Power Your Car on Fish & Chips ... Well Almost

Vehicles make up a large percentage of the carbon dioxide emitted into the environment. With fuel prices consistently high (with the majority taken in tax), its never been a better time to consider a fuel-efficient car. As not only will it save the environment, you will save money too. You can now even fuel your car for free with renewable energy, used cooking oil. A cheaper alternative is growing your own bio diesel crop, like the boys at Top Gear, electricity from the grid or Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG).

To check how fuel efficient your car or prospective car is visit VCA Car Fuel Data. Here you can find the Co2 emissions for all major car models, compare them and calculate fuel costs.

There is one car however that is turning heads in the UK, the Reva G-Wiz, the battery powered car can travel up to 40 miles from each charge, costing only 30p (equivalent of up to 600mpg). However there are other additional benefits to using a G-Wiz, it is exempt from road tax, congestion charges and parking charges in London, its in the lowest insurance group, 100% tax write off for businesses and lowest rate company car tax at 9%. All for under £7000.

The Energy Saving Trust offers an online database where you can find your local refuelling stations for;

• LPG
• Natural Gas
• Bio Diesel
• Electricity

So how to make bio diesel from used cooking oil ...

In most countries vast amounts of waste vegetable oil (WVO) are discarded daily after it has been used for cooking. To give some idea of the waste, Ireland disposes of over 10,000 tonnes of WVO per year, and six times that amount of animal-based cooking fats (tallow).

Disposal of this waste can be a problem – pouring it down drains (illegal in most countries) eventually results in solid fats forming in sewers, which is expensive to remove, and is likely to become a public health hazard. Solutions have included pouring WVO into landfill sites where it will eventually biodegrade, or filtering it and using it as low-grade fuel for some types of power stations. However, WVO has a hidden secret; using some simple techniques of adding something and shaking, it can be broken down into two very useful products: diesel fuel and glycerine. The magic 'something' is easily available, it can even be made at home using wood ash and water. It has a number of names – sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, Lye and NaOH are all the same thing.

Warning – this stuff is also used for cleaning drains by dissolving organic matter. It doesn’t care whether the organic matter is dead or alive, so wear protective clothing especially goggles

The basic steps are:

• Test your WVO to decide how much sodium hydroxide to use. This is known as titration, and involves adding a chemical to a sample of the oil until a colour change takes place. It's not essential but allows more efficient use of the sodium hydroxide.
• Mix up the sodium hydroxide, slowly add the WVO, keep it agitated, and keep it reasonably warm. The gentle heat speeds up the process.
• Let it settle.
• Separate the fuel. The remaining glycerine can be used for making soap and hand cleaners. It is also biodegradable.

The resultant diesel is ready for use, and in this form it can be mixed with regular diesel for use in vehicles. To use 100% bio-diesel, it will need to be washed with water, then the water driven off with gentle heat. The only reported downside of using bio-diesel is that everyone who smells the exhaust feels hungry...

For a more in depth explaination on how to make your own bio diesel in your kitchen. In the coming weeks I will try to make some real live bio diesel in my kitchen and hopefully show how easy or difficult it is without making too much of a mess.

(Summarised Guide to Making Your Own Bio Diesel taken from BBC - H2G2)