New Zealand’s first E10 biofuel – a blend of petrol with 10% ethanol – went on sale in three Gull petrol stations around Auckland last Wednesday, and the PM poured the first drop [Herald]. The ethanol comes from Fonterra, mainly from their Edgecumbe dairy factory in the Bay of Plenty, which can produce 30,000 litres a day from processed whey. Gull Force 10, as the fuel is branded, ran into its first bit of trouble when the AA warned motorists to check that their cars were compatible with the fuel before filling up [Stuff]. This swiftly became “cars could break down and blow up
2 thoughts on “The whey forward?”
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I think the important point is that people have to start making change somewhere, and it’s actually easier to start small and build up,(even though I think the govt standard % for biofuel has started way too small). So I’m gald that this initiative has started.
As far as the bleating from companies like Toyota – they (car and fuel companies) have all known about peak oil for decades, and if they decided that they would make cars that only run on one type of fuel, petroleum, then that’s a bad move by them. I can’t say I have a lot of sympathy.
The government set the target low (3.4% of fuel use by 2012, from memory) so that we would not suck in imported ethanol from overseas. Creating a local industry is certainly important, but it ought to be possible to set a higher target and discourage imports.