EDIT...
Without an \"h\" in witHout
(A bit like no \"F\" in sense...)
John R
you called ? Ah, certainly, it is now corrected. M.
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"What a mess... (Legislation witout thought)"
More a case of stick your head in the sand and refuse to look at alternatives.
Grabbing Gordon has a consistent record of increasing the total tax take.
He had to climb down on his intention to continue with the fuel tax escalator of inflation + 6% (IIRC) by the fuel tax protests.
The government is in political hock to the environmental mafia.
A change in policy would be political suicide.
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Sobering thought but this govt and every future one is going to NEED to increase the tax take. Running a civilised country (well, ok mostly civilised) is never gonna get cheaper.
Not unless people want to make a list of things that they are happy to do without.
Oh and the rule of the list is that you can only nominate things that affect you.
Otherwise my solution would be the £50 pack of cigarettes!
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Legalise cannabis - bosch; not only loads of new tax revenue, but everyone will be too chilled out to protest the next time they try and hike something else.
I really should be an MP.
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Hello folks, as a user of completely legal biodiesel for the past year, I can shed a little light on the situation. I know this will be a long post, but bear with me (or read another thread!)
Vegetable oil can be used as fuel in diesel engines, especially in the more basic non-turbo diesel engines. In our climate, it is not advisable to put pure vegetable oil straight into your diesel engine, mainly due to the viscosity - in cold weather, vegetable oil will gel in your injectors and fuel pumps. This will make your engine unhappy. Even in warm climates, SVO can cause coking of injectors unless it has been preheated. It is possible to convert cars to use vegetable oil, but to do it properly can be expensive and will invalidate the warranty on cars under three years old (or presumably under five years old in the case of Hyundai). I was recently toying with the idea of doing this to an old Merc, and mentioned it on the forum, but have decided against it - I believe that's the thread referred to above.
Biodiesel is what you get when either Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) or Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is reacted (not just mixed) with methanol to give a less viscous, cleaner fuel. It has very high lubricity - quite good for your engine - and can (from my experience) be used down to minus 10 degrees C without the need for any additives or antigel agents. It is a hydrocarbon and is therefore chemically similar to derv, but without producing the same levels of toxic pollutants (e.g. zero sulphur) or carbon dioxide. Economy and power tend to be around the same as derv - some engines will show slight reductions in either, some will show slight increases.
In the early nineties(?), the UK government changed its description of fuels which would be liable for duty to read "hydrocarbons", tarring them with a very broad fiscal brush. As a result, whether you run your car on petrol, derv, LPG, biodiesel or vegetable oil, the fuel is liable for duty - even if you got it for free! Then a few years back the fuel duty was cut for LPG and CNG, on the grounds that CO2 emissions from these fuels are lower and their use was deemed to be "a good thing". Of course, at the time there was no real infrastructure for supplying LPG, nor a market of consumers for buying it, so it gave the government some good PR for very little money. Now that it seems to be growing in popularity, I wonder how much longer the derogation in fuel duty will last ...
In July of this year, the treasury implemented a 20p per litre reduction in the fuel duty on biodiesel. The cost of producing biodiesel is high compared to that of producing derv, so there is no real threat to the oil companies from biodiesel - the limited tax break means that only biodiesel produced from (free or very cheap) WVO can compete with derv on price. The cost of producing biodiesel from SVO - the clean, unused stuff with no crunchy bits to filter out - is higher still, to the extent that adding on the cost of the fuel duty means the price per litre would be around £1.
I buy my biodiesel from a commercial supplier, who has had to register with C&E as a fuel producer and has to allow them around his premises to check how much methanol he has used, how much oil he has taken in, how much catalyst he has used, etc ... If the volumes didn't tally, they'd throw the book at him. However, he keeps his nose very clean, so they've started to be a little less gestapo on him after nearly two years. I always keep a receipt with me showing the last time I bought fuel, the amount I bought and the amount I paid including all duties, so that if I get dipped, I'll be safe from the impounder's clutches.
