Biodiesel on the 7:30 Report Tonight

[Cornonthecob]

There is a segment on the 7:30 Report tonight on Biodiesel.....for those interested.

:)

[frosty]

thanks corn we will watch it :D

frosty

[heuristics]

Hi Corn 0 -
missed this - was still in my garden when this screened (I love daylight saving).
What'd it say? Anything interesting?

[Cornonthecob]

To be honest I got sidetracked and missed it myself! :(

[forest]

I watched it in bits and pieces. I was on the phone. They showed the local boys making their own from fish and chip oil and they focused on how popular biodiesel is, especially in Europe. It was a fairly positive report.

[Cornonthecob]

It is a very interesting subject. There is a thread with lots of info in it.

I have an old tractor I want to see if I can use vege oil with. Well worth looking into.

:)

[earthbound]

I watched it and was a little disapointed in what I heard....... :(

Some government body did research into alternative fuels and decided that biodiesel was not going to be very feasable in the long term, instead going in favour of pushing the production of ethanol. The excises were then put into place for each fuel and biodiesels excise is much higher than ethanol....

There are still some companies pushing forward with large scale biodiesel production, but it seems that the government is not inclined to help promote it in any way... :? I tend to wonder whether the influential sugar industry has had anything to do with it........ :?

[Cornonthecob]

'I tend to wonder whether the influential sugar industry has had anything to do with it'

Bet your last dollar on it Joel! The governments biggest fear would be how to ensure they get their tax dollar out of it all.

I read somewhere that you'll only get 300 -400lt per hectare from things such as canola (don't quote me on that though). So in a way you could agree that it isn't that feasable. Given that the amount needed and the land size required.

However having said that....we'd be crazy not to make use of this resource as we can. Surely there are numerous other oil sources that haven't been tried?? It's a wonder these big oil companies aren't investing more into alternative fuel. Just shows how short sighted they really are.

:)

[earthbound]

Na, it's not as low as that from what I researched before...


One hectare of rape seed should produce about 1 ton or 1086 litres of oil, 2 tons of seed cakes, and almost 4 ton of straw. The seed cakes are left over from pressing out the oil and make a great feed for animals or a useful fuel for burning, and you can never get enough organic straw matter.

1000l of oil is about 10,000 km of driving in my hilux, so using the average of 20,000km a year I'd need to grow 2 hectares of rapeseed for a years fuel. At todays cost of $1.36 a litre, thats $2,700 a year saved which would well and truly cover costs of planting and harvesting, as well as helping to pay for the most expensive bit, the oil press, they start at around $8000..

And then there are other ways as well like oil from algae which is WAY more productive..... :D

[Cornonthecob]

That's it! Still...for someone who has some land that's ok. But try multiplying that to cover every bugger who drives plus industry...tis a lot of land!

I don't recall reading anything about algae. Do tell! :)

[barely run]

The tax bit works out not that bad as ethanol is 10 - 20% in petrol while canola oil is 100% so the excise works out much the same % way. That is not to say the excise is right.
The land area is already being used to grow cannola but the saving would be less transport to get it to a useable product, also small farmers could produce their own fuel needs from a hectare or so planted to cannola (aussie name for rape seed).
Need more info on a small on farm production unit.
Cathy

[Cornonthecob]

G'day Cathy, long time no see.

You're right on the production unit. I was thinking of doing my own olive oil and I think the presses for that are a few dollars. Still, something like that should be a once only cost, so over the long run you should come out in front on a number of fronts.

:)

[Richard on Maui]

In the tropics, what about African oil palms, grown as windbreak/shelterbelts/topsoil traps in between cultivated fields, or even as part of food forest style polycultures? I don't have the figures, but those oil palms are high yielders. Of course, they are perennials too, so don't require a lot of energy every year to replant etc. Same as olives, for sure, or even macadamias or avo's...
I think that the real key, as with any energy conservation, is to reduce our consumption first, and then implement the renewable technology.
With biodiesel, or SVO for fuel, I think the important thing would be to reuse oil that has already been used to cook food, (if we are still allowed to eat french fries in another 10 years in spite of their carcinogenic nature), but then only use it in PUBLIC TRANSPORT!

[christopher]

Richard,

Also consider jatropha curcis for oil for biodiesel of SVO as it (allegedly, we don't have any producing yet) produces lots of oil.

Got your email the other day, been meaning to get back. Goto run now. More later,

C