is with distilled liqour. That is their mindset - full stop!

There was discussion by industry about "fuel security" in the context of biodiesel providing some alternative to decreasing petrol reserves (Peak Oil). That fell on deaf ears - they just don't hear the words. I expect that Peak Oil is NOT part of the paradigm in Canberra. They just don't get it!! This is scary stuff.

After the meeting I had a chance to discuss the homemade biodiesel issue with several bureacrats and a lobbyist. The consensus was "what have you got to trade?". In other words, what sort of a revenue package can you bring to the table to influence the Government?

They see backyard biodiesel as a revenue bypassing activity. If you can make it a revenue generator, then you will get their attention.

I threw in the idea of paying for permits to produce biodiesel, or self-assessing of the amount of fuel and payment of excise at the end of the year. They were largely unresponsive to anything other than strict control by the Central Government.

My impressions of the future for backyard biodiesel? Well, if you are off the radar screen now - then stay off.

terry they now sell BioDiesel in Maitland as you know. this means you can put BioD back in your vehicle... I'll bring you a drum of commercial stuff from Maitland everytime I come down and you can leave it in your shed... so on the radar and legit...

Let me know when you want the next drum.... No surprise that you would take the trouble to buy it this way from maitland viven you publisised views on peek oil and envirosustainability...

Hey there Thebushpig! Can you tell me where in Maitland I can buy said biodiesel? I imagine it's the stuff made by Australian Biodiesel Consultancy...

quote:

Originally posted by Emporator:
Hey there Thebushpig! Can you tell me where in Maitland I can buy said biodiesel? I imagine it's the stuff made by Australian Biodiesel Consultancy...

I'll find out... the local oil collector takes/sends his stuff to Rutherford in the Hunter where they are making it. The Newcastle Council fleet is running on it.

The plant in Rutherford is Andrew Hill's plant. His is the only plant in Australia that is presently making commercial biodiesel. He was also one of the recipients of one of the grants.

BP, the idea about keeping a drum of commercial biodiesel around as evidence of where a person obtained the biodiesel in their vehicle is not such a bad idea. As you well know, the burden of proof in criminal trials is beyond a reasonable doubt. The presence of that drum of commercial biodiesel is objective evidence that would assist any assertion by a homebrewer that he was using commercial biodiesel - in other words, evidence to place a reasonable doubt in the magistrate's mind. (I would never recommend such a blatant ruse to a homebrewer, wink, wink)

It's a sorry state of affairs when we have to start thinking like lawyers in order to just make some renewable energy.

"It's a sorry state of affairs when we have to start thinking like lawyers in order to just make some renewable energy."
No Terry its a sorry state of affairs when we have to start thinking like Criminals (" such a blatant ruse") in order to just recycle a wasted energy source.

Fato, as I have stated before in this thread, there is a big difference between criminals and outlaws.

Criminals have evil intent, an outlaw adhers to higher principles than legislative fiat.

There are heaps of outlaws in the homemade biodiesel movement.

The Australian Government's partial solution to "Peak Oil"

East Timor

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Syd:
The Australian Government's partial solution to "Peak Oil"

East Timor

Yes, whoever has control of the American agenda seems also to have control of ours...

Would you say Terry that our dollar is kept artifically low?

BP, I'm sure you realise that many markets are rigged. The American Dow Jones average and the gold & silver market stand out in that regard. There are even names for the outfits that do some of the manipulating, for example the Plunge Protection Team and the Exchange Stability Fund.

International currencies would have an element of manipulation in the short term with various Central Banks selling and purchasing other currencies. However, as to how much they can push the envelope, say 10% or 20% manipulated price I wouldn't know. It seems there are plenty of sharks out there (eg: Soros) that would smell blood in the water and take advantage of any significant price displacement.

As far as the Australian dollar is concerned I think it is instructive to note that there is only about 20 bars of gold left in the Treasury (Treasury? isn't that the place where the treasure is stored?)

The Age newspaper takes a shot at the Government's alleged alternative energy policy.

The Age editorial

I have been in touch with the New Zealand Government on the issue of homemade biodiesel. Here is a paragraph from a letter I received from The Honorable Trevor Mallard, Minister of Energy -

"The New Zealand Government is working to move New Zealand towards a more sustainable energy future. This includes the development of a national technical standard for biodiesel which is expected to be in place by the end of 2005. It is expected to foster confidence in biodiesel among consumers and industry. The standard will not prevent the public from producing biodiesel for personal use. It will, however, prevent sub-standard biodiesel from being sold in New Zealand."

If only Oz had Ministers with this kind of common sense - if only.

There is more to the New Zealand situation however than just the ability for home users to produce spec fuel,if that indead becomes the case .I would suspect they will follow the Australian example in this case and have prohibitive testing only available to large companies or licenced funded operatives.
Instead of an Excise the Kiwis have a road tax measured by hubometres or speddo reading checked and monitored every six months in the standard warrant of fittness check and road user charges applicable on millage travelled @ a sum /1000 Km paid in advance and accumulated if unpaid and liable on the sale of the vehicle.The Aus governnment has looked at this scheme and rejected it as not in keeping with their excise regime.
However the Austalian Government has failed to take into account many critical issues in the new legislation ,issues I am sure if challenged would expose fundamental flaws in their legislation and expose them to international critique and environmental , taxation and Common law issues.

quote:

Originally posted by fato:
However the Austalian Government has failed to take into account many critical issues in the new legislation ,issues I am sure if challenged would expose fundamental flaws in their legislation and expose them to international critique and environmental , taxation and Common law issues.

unfortuneatly fato the High Court has a "hands off" approach to the federal government at the moment and especially as regards taxation.... the federal government (strangely aligned with whatever party is in opposition) would say that this is a result of commonsense thinking by the court and not the selection criteria applied to the appointment of High Court Judges in the last 10 - 15 years....

They have the power.... AND their coffers are overflowing as a result.

quote:

Instead of an Excise the Kiwis have a road tax

As I understand the system in NZ, there is no levy on diesel fuel, instead you pay a "Road User Charge" (or RUC) that costs $24.74 per 1,000 km for most vehicles.
See Road user charges and light diesel vehicles

Of course, diesel is much, much cheaper than petrol in NZ; 77.9c/L vs 118.9c/L in January 2005 (see attached photo)

DieselPriceInNZ.jpg (23 Kb, 7 downloads)

quote:

they now sell BioDiesel in Maitland

Does that mean they sell biodiesel (or a biodiesel blend) at a service station in Maitland? Or can you only buy it in bulk from the producer Biodiesel Industries Australia

It seems that a B20 blend (called Premium Diesel) made by South Australian Farmers Fuel is available several retail sites in Adelaide and SA but Adelaide is bloody long way for me to go to try biodiesel.

I visit the Hunter region about once a month, so if anyone knows of a servo in Maitland selling BD please tell me where.

Thanks, David

sorry David and Emporator... I will dig into it and get back to you...

quote:

Originally posted by davidm66:
Of course, diesel is much, much cheaper than petrol in NZ; 77.9c/L vs 118.9c/L in January 2005

Yes the democrats where responsible for diesel price rising above petrol in this country in the 90s... they did it in a deal with the federal government (giving in to Little Johnny on something he wanted) so that people would reduce/stop buying diesel which they saw as a pollutant above petrol...