Well, if you're still here, I hope you've enjoyed the history lesson. Me, I got blisters on my fingers. Oh, and if the guys in Wales were running their cars on unfiltered, untreated WVO which had been used for frying fish, then their engines wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway.
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Thanks to Andymc for the clarification on the legalities of running your motor on cooking fat...
(Now I know why I salavated whenever some motors passed by, they are not just nice cars, it's the smell of chips, Mmmmmmm... :-)
John R
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"..the UK government changed its description of fuels which would be liable for duty to read "hydrocarbons".."
Hmm - where does that leave electric vehicles, whose energy might well be derived from HC? Presumably, the intermediate electrical stage removes the liability, in which case I propose hybrid power that uses electric motors for traction, but petrol or diesel (or steam) for the generator. Sorry officer, I'm just using the fuel to charge up my batteries...
No road tax either for electric vehicles, IIRC.
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so on the basis that any hydrocarbon fuel should be taxable what about>>>>
www.uppsalabuss.se/OMUPPSALABUSS/biogasbuss.html
don't ask for a translation, but basically these run on biogas, mainly methane from the composting of... erm...(thinks) erm (thinks bit more).... waste matter. yes you know what I mean, plus municipal refuse and farm waste.
As methane is a HC presumably that means Gordon could now tax farts.
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"Gordon could now tax farts.."
There's a thought! He could start with his next door neighbour...
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Absolutely valid point I think, JBJ.
Run an electric car and charge up the batteries with a diesel generator on gas oil at home and you are in the clear.
Run an electric car and put the generator in the car to charge up the batteries whilst you are on the move, (or even parked?), and you are in the methane-producing brown stuff?
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I'm sure you're right, Brian. I wonder what will happen when charging points become more widespread? That could be a rhetorical question, of course, as I think I know the answer...
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According to recent news reports, pure electric cars are a dead duck for the foreseeable future as the storage problem is beyond present-day technology and major manufacurers have ceased development.
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Going on from this, though, with lateral thinking, how about a short-range, say 50/60 miles, electric car for everyday use with a charger/extra storage unit in a trailer to be added for longer journeys?
You could therefore keep the main vehicle relatively light and therefore efficient, whilst having the option to add extra range when required.
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And if the charger was in the trailer, it wouldn't be part of the vehicle, would it? :-)
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That would be my contention.
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What's wrong with just spending the tax efficiently and chopping waste/inefficiency/corruption.
A good start would be a block on decorating official residences, like £650,000 on Lord Irvine's flat............then we could sell some of Prescott's houses..........then we could install treadmills in prisons to replace power stations............then fill prisons with traffic wardens.........then build more prisons (now self financing)..........then fill them with people who design/build/sell/repair speed cameras..........then install me as Benign Dictator of the United Kingdom..........then...........
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\"I always keep a receipt with me showing the last time I bought fuel, the amount I bought and the amount I paid including all duties, so that if I get dipped, I\'ll be safe from the impounder\'s clutches.\"
What is there to say? A civilian having to go out of his way to avoid harrasment and obstruction through no fault of his own?
Looking at how C&E have been known to \"make stuff up\" to do what they like and as far as l understand it are the only authorities who can enter a premises without any kind of warrant, seems to me that the only crime the authorities really care about is that which affects the coffers. Self evident by the sentencing of bank robbers Vs say rapists and murderers. (Melodramatic jingoism? No, merely facts)
I expect the powers of C&E date back to fuedal times and have been allowed to remain as it serves best those in influence.
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Yeah, it's a pain in the ass having to put up with an imposed behaviour, but also worth it when I consider that my transport is not subject to the whims of oil companies.
If the UK treasury took a more enlightened attitude, at least 10% of our energy needs for transport and even more for agriculture could be met by biodiesel. Producing 10% of our own fuel would be a very empowering development in terms of reducing reliance on OPEC and in terms of stimulating the agricultural economy as well as creating a new indigenous fuel-producing industry, creating higher employment.
Have a look at this site if you want to check the figures -
www.biofuels.fsnet.co.uk/sustain.htm
- some interesting comparisons of various types of fuel. Written by the guy I buy my biodiesel from.
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