Evergreen Online

The Newsletter of Wirral Environmental Network

June / July 2004

2. Renew Wirral

3. Climate Film Flawed But Useful

Oil's Well That Ends Well

At the time I made a call to the Environmental Transport Association hoping they could shed some light on the petrol v diesel question. They were, as usual, very helpful and said it was a close-run thing because diesel’s higher fuel efficiency (therefore reduced CO2 emissions) was offset by particulate production but diesel is deemed slightly better. So we followed their advice and were happy with the car until somebody crashed into it.

Before replacing it we thought enthusiastically “right, let’s look into this gas car lark then.” My husband decided to research the current situation first and discovered that the tax breaks on LPG were perhaps undeserved and the up coming choice for environmentalists was more likely to be ‘bio-fuel’ (vegetable oil) and the tax was probably to be adjusted accordingly in the near future. Hours of trawling the internet later (including some articles in German!) he made the decision to buy a diesel and convert it to run on vegetable oil. Not all diesels are suitable - the main criterion is that it has a Bosch injection pump. We also gave in to the temptation of extra boot space and opted for an estate (there having been an addition to the family requiring prams and associated paraphernalia).

Apparently more cooking oil is disposed of in the UK than the entire country’s fuel needs. (Do we really eat that many chips? Scary!) It seems logical to use this resource rather than to send it to landfill, and to avoid depleting fossil fuels. CO2 emissions are similar to diesel but particulate pollution is much reduced.

So far we have been offered a supply from a local pub’s deep fat fryer of approx 20 litres a fortnight. They were in fact more than happy to have someone take it away for free because pouring it down the drain is of course illegal. Before this however we had some unsuccessful visits to a Chinese takeaway where their English language knowledge amounted to “salt & vinegar?” and a chippy where they offered us kebab fat (!) then finally admitted that they never change the oil (yuk! I won’t be hurrying back there for my chips then).

We have been advised that filtering the oil is much simpler than you might think although we have yet to test this. There are no fire implications for the storage of veg oil but you have to ensure it does not leak out and contaminate the water table.Of course HM Customs & Excise require fuel tax be paid and at the moment it is relatively rare to run a car this way so it can seem quite complicated. However, even at the current tax rate of 27.1p a litre a substantial saving can be made compared to using diesel, and hopefully the duty will soon be reduced. As long as you officially declare you are using it there shouldn’t be any problems. We found three main choices available at the moment for using veg oil as a car fuel:

1. No Conversion:
Use a diesel & veg oil mix - some petrol stations even supply this ready mixed. Even a mix of 5% veg oil to diesel will provide a 3% drop in CO2 and 30% veg oil is more fuel efficient than diesel alone. Opinion seems to vary on what the maximum ratio of veg oil to diesel is. When we first began looking into it we were told that blends of up to 50% are possible without a conversion, but recently we heard that even 100% veg oil works fine with absolutely no modification to the car at all, only a fuel additive is necessary. It seems that very little scientific information is available at the moment regarding the long term effects on the engine. In the winter months it is wise to use less veg oil to avoid the risk of it solidifying.

2. A Two-Tank Conversion:
ATG supply a conversion kit which includes a secondary tank that fits into the car boot. The kit is cheaper and slightly easier to fit than the next option but a switch must be pressed before ignition, otherwise the car will not start. Warning devices are available but we did not trust ourselves to remember this. www.dieselveg.com has lots of useful info.

3. A One-Tank Conversion:
A German company called Elsbett manufacture a kit using only the one existing tank where you can put either veg oil or diesel in the tank in whatever ratio and retain valuable boot space. It is more expensive than the two-tank kit. With the right info, Elsbett (www.elsbett.com) are very helpful (they do speak English!) and shipping is quick. We were after a complete waste oil system so we chose a one-tank conversion from Elsbett.

The website www.goatindustries.co.uk has lots of useful information and sells among other things filters, fuel additives and ready-to-use, duty-paid fuel.There has been a lot of interest in the ability to run a car on veg oil among friends & colleagues. Most of them don't think about the environment much, some of them may do the odd bit of recycling every now an again but other than that the environment is not on their agenda. I think they are typical of Britons when it comes to environmental issues.

