Co-operative waste-to-fuel network to invest in new factory
November 2008
The Good Fuel co-operative is poised to
buy and redevelop a major new facility for turning waste
vegetable oil (WVO) into biodiesel. The factory in Tredegar,
South Wales has a capacity of over a hundred tonnes week,
which will more than quadruple the current levels of
production by co-operatives and community enterprises around
the country. Good Fuel aims to create five jobs at the factory
over the next year, with as many as ten more jobs to follow in
waste oil collection.
"People make certain assumptions about
co-operatives - that they can't grow, can't raise capital or
can't make bold investments. We're enjoying proving them
wrong", said Jan Cliff, Good Fuel Secretary, "We haven't lost
our local roots - the organisation is still run by the local
co-ops that formed it - but our co-op share issue has allowed
us to scale up and replicate our successes in other places."
Good Fuel members include Sundance Renewables in
Carmrthenshire, Goldenfuels in Oxford, and Bolton Alternative
Fuels. They have raised capital with a share issue to
supporters. As an industrial and provident society, it can
offer the shares to small investors, customers and the public.
Further investment is still being sought
the co-op has plans for expanded biodiesel production in
Shropshire, Bolton and Cambridge, as well as finding new ways
of collecting oil in quantities that might otherwise be
considered too small to bother with. “Anyone emptying their
chip pan should be able to take the waste oil to their local
tip for us to collect”, said Jan Cliff, “We've put this into
practice successfully in parts of Wales – now we need other
local authorities to follow suit.” In the longer term, they
hope to invest in biogas plants supplying a sustainable fuel
made from agricultural and kitchen waste.
"This is all about carbon reduction",
says Jon Halle, from the co-op network Energy 4 All, "Most
biofuels offer little if any carbon reduction, but waste
products can be reclaimed very efficiently and without taking
land needed for food. As government regulation becomes better
at distinguishing between high carbon and low carbon fuels, we
will see huge opportunities to expand further."
For more information, or to download photos, visit
www.goodfuel.coop
Sundance director Jan is finalist in 'Swansea Bay Woman
of the Year Award 2008 in Technology'
November
2008
Sundance director Jan Cliff
reached the final three in the 'Swansea Bay Woman of the
Year Award 2008' sponsored by John Collins & Partners LLP.
The prestigious event, organised by Bay in Business,
recognises and celebrates the achievements of women across the
Swansea Bay region.
Of the fifteen finalists
across the categories, Jan reached the final three
contenders for the 'Technology Award' and we are very proud of
her achievement.
Commenting Jan stated:
"I'm delighted that my work at Sundance Renewables has
been well regarded and I enjoyed the chance to
get out of greasy overalls and have fun celebrating women's
achievements at this splendid event."
Claire Goldsworthy, Head of
Private Client at John Collins and Partners, said: “John
Collins and Partners is delighted to once again be supporting
the Swansea Bay Woman of the Year Awards for the recognition
they give to local women from all walks of life across the
Swansea Bay area. The Awards continue to play a vital role in
recognising how crucial successful women are to the growth of
the local economy and the well being of local communities and
we are delighted to be involved in acknowledging the
outstanding achievements, enthusiasm and hard work displayed
by the entrants for the awards.”
For more information,
please visit
Swansea - The Bay in Business
Sundance feature as case study at IWA conference 'Making
Sense of Sustainable Development'
June
2008
In June Jan presented a case study of Sundance at the Institute of Welsh
Affairs’ conference "Making Business Sense of Sustainable
Development" in Cardiff. Sundance has always held the
principles and ethics of sustainability as core to our
business development and Jan will be presenting a case study
of Sundance as an example of best practice.
"Consumers are voting with
their wallets: 50 per cent of customers take note of green or
ethical aspects when buying. In response, businesses are
increasingly viewing sustainable development as a commercial
opportunity. They are identifying their sustainable practices
and telling us about them. Sustainability is diversity
enhancing, people empowering, deal seeking with a long term
vision and agenda.
"However, governments and
elected members have been slower off the mark, concentrating
instead on short term goals associated with political
survival. The machinery of government tends to be risk averse
and unable to adapt quickly. Nonetheless, the National
Assembly has ‘sustainable development’ written into its
constitution, and the Assembly Government has just established
a Climate Change Commission, the first in the UK. Both are
pointers to a real commitment. For instance the One Wales
Coalition Government in Cardiff Bay intends “to achieve carbon
reduction-equivalent emissions reductions of 3% a year by 2011
in areas of devolved competence.”
"What does sustainable
development mean in practical terms for the environment, the
economy and society more generally? Business, public and third
sector organisations can and should provide a lead in
implementing workable solutions to address the issues of
developing sustainable communities – locally, nationally and
internationally. This conference puts the question,
illustrates through good practice, and offers practical and
balanced advice to signposting how sustainable development can
work to put Wales firmly on the map in a globalised world."
For more information
visit the
Institute of Welsh Affairs
website.
Sundance pleased to take part in 21st Century Living 'Local
Solutions to Climate Change' event
May 2008
Sundance are pleased to
have taken part in the 21st Century Living 'Local Solutions
to Climate Change' event on May 28th, held in partnership
with Groundwork Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot.
