UK biofuel tax cuts
The UK Treasury recently dropped taxes for anyone using less than 2,500 litres of biodiesel or vegetable oil in their vehicles. A guest blogger on Earth2Tech (from non-profit co-op BloomingFutures, which converts cars to use biodiesel) believes the change will help boost take up and innovation in this area.
The end of the tax will add encouragement for biodiesel producers and maybe even bring in a new crowd. Even more so it will be a boon for the straight vegetable oil market. The top of the range single-tank conversions on the most economical cars are just now becoming cost efficient for the first time.
The change can make a major difference for drivers, as this story (also from BloomingFutures) claims.
Using 2500 litres of [Pure Plant Oil, or 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.
We’re not the experts on this, so Greenbang would love to hear from anyone who’s actually done this–do let us know. For those keen to try anyway, a handy list of biodiesel filling stations (UK only) is available from this site. Or learn more about biodiesel and biofuels here.