Of course their interest in this project comes from what drives most of us: MONEY. Veg oil cars can be run much cheaper than conventional cars. The average motorist already likes diesel and its lower running costs. Even the thought of getting waste oil from the local chippy and filtering it doesn't deter most of them.

My personal opinion is that promoting environmental issues is laudable but can often fall into the trap of preaching to the converted. Linking the environment with saving people money can be a useful way of getting the issues higher on people's agendas. Seeing environmentalism as a help rather than a hindrance would be welcomed by Green campaigners and the average family alike.

So far the people I work with are looking with interest at the conversion we are undertaking, some are even choosing a diesel car in case they want to do this to their new cars.

There will be a further article to follow about the installation and running etc.

They have recently appointed a project development manager, John Whelan, who’s working in partnership with Wirral Worklink and initially based at their premises in Grange Road West, Birkenhead (above Worklink’s charity shop ‘Speaking Volumes’).

Renew Wirral will eventually be based at Kelvinside, on the Wirral waterfront near Seacombe, as part of the plan to establish a multi refurbishing and recycling social enterprise presence at the site. John’s brief is to get things up and running (help establish appropriate local ownership, secure funds, set up the workshops, recruit staff etc), for a white goods re-use operation alongside Worklink’s own furniture refurbishment enterprise, the Phoenix Project.

The main focus of Renew Wirral is, first and foremost, quality training – of long term unemployed and other disadvantaged people – underpinned by a robust sales side of recovered and repaired goods (e.g. washing machines, cookers, fridges etc).

These goods will be refurbished to a guaranteed and first class standard, sell at approximately £80 a unit, and be given extra years of life instead of being ‘retired’ prematurely. Some initial funding has been secured and the project is now looking to establish an even more active Steering Group to help move its aims, of training people and redirecting waste away from landfill, further forward.

For more information please contact John at: Renew Wirral, 46-50 Grange Road West, Birkenhead CH41 4DA.

0151 666 8266 / 07939 158192 john.whelan@renewwirral.com

Renew Trust, the project’s parent body, also has an informative website at: www.renewtrust.co.uk

Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, said he hoped many ordinary Americans would see the film. And the former US Vice-President Al Gore said the risks the film portrayed were a threat to our common future.

Speaking in London, Sir David described The Day After Tomorrow as "a spectacular action film" which portrayed the switching off of the Gulf Stream and the Northern Hemisphere's subsequent plunge into a new Ice Age.

The scientific consensus was that climate change might lead to a weakening of the thermohaline circulation (THC), the phenomenon that drives the Gulf Stream; but it was not expected to cause its complete halting, as in the film.

Sir David said the present global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of 379 parts per million, the highest for at least 420,000 years, was "very significantly higher" than during previous warm periods.

But that did not mean the THC, which keeps north-western Europe about 5C warmer than it would be otherwise, would switch off at all, and certainly not as quickly as The Day After Tomorrow suggested. The film "unrealistically concertinas into a few weeks a scenario which, if it did occur, would take decades or a century".

Sir David said: "The film brings events together into a highly unlikely or even impossible scenario. It's very difficult to explain the physics of it. But what's good is that while my colleagues and I have just spent half an hour presenting you with the scientific understanding of climate change, the movie gets the basic message across in a few sentences of dialogue. It's a beautiful piece of script-writing. I hope US audiences will see it. It's very important that we all take cognisance of what science is saying, and that includes American politicians."

One of his colleagues was Dr Geoff Jenkins, head of climate prediction at the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research. He said: "It's a movie, and we shouldn't get too po-faced about it. Hollywood's not going to make money out of a bunch of scientists discussing uncertainties."

Dr Jenkins said scientists thought a collapse of the THC was a low-probability but high-impact event. But they did not know how low the probability was, and in principle it could happen.

Dr David Viner, of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, said: "The film got a lot of the detail wrong, and the direction of change as well - cooling of this sort is very unlikely with global warming. But the fact that The Day After Tomorrow raises awareness about climate change must be a good thing."

Link: www.thedayaftertomorrow.com