Biodiesel Newsletter 1: May 2006
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- OPEC Member Indonesia To Sell Biodiesel
- Peter Costello: High Oil Prices Should Spur Renewables
- Kim Beazley Also Talks Up Renewables
- Germany Contemplates Higher Biodiesel Taxes
- In California, meanwhile…
- Can’t Sell Your Plonk? Turn It Into Fuel Instead
- Do you have an interest solar space heating and cooling?
OPEC Member Indonesia To Sell Biodiesel
Think you’ve heard everything? Try this: biodiesel will soon be on sale in OPEC member Indonesia. Next month, the national oil company Pertamina will begin offering B5 and B10 biodiesel at selected Jakarta service stations. The biodiesel will be refined from palm oil byproducts at a plant producing about 1.5 tons of biodiesel per day.
http://english.people.com.cn/200604/24/eng20060424_260707.html
Peter Costello: High Oil Prices Should Spur Renewables
Treasurer Peter Costello says high oil prices should spark renewable energy investment in Australia, ranging from biodiesel fuels to solar electricity. It’s understandable the treasurer would say that since high oil prices are complicating his job.
In the year to the March quarter, imported consumer and business products jumped 16 pct by value, led by a nearly 40% increase in the cost of imported fuel. Australia now spends twice as much importing fuel as it does importing the cars that run on it. Seven years ago, it was the other way around. For its part, the International Monetary Fund has warned the US and Australia their high current account deficits, caused in large part by rising fuel import bills, may complicate efforts to keep economic growth on an even keel.
Kim Beazley Also Talks Up Renewables
Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley also says Australia should reduce its growing dependence on imported oil. He’s calling for Australia to develop its ethanol and biodiesel industries and further develop gas-to-liquid conversion. However, Beazley says a Labor government wouldn’t be in any rush to cut petrol excise taxes for the alternative fuels industry. Beazley says he’s more drawn to income tax cuts.
Germany Contemplates Higher Biodiesel Taxes
Germany is contemplating new taxes on biodiesel. After German biodiesel production rose nearly 70% to 1.8 million tones in 2005, government traditional diesel tax revenue plunged. To plug the hole, the government is now considering a 10 Euro cent per litre tax on biodiesel and 15 cent per litre tax on biodiesel blended with other fuels. All of this would be on top of the value added tax biodiesel already attracts. Opponents say such taxes could kill the industry. Germany is the world’s largest producer of biodiesel. Whatever happens there will be watched closely throughout the biodiesel world.
http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-00157996.html
In California, meanwhile…
A panel of state lawmakers is proposing the level of biodiesel in California’s diesel fuel supply be set at 2% by 2008 and 5% by 2010. That would require biodiesel supply in the state to double each year for the next five years. The National Biodiesel Board says capacity is there to meet the demand. Even so, the proposal still has a long way to go before it becomes law.
http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=8306
Can’t Sell Your Plonk? Turn It Into Fuel Instead
Here’s another potential biodiesel constituency: grape growers. With a current market glut of grapes, one South Australian parliamentarian is proposing crushing up the surplus to make ethanol. Graham Gunn says a biodiesel plant at Port Pirie in the South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf would soak up those homeless grapes, provide transport fuel and create a new regional industry. South Australian Farmers Federation spokesman Gary Burgess has cautiously praised the idea.
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