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The bio diesel fuel being trialled on the Broads has been developed by Norfolk entrepreneur Dennis Thouless, whose Global Commodities UK plant at Shipdham near Dereham has become an award winning green energy success story.
Every week, 50 tonnes of used vegetable oil is collected from restaurants, cafeterias and factories throughout England to be delivered to the small business unit.
And following the process carried out there, the oil used only a few hours previously to cook out chips, fry-ups and fish suppers is given a new lease of life, which given the right programme of expansion and encouragement could relieve some of the serious environmental problems facing the Planet.
The environmentally friendly alternative to regular fossil diesel offers exactly the same performance levels as its hydrocarbon based cousin but none of the disadvantages associated with greenhouse gas pollution.
After a long career in pharmaceuticals and property development, Mr Thouless, 69, decided it was time to do his bit for future generations.
"I thought it was time to start putting something back into the world after getting so much of it," he said. "I have grandchildren and great grandchildren and wondered how they are going to cope with the environmental situation in 20 years time, Global warming and the greenhouse effect are both very serious problems and I don't think most people in East Anglia quite realise how little a rise in sea level is needed for us to lose most of the region.
"We have the technology to prevent this situation by reducing so much of the rubbish we put into the atmosphere. If we do what we can now to ease the problem there may be other solutions available in the future but the point is we must start acting now.
"Mr Thouless spent three years developing his product, driveECO. It was launched in March last year - the first such plant in the UK – and after building production capacity at Shipdham up to 10 million litres a year, he is now aiming to open a massive new facility in Lowestoft which could boost production to 180 million litres.
The 41,000sq-ft site on the Riverside Business Park is at the heart of the project to revitalise Lowestoft Docks.
"The fuel can run any diesel engine without any modifications at all and any CO2 emission is completely sustainable in that any released is what the crop consumed in the first place." He said. "There is no emission of the very fine particles which we can't see but breathe in whenever we take diesel fumes and which have linked to asthma and cancer."
Further, the fuel is completely biodegradable in 28 days, you can wash your hands in it – you can even drink it and yet it will give you the same mileage and engine performance as diesel. And it lubricates engines better then the latest ultra low sulphur diesel.
Despite higher production costs, last years tax cut meant the biodiesel mixes are now two to four pence a litre cheaper on garage forecourts than regular diesel – but still way higher than the boatyards' "red" diesel.
Since the tax cut, Mr Thouless has been working hard to expand the use of driveECO throughout Norfolk and beyond.
Two Norfolk haulage firms Woody's and John Mack have been using 25 per cent mixtures of driveECO and regular diesel in their trucks and 18,000 to 19,000 litres of fuel being used every week, that adds up to a significant saving. And thanks to a deal with Martham-based supply company Broadland Fuels it is now available to drivers at 40 filling stations across the region in a fossil/bio mix.
"In my book fuelling a better world first starts at home with fuelling a better East Anglia and I am delighted that Broadland Fuels is working with us on this initiative to enable East Anglia to enjoy all the benefits of driveECO bio diesel." said Mr Thouless, who has faith that future generations will embrace his product.
"Certainly over the last 10 years, people have become more environmentally aware," he said. "When I set up this company up I had a definite vision about how I wanted it to develop and as part of those plans we have a lecture theatre to put schools in the picture about the environment.
"I believe we can convert people in a few years' time it will be our children who will have the ideas and be much more flexible than the average adult now.
"Things have to change we are running out of fossil fuels very fast. There will always be oil in the earth but within 20 years we will run out of what we can recover at a reasonable cost. "Meanwhile, closing our eyes to the problem of global warming won't make it go away we do not believe this is a legacy that our future generations should inherit."
From Norfolk Afloat – April 2003
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