Re: Petrol?

and have a look at

patricularly the bit "taxes make up 38% of the total (UK) economy, as oppesed to 45% in Europe as a whole." in teh second paragraph.

It took 2 quick google searches to find that info.

Richard

Well, that's certainly is a good example. The system simply does not work and anyone who thinks about it for 2 mins can work out why.

Richard

Of course the BBC do have a spell checker......

Richard

On or around Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:30:55 +0000 (UTC), beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:

UK diesel most expensive by a good margin, UK petrol 2nd most expensive (NL is highest) with a couple of others close behind.

mind, it's well out of date or a very skewed average, it's at least 10p more than that round here now.

so beamendsltd was, like...

Jeez, that was hardly a "one-line" solution!

You should see what happens when I become loquacious :@)

P.

What I want to know is, when are we going to get away from mineral oils and start producing bio oils?

I noticed that bio diesel is starting to become available abroad already at significantly lower cost.

Anyone seen it here yet?

Gail

Well, I think we should campaign for a 'no confidence' vote and get the government toppled.

That would put paid to Kim Howells stupid policy of taxing us out of our cars!

Gail

Judging by the tone of your emails, I'm beginning to think you're a fully paid up member of the Labour party. You certainly seem to promote the standard party rhetoric with a certain tone of commitment.?

Am I wrong?

Gail

Not necessarily, you still gotta get the legistlation altered, which is by no means a given.

OK, so where does it breakdown what these rates represent?

How much of that 38% is generated by personal taxes as opposed to corporation tax.

And it still goes no-where to explaining why fuel costs in the UK or the cost of living in the UK is higher than anywhere else in the Europe (if not the world) and why our services are so substandard for the money we're paying!

I'd like to see a 'realistic' breakdown that represents the true burden of cost to the British tax payer - including stealth taxes and a European comparison.

I bet the figures would make very interesting reading.

Gail

100% - I have no time any of the parties or politicians.

Richard

It doesn't many any odds. Our corporation tax comes from the sale of goods to customers - so in effect you pay it!

Because we choose indirect taxation, i.e on fuel, insurance premiums etc.

"Quality of services" is a wholy different thing and has far more to do with people's attitude to work than money - not a very popular view point, but ask anyone who runs their own business what a real working day is.....

You've just had one - if you don't like it, well thats tough.

Use google, it's all there.

Richard

You can get them now.

Yes - and tried it (a semi-bio) - and the LR hated it, any environmental benefit (and cost benefit) was wiped out by decreased mpg.

The trouble with bio is that, and this is freeley admitted ny those making it, that there is simply not enough land (or even anywhere near enough) to grow suffcient on for the world current needs.

How, hydrogen fuel - that has promise (being tried by BMW and by at least one bus company).

Richard

For a balance point on this - I have run my Disco (200TDI) on BioPower V100 biodiesel (pretty much pure filtered chipfat) and it loves it as long as the temperature's above 5C - below that it has a hard time starting. I was seeing slightly better milage once I replaced the fuel filter.

My Rover 75 (BMW 2l Diesel) hated the same stuff.

I'm about to try running a Citroen ZX on it - here's hoping that it likes it.

The 5% Biodiesel that Tescos sell worked fine in all of the above, but the higher price for marginal improvements in economy make it not worth doing.

On the other hand, as a mitigating factor for the short term, recycled waste fat is a good approach assuming you're willing to have a storage tank, whether 200l drum or 1000l minibulk.

I'd hold out more hope for Methane purely because it's more readily available (bio waste products - cow farts and rotting vegetation). I'm wondering if standard LPG kits could be modified to run on both LPG (Propane/Butane isn't it?) and Methane. Could be a useful medium term approach if it's doable.

P.

On or around Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:34:43 +0000 (UTC), beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:

biggest red herring out, at the moment. In theory, solar or wind-generated power can crack H from water and be genuinely zero-emission, bar for losses. However, most H at the moment is produced from methane via various more-or-less pollutant processes and/or using fossil-generated electricity.

It does remove pollution from hotspots like cities, mind. But it does nothing to solve the looming crisis of fuel shortage.

Just be thankful that you're not in the north west of Scotland .....

Unleaded 103.9 and Diesel 105.9 pence/litre in Scourie, Highland last week.