Feelin' guilty

[yostumpy]

Yes I do, I'm running a bio b30, and svo blend, and my reckoning is that the stuff in the bio will help the svo more than dino. ANYWAY thats not the point before people rant about blending! Each time I fill up with 15 ltrs of svo I do feel guilty. DONT YOU! I mean using waste oil is ok, but to use new, fresh, virgin oil, just to run your car, when it could be used first, then put in your car. I still do it and i've got about 200 ltrs of the stuff to use up, (well at 83pltr you have to stock up), but It does seem a waste, wat do you think!

[Dave_243]

Never really thought about it before but it's a good point. The only thing I feel guilty about is not having one of those two-tank veg oil heater thingys that stop my filter and fuel pump complaining

[oxtonvillage]

Yes I do, I'm running a bio b30, and svo blend, and my reckoning is that the stuff in the bio will help the svo more than dino. ANYWAY thats not the point before people rant about blending! Each time I fill up with 15 ltrs of svo I do feel guilty. DONT YOU! I mean using waste oil is ok, but to use new, fresh, virgin oil, just to run your car, when it could be used first, then put in your car. I still do it and i've got about 200 ltrs of the stuff to use up, (well at 83pltr you have to stock up), but It does seem a waste, wat do you think!

Sorry for very late reply to this post!

Actually, I would argue the opposite. The UK is fourth or fifth largest producer of rapeseed so it travels much less distance to your tank than crude and takes less energy to extract and process. Also it is a completely renewable resource and a brassica which humans have grown for millennia. Finally, growing rapeseed (or any other crop) uses CO2 via photosynthesis, so SVO tends to be considered CO2 neutral (http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:atC5nNkbbzEJ:www.folkecenter.dk/plant-oil/publications/energy_co2_balance.htm+rapeseed+co2&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk).

There is concern in some quarters over the level of increased NOx production due to the higher combustion temperatures; NOx is a greater threat than CO2 as a greenhouse gas (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2507851.ece). This problem can be overcome by better engine management and the use of a catalyst.

On balance, I'm happier about using rapeseed oil that mineral diesel.

[Snagger]

Yes I do, I'm running a bio b30, and svo blend, and my reckoning is that the stuff in the bio will help the svo more than dino. ANYWAY thats not the point before people rant about blending! Each time I fill up with 15 ltrs of svo I do feel guilty. DONT YOU! I mean using waste oil is ok, but to use new, fresh, virgin oil, just to run your car, when it could be used first, then put in your car. I still do it and i've got about 200 ltrs of the stuff to use up, (well at 83pltr you have to stock up), but It does seem a waste, wat do you think!
If you can get waste oil that you know is 100% rapeseed or sunflower, and have the time and equipment to filter it and remove all the water, then fine, but otherwise SVO is the only alternative. Why feel guilty about using a fuel source that pays British farmers, involves less transport, is less harmful in its emissions and is renewable, as opposed to a fuel source which is depleting, noxious, has to travel half way around the world, and helps push our economy into the red while funding terrorists?

[PinkSeriesIII]

It won't be long greenies will start the media machine (as per rain forests and whales, global warming) to make you feel guilty for using SVO.
If everyone started growing fuel to meet the future demand then there would be not enough food grown and price will rocket.
There will be World wide shortages of food grains such as Rice so those food markets will rocket to a point that huge populations of people who would normal use (for example) rice oil for cooking food can no longer afford it so switch to alternatives like rapeseed oil and soya oil. So that then those markets rocket and you get SVO going from 28p per litre to 118p in a very short space of time.
Shortages and price market inflation get compounded when coupled to bad crop yield years and you get the situation we are starting to see now in the world.

[oxtonvillage]

It won't be long greenies will start the media machine (as per rain forests and whales, global warming) to make you feel guilty for using SVO.

Unfortunately, I think this is true.



If everyone started growing fuel to meet the future demand then there would be not enough food grown and price will rocket. <snip>


Hopefully, this is untrue. There is a big issue with water use: http://www.biofuelreview.com/content/view/1261/ - however this is mainly to with ethanol production, not SVO.

Land pressure for fuel accounts for only a fraction of the on-goining increase in demand, most of the demand comes from "China and India become more wealthy, people eat more and especially more meat and dairy products. Meat and dairy production depend heavily on grain; it takes eight kilograms of grain to produce a single kilogram of beef." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/foodprices.shtml).

The problem with feeding the world's poor is much more to do trade restrictions and the rich West putting poorer farmers out of business by dumping highly subsided foodstuffs: "However, a look at the bigger picture reveals that an apparent straight case of fuel taking precedence over food is misleading. For years, Mexican dependency on cheap American corn had ruined the Mexican maize business and millions of farmers had left the land." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7026105.stm) Cheap oversupply by the West reduces the viability of locally grown product.

I'd quite like a shufty at this, but it's $95!: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5303?gclid=CKOn3PTB0ZUCFQuXGgodkwUUFw And this is an interesting table: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html - no wonder everyone wants to grow palm oil!

Anyway, the UK is amongst the largest producers of rapeseed - a product which, unlike mineral diesel, is completely sustainable.

[Spanner110]

Why feel guilty about using a fuel source that pays British farmers, involves less transport, is less harmful in its emissions and is renewable, as opposed to a fuel source which is depleting, noxious, has to travel half way around the world, and helps push our economy into the red while funding terrorists?

Here we go again, badmouthing the government..:D:D

[wadams20]

using a non-food oil seems okay to me. I would rather not use something that could be feeding someone but that would also depend on where you live. I am surrounded by rape here in Bavaria. It is beautiful. But it is driving up the price of beer:eek: because German farmers get subsidies for growing rapeseed rather than barley.

[oxtonvillage]

using a non-food oil seems okay to me. I would rather not use something that could be feeding someone but that would also depend on where you live. I am surrounded by rape here in Bavaria. It is beautiful.

There was a news story a few months ago that, in the UK at least, between a quarter a third of all food is thrown away{1},{2}. At least I use every last drop of SVO in my tank!



But it is driving up the price of beer:eek: because German farmers get subsidies for growing rapeseed rather than barley.

We all know that beer is only rented...


{1} BBC News story May 08 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389351.stm)
{2} Love Food Hate Waste - "How Much Food Do We Waste?: [...] around a third of all the food we buy end up being thrown away, and most of it could have been eaten." (http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/about_food_waste)