Carbon Offsetting
In a recent survey, 23% have either used or are considering using car rental as an alternative to car ownership. Paul Wilson is one of those people and the Eco-Rally coincided with a week when he needed to hire a car, so he decided to take part and share his views.
Gasrec’s S1 Elise was converted by Lotus Engineering to run on compressed methane gas and is the only vehicle of its kind.
The Biggest Immediate Impact
This is the UK's first lorry to be converted to run on pure plant oil. Harry Wragg's transport fleet (http://www.harrywragg.co.uk) now operates sixteen of these vehicles and Marks & Spencers is in undertaking a six-month trial. The crucial question is where the vegoil is sourced - fish & chip shops are out of the question for a vehicle of this size and Harry Wragg stores his fuel in a giant tank on site. Biofuel is considered green because it is made from a renewable resource which soaks up CO2 from our atmosphere, thereby offseting the CO2 from the exhaust. Unfortunately, this cycle is not yet virtuous.
Biofuel or Agrofuel
First-generation biofuels currently being used are produced solely from parts of plants containing oil, sugar or starch: e.g. biodiesel from rapeseed oil and bioethanol from starch or sugar. In Indonesia, the conversion of tropical forest to commercial palm tree plantations to produce biofuels for export is a major cause of deforestation. Thankfully, the likes of BP and Linde are currently developing second-generation biofuels which don't use those parts of the plant containing starch or oil - only those parts of the plant that contain cellulose. More fuel is produced using this method, due to higher energy yields.
