but she's a girl...

Green diesel

Sometimes I just despair of the Government ever making sensible policies to promote more sustainable use of our resources. For example, I was stunned to find out while watching It's Not Easy Being Green (which is an excellent programme, by the way) that biodiesel---made from used vegetable oil---attracts duty. Though according to this HM Revenue and Customs page, biodiesel attracts a 'discounted' rate of duty: a whole 20p per litre less than standard sulphur-free diesel. That's just crazy. If they were really serious about reducing reliance on fossil fuels and reducing net CO₂ production, there should be no duty on biodiesel. It's not as if it's a piece of cake to produce. On It's Not Easy Being Green, Dick Strawbridge showed how you have to filter the oil (you don't want bits of crispy batter sloshing around in your engine), then put it through a transesterification process which involves adding a catalyst, heating gently and leaving it for 24 hours. Coincidentally, there was an article in Wired this morning about a new process being developed which greatly simplifies producing biodiesel. Anyway, the point is that it's a bit of a hassle compared to pulling up at a garage and inserting the nozzle, so people who are sufficiently green-minded (or miserly) to do it should be rewarded by not having to pay duty on it.