Posted on 07/23/2006 6:27:54 AM PDT by CubaninMiami
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A growing number of Americans are setting up mini-refineries in their homes to produce biodiesel, a fuel made from waste cooking oil which is cleaner and cheaper than the petrol sold in gas stations
The sky-high price of crude oil is scaring everyone.
Biodiesel has Hollywood backers like actress Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman, is sung about by country star Willie Nelson but also meets the political correctness of the American right wing which has made the campaign against imported oil a mantra... ...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Having worked in restaurants, getting rid of the used oil was always a nasty nasty job. If it can be refined and reused as a biodiesel then I think it's a option that should be at least seriously looked at. The restaurants have to dispose of the oil anyway, they might as well make some money on it. I think if I had to choose, I would go with Popeyes used oil. : D
They're not all "greenies." Some are just trying to save money. And some are evading the fuel taxes, while some aren't.
But let there be no doubt, the government doesn't like the potential for tax evasion there, and is, IMO, the real motivation for the pilot project in Oregon (and studies in California and other states) for a per-mile road tax.
There is more than enough oil shale and coal (gassification) to end our dependence on foreign oil and to last us for longer than we need. When conventional oil reaches and maintains a certain cost, these will become viable.
All the articles I have read in the past say that price is $50/barrel. The prices is now close to $80.
I have a friend who runs left over cooking oil in his dodge 4x4 ton pickup truck. He took a trip awhile back pulling his 30ft camper. He got 10mpg, So what,the fuel was free.
That is an odd position for a "conservative" to take.
Every little bit helps.
Plus, if we can start using more corn to make bio-diesel maybe we can loosen some of the tariffs on sugar and replace that horrible high-fructose corn syrup as the nations sweetener of choice.
Good point. How are the revenoors gonna collect all the road use taxes? The ATF still goes after the moonshiners and home distillers, they now have another job!
This will be self limiting. This stuff gels up badly under 40F and anti-gel agents are expensive. Plus, it gunks up the engine, it's a very dirty fuel.
I like the comment, "Will my car get the direrear, too!"
The greens hate the shale oil, they look at it as just perpetuating the use of carbon based fuels and the massive strip mining to dig up the shale. They love this grease energy but even if all the grease in the US was turned into fuel would it even put a dent in demand for gasoline? I can imagine this grease thing taking off and people lining up at McDonalds for grease and McDonalds charging for it and then all of a sudden its not so cheap to run your vehicle on grease anymore.
Wait until the jack boots kick down your door demanding their cut.
The anecdotal stories here talk about driving to local eateries to get the free grease with no mention of cost for the time or fuel expended to do this. And yes, you are correct, there ain't enough of it anyway.
1. It's free now because the fast-food places are happy to have someone come and haul it off. When enough people start doing it, and there's a demand, they will start charging.
2. It's messy, nasty work. When people calculate the price per gallon, they ignore the time and effort involved. My time is worth something to me - I'm not going to be doing all this work for the equivalent of a couple of dollars per hour when you calculate your savings at the pump!
3. If it becomes popular and widespread, the government will find some way to tax it!
Did he have to do any kind of conversion to his Dodge?
I actually know someone who does this. He drives around to local restaurants collecting their used cooking oil that I believe they have to pay to dispose of. When he's done with it he has enough to power his big diesel truck.
You shoot the bear, render the fat and you have a self perpetuating source of fuel. ;-)
I found a website that describes the UK experience in biodiesel. I recall that revenoorers would follow cars around that smelled like a doughnut shop and slap them with a ticket for not paying taxes on their fuel (in the 90's IIRC).
So here is an update on taxation of the real world experiment that is the wonderful UK. Sounds rediculous to a Texan, but we have our own challenges with paying taxes on farm-use only diesel (no road taxes on red diesel for farms).
http://www.ravenfamily.org/andyg/vegoil.htm
Tax and legal issues
It is not illegal to use vegetable oil as fuel in the UK.
It is illegal to use anything for road vehicle fuel without paying duty on it. To pay duty on vegetable oil, you have to jump through a couple of legislative hoops. Here's what you have to do:
Register with Customs and Excise
Keep your reciepts
Fill in a monthly tax return
First, get notice 179E and form EX103 from HM Customs & Excise.
Fill in the EX103 declaring the purpose of your business as a private individual using vegetable oil as a motor vehile fuel and stating the description as jerrycan(s) marked SVO in porch/shed/wherever. Attach a letter explaining that the oil is a diesel quality liquid fuel produced from biomass or waste cooking oil, the ester content of which is not less than 96.5% by weight; and the sulphur content of which does not exceed 0.005% by weight. Explain that your feedstock is commercial cooking oil and/or waste cooking oil and give the following details:
Vegetable oil is produced from biomass.
Fatty acids are esters, so the ester content is 99% approx.
The sulphur content is 0.002% by weight (see this assay by German vegoil company Elsbett).
(Important note: I've only just found the Elsbett assay as the supermarkets refused to provide this information under an absurd "commercially confidential" smokescreen, so I'll be writing to HMCE with these details myself. I'll update this page with how I get on)
Remember to give an estimate of your monthly usage: For an individual, this will be small: less than 100 litres. Don't forget to include a contact phone number in case they have any further questions.
The completed EX103 should be sent to HMCE, Mineral Oils Relief Centre, Dobson House, Regent Centre, Gosforth, Newcastle-on-Tyne NE3 3PF.
Every month, you will be sent an HO 930. It's a moderately scary-looking form but filling it is is dead easy. It's detailed in the 179E leaflet:
At the bottom of the list of duty types, make the blank row read: ORR 33589 Biodiesel and then your quantity and calculated duty payable. As I write, duty is 27.1p per litre. Sign and date the declaration, write a cheque to The Commissioners of Customs and Excise, and pop the form and cheque in the post.
Keep your receipts: You're required to keep them for six years. It's simplest if you just keep the paper receipts, stapled together so you have a bundle for each HO930 you've submitted.
And that's it! The forms look opaque but it's not hard really. If you get stuck, Customs' national enquiries help line is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday for all general questions on 0845 010 9000 (+44 208 929 0152 outside UK).
When they found out the waste was being reprocessed for profit, the owners of the waste demanded to be paid, and the profitability of the process disappeared.
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People can be amazing, once while enjoying a beer in a freind's backyard I spotted a large black cherry tree. I casually mentioned that I would like to cut it up into boards. Well, came the reply, I have been wanting to get rid of it but the best offer I have had was to cut it down and charge me $400.00. I offered to remove the tree for free and he quickly accepted. As I was hauling the logs off he was curious about just what I intended to do so I explained that I would use the best parts to make cabinet grade boards. He asked if it was worth the trouble and I told him that I expected to end up with at least one thousand dollars worth of cherry boards and he seemed happy that I was getting something for my trouble. Later on he told me that he mentioned this to his wife and she seemed to think that I should have paid them something for the tree which they were only too eager to be rid of. If I had offered to remove it for a hundred dollars and never said it was any good for anything other than firewood she would have been perfectly happpy with that. I recommend that everyone find and read Aesop's "dog in the manger" fable and ponder on it.
You are correct. The waste company that currently hauls it away for a fee will soon start doing it for free, make the bio, and sell it for a profit.
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