Biodiesel and the BANANA syndrome

It was unfortunate to read the negative attitude towards the North East biodiesel project in Monday's Chronicle. It seems the 'not in my backyard' syndrome of the wind farm projects has developed into a 'Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything' (BANANA) attitude on every alternative energy project.

Long ago a bloke named Rudolph Diesel thought he could change the world with a revolutionary engine that ran on peanut oil. Sadly, he tried to sell it to both the French and English naval fleets for their submarines but got mixed up in political intrigue and was next seen face down in the English Channel. The result was that petroleum diesel won the day. (see article above)

With the worlds reserves of oil dwindling and the ever rising price of petrol and diesel, we are going to need alternative fuels such as biodiesel/diesel and ethanol/petrol blends to keep our engines running.

These blends are available to the rest of the world and are even mandatory in some places. It is inevitable that they will be used here in Australia. In fact, there is a four wheel drive in the upper King Valley running on homemade biodiesel made from used vegetable oils (it smells like a fish and chip shop!).

The federal government is reopening the nuclear debate - why?
They are keen to get ethanol into our petrol - why?
The state government keeps developing wind farms - why?

The answer is that fossil fuels are running out and they are contributing greenhouse gases causing climate change.

With federal and state government support for alternate energy projects, EPA approval for the biodiesel plant works and local government support in two municpalities, it seems futile for a few protestors to use VCAT to stall the inevitable.

My tip is that the Barnewatha site will win out as it will be located at the old abbatoir site currently being used to produce blood and bone. The tallow produced in this process is the raw material to be used in manufacturing the biodiesel. It is out of the way and the basic infrastructure is already in place.

The $30 million investment will benefit the North East economy. The biodiesel produced will benefit our environment and the bloke up the valley won't have to make his own fuel anymore.

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Related article: All Minnesota diesel soon will contain biodiesel
Related article: House Dems want to offer tax credits for biodiesel, ethanol products

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A PLANNING Panels Victoria decision to support the rezoning of land at Barnawartha will pave the way for the construction of a $30 million biodiesel plant, Indigo council said last night. ... more

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