This came in today:-
Official Confirmation for 100% Tax Break For Green Biofuel ? Available at 52p/litre including tax from 1st July 2007
Blooming Futures are pleased to announce that following a recent HMRC review it has been formally announced that users of less than 2500 litres a year of Pure Plant Oil (PPO) fuel will now no longer need to register with Customs and Excise and pay road fuel duty as of the 30th of June.
Using 2500 litres of PPO a year equates to roughly 25000 miles of driving in a family car ? leading to an annual saving on fuel of over £1,100 using current prices.
PPO is a diesel fuel alternative and using it requires that a professional engine modification is fitted to the engine. Once modified, PPO users report similar mileage and power outputs to fossil diesel. Thanks to the new tax advantage, the cost of the conversion can be quickly recovered from the savings in fuel.
Previously, users of PPO were required to declare their fuel use to Customs and Excise, and pay duty accordingly. The decision from HMRC is based on the cost effectiveness of evaluating every small user and means it is now financially much more viable for domestic vehicle users to convert vehicles to use the lowest impact liquid biofuel.
The Low Impact PPO Model vs Conventional Biofuels
PPO is essentially pure rapeseed oil, carefully pressed and filtered to meet fuel standards (the DIN 51605 standard). Unlike other biofuels PPO production does not require any heavy chemical processing and is made in a very low energy fashion, which means that PPO has a far smaller energy and carbon footprint compared to other biofuels. PPO is the most environmentally sound road fuel available today.
PPO use is widespread across Europe. In Germany the PPO infrastructure is well developed and many of the environmental criticisms of biofuels do not apply to the localised PPO model. The most common criticisms of conventional biofuels are:
Use of palm oil as a feedstock can promote deforestation.
Biodiesel and especially Bioethanol are highly energy intensive.
Foreign feedstocks mean that ?air-miles? between plantations, processing factories and end use can negate any carbon savings from exhaust emissions.
In contrast, PPO is simply grown and pressed by local farming groups, then used in local vehicles. All that is needed is the correct professional engine modification. Users should be weary of cheap miracle technology solutions as a full and technical modification needs to be carried out in order to burn PPO in a safe and environmentally friendly way.
Conversion Technology News
In Germany there are now over 45,000 converted vehicles running on PPO. In part due to the recent announcement by HMRC, Elsbett Technologies - who command 45% of the German market - are set to establish Elsbett UK. This will bring the most developed, trialled and tested PPO technology in the world to the UK.
Elsbett will establish a series of conversion dealerships, offering engine conversions, advice , warranties and consultancy advice to enable all users of diesel fuel in the UK to both save money and help protect the environment.
This news will also be a boon to British farmers, as the establishment of a UK PPO model will enable farmers to establish profitable on-farm rapeseed presses, thus cutting out the middlemen associated with larger scale biofuel production.
Further Savings On The Horizon For Heavier Fuel Users
In April next year the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) certificate scheme will mean a price reduction for heavier users of fuel. The certificate scheme will be in addition to the 20 pence per litre tax break that PPO already gets and should equate to an additional 15 pence per litre saving, or a total 35p per litre tax break for PPO from April 2008 for heavy fuel users.
With the price of PPO traditionally close to Derv, this tax advantage will ensure that PPO will be considerably cheaper than Derv diesel for the foreseeable future. This is strengthened by a rolling three year break that has been agreed, meaning the tax benefits will be in place for at least three years allowing considerable financial returns on investment for this green fuel technology.
Celebrity Endorsement
More at www.bloomingfutures.com
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So does this announcement mean it is now legal to run a diesel car on undeclared veg oil from any source? eg waste and filtered oil or normal veg oil from tesco?
teabelly
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Not clear, Teabelly, but I suspect not. The Blooming Futures text (and its website) seem to suggest a technical distinction between PPO and biodiesel, but it's not clear what that is. In practice, unless there's a standard for PPO as fuel, to which suppliers can prove their adherence and HMRC people can enforce through roadside checks, it'll be hard to prove whether a vehicle is running legally on duty-exempt PPO, or illegally on something else.
It's an intriguing development, but I'll want to know a bit more about it before I start pouring the stuff into my tank. For one thing, once a vehicle is converted (with a heater in the fuel line) to run on PPO, is ordinary fossil diesel no longer suitable? And how will PPO interact with the common rail fuel systems we all love to worry about here?
In any case, regardless of the tax and technical considerations, this can only ever be a small-scale solution. There simply isn't enough land in Western Europe to grow the oil crops that would be required to fuel all the vehicles. The crops are notoriously water-hungry too - that may raise a hollow laugh this summer but sunflower cultivation in southern France is causing serious water stress to wetland environments.
Bottom line is that, much as the motor and oil industries would love biofuels to be the solution, the sums don't add up. We'll still need a long-term replacement for internal combustion, and we'll have to consume less all round.
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Good news for Farmers and Biofuel users, but I understood that if every acre of UK arable land was used for Fuel production, then it would only meet 10% of demand (is this right?).
But it all helps to reduce non biomass CO2 emissions.
Last time I heard there was still no excemption from congestion charging for biofuel users, hopefully now some sort of scheme will implemented soon where Biofuel users can prove they are using biofuel and therefore gain excemption.
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Why? A vehicle is a vehicle, and causes the same amount of congestion regardless of what's fuelling it.
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Why? A vehicle is a vehicle and causes the same amount of congestion regardless of what's fuelling it.
You have fallen into the carefully concealed trap, and been misled into thinking that the word "congestion" has anything whatever to do with crowding on the roads.
Correct synonyms would include "political expediency", "easy target" "class prejudice" "income generation", etc. Something very similar in fact to the expression"speed camera".
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Absolutely. Just shows how politics has eventually showed itself in spite of all the fine words. Hizonner and the rest call it the 'congestion charge', NOT the 'pollution charge'.
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Wow! At first sight, I'm really impressed!
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Found the link to the official HMRC release. It seems it's not as simple as just anyone being able ot go out and bung oil into their tank. I've only had a quick scan of the release but it seems you still need to inform HMRC and you need to keep production records for 6 years.
www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/excise-duty/brief4307.htm
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Sounds good. I know a couple of fields that may now fill up with rape. Trouble is it looks and smells a bit garish, and isn't really British. But you get five times as much oil per hectare as you do with the much prettier and generally nicer linseed, quite a lot indeed.
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Some info here, and kits for sale - they suggest you can even convert CR diesels using a twin tank set up. I don't think I'll be trying it.
www.biotuning.co.uk/Home.htm
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Its going to be a really good test, of what unmodified common rail systems specifying only EN590 can take. :)
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