Here at Extremehorizon we try and do our bit for the environment....we're not all out mung bean eating, tree hugging, teepee dwellers but we attempt to have a social conscience and every little helps. Along with our Climate Neutral policy (we're one of the UKs first Climate Neutral surf shops) of planting 500 trees annually to offset our carbon footprint, we're now experimenting with biodiesel for our company car/surf wagon/kids taxi.
As surfers we tend to want to be green and environmentally conscious but the irony is we travel more than most especially in our cars so we're pretty heavy pollutors...but we can make things better. After doing a bit of research it turns out that its pretty simple to run a Diesel vehicle on biodiesel. (Quick disclaimer here, this is only opinion based on what we've tried and read, so dont take our word for it and sue if something goes wrong, like chucking veg oil in a petrol car!)
Theres 2 basic options: one is to install a conversion in the car to pre-heat the oil so the car can run on 100% veggie oil. Theres loads of conversions out there but can be costly. Secondly just add normal vegetable oil into the car to mix with the diesel! Sounds simple and it is. We ran the car out of fuel and added 30 litres of diesel and then 3 litres of veggie oil...run the car, let the whole lot mix and you're off with a 10% biodiesel fuel.
Next step was to go up to a 25% mix...the car is starting to smell a bit like a chip shop (cool) but other than that theres no other effects.
The details:
1. In the UK its now legal to run a car on veg oil. The allowance is 2500 litres annually without paying any tax!
2. You can run on a diesel veg oil of up to 50/50 mix but not recommended during colder weather. 30% mix and it should be OK
3. Only try this on older diesel cars 90's and older. Injectors on newer cars wont like it and you'll probably invalidate the car warranty
4. You will create less sulphur emissions and be much "greener". Its a sustainable energy source
5. The engine should run smoother
6. Its cheaper to run the car
7. Vegetable oil is best (rape seed oil) as its thinner
8. Veg oil can be bought direct from supermarkets but recycled oil from chippies and kebab shops can also used...but it has to be filtered and processed to make it clean/useable again - so take advice on this
If in doubt ask experts on what to do and do lots of research. But we've tried it and its working....happy driving and surfing!
Try this link for more detailed info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
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