Speakers included Jan
Cliff, (Director, Sundance Renewables), Sue Essex, former
WAG Minister, Dan Mc Callum, (Director, Awel Aman Tawe) and
Elwyn James (Director Arts Factory). Joan Asby, Director of
PLANED spoke about the need for community engagement and
Richard Thomas on behalf of Sustainable Wales described a
local climate change campaign which intends to change
behaviour leaving a legacy of understanding. The
contributors selected represented key organisations
delivering local responses to climate change and whose ideas
are replicable and appropriate for many areas.
The event included
discussions and workshops covering community regeneration
via renewable energy/efficiency, localising the economy,
increasing community engagement etc. There were
marketplace-style event with stalls providing local and Fair
Trade produce, crafts, interactive exhibitions and
information. Other activities included workshops for
children/families like the ‘Plastic-bag-free town’ campaign,
SWAP shops, greening your home or workplace, fair trade
chocolate games, and much, much more.
For more information
visit
Sustainable Wales
*Sundance wins 'Hidden
Dragon Social Enterprise Award' at Carmarthenshire Business
Awards*
19/03/2008
Sundance are proud to be
winner of the 'Hidden Dragon Social Enterprise Award' at the
2008 Carmarthenshire Business Awards.
The Awards are held
annually to celebrate innovation, enterprise and the best of
business in Carmarthenshire County. The Hidden Dragon
programme offers Objective 1 funding to help establish a
social or community enterprise. A social enterprise is
described as:
'a business with
primarily social purpose. This means it is engaged in some
form of trading, but it trades primarily to support a social
purpose. Like any business it aims to generate surpluses,
but it seeks to reinvest those surpluses principally in the
business or in the community to enable it to deliver on it
social objectives. It is, therefore, not simply a business
driven by the need to maximise profit to shareholders or
owners.'
Sundance are pleased to
have won the prestigious award which recognises our
commitment to community regeneration - as a not-for-profit
workers co-operative any surplus is used to support
community renewable energy projects in our local area.
Many thanks to our loyal customers and friends of Sundance
for your continued support!
Click Here to view a video of all nominees and projects
- to download and view the video right click on the video
link and select 'save target as'.
To
view more photos of the night please
click here
Sundance praised in Synnwyr Busnes - Business Sense
'Sustainability Health-check'
February 2008
Sundance Renewables
Sustainability Health-check
Sundance has carried out the Synnwyr Busnes - Business Sense
'Sustainability Health-check' to appraise how well we embed
sustainability into our co-operative and to identify any
improvements that we can make as we expand our biodiesel
business.
Synnwyr Busnes – Business Sense (SBBS) is a specialist
business support service in sustainable development, based
at Bangor University. It is a project funded by the
European Union, the Welsh Assembly Government and Bangor
University and aims to help SME’s in Objective One areas of
Wales realise the benefits of thinking and acting
sustainably, and telling their customers about it.
The Sustainability Health-check gives a holistic view of
sustainable development in an organisation - it covers
fifteen areas of sustainable development and assesses how
well an organisation performs in each of these areas, to
determine whether it is working in a sustainable way.
The Sundance Renewables Sustainability Healthcheck concludes
that:
"The Director and co-operative members have an excellent and
improving awareness of the issues, with action already taken
on 90% of the “concern and action” issues covered in the
health-check, and an ethos of continual improvement has been
clearly demonstrated. However, there are some improvements
that could still be made, especially with processing
expansion imminent...
The company is on the verge of a ten-fold expansion of
operating capacity that will contribute to reductions in
waste within the region and increased provision of
alternative low-carbon fuels for transport and heating.
Customer and stakeholder ‘feel good’ responses are on the
increase and together these factors represent an exciting
time of business expansion with a heart-felt commitment to
sustainability in the widest sense."
To
download and read the report in full please click the link
below:
Sundance Renewables
Sustainability Health-check
'Biofuels
is a taxing issue for business' - Swansea Evening Post
15/01/2008
Article in Swansea Evening Post:
Powering your car with vegetable oil sounds like the best
thing ever, but it can prove rather taxing. Environment
reporter RICHARD YOULE investigates.
Fans of comedy Blackadder II will remember the episode when
the idiotic Lord Percy tries his hand at making gold, but
ends up instead with "green".The long-suffering Edmund
Blackadder is far from impressed.
Turning base metals into gold has yet to be cracked, but
making biodiesel from used vegetable oil is a piece of cake,
give or take some engineering and chemical expertise.
And that's pretty handy when fuel prices are travelling in
one direction, at pace.
Rudolf Diesel got the ball rolling at the end of the 19th
Century with a design for a new engine that would run on
vegetable and nut oils, not today's smelly petrol-based
fuel.
Modern-day alchemists include Sundance Renewables, in
Ammanford, which churns out a few thousand litres of
biodiesel every week.
People like Geoff Seago, of Llanelli, are also producing the
stuff for their own use, while the internet is buzzing with
biodiesel chat rooms.
Even Eddie Grundy, from The Archers, is on the case, the
Post's resident Radio 4 fan assures me.
Not surprisingly, only cars with a diesel engine run on
biodiesel.
If you alter your diesel engine, you can pour in unused
vegetable oil, which costs as little as 75p a litre.
But environmentalists point out a flaw - you're in effect
using crops to power an engine, rather than for food.
This argument has raged since the US and the European Union
(EU) announced plans to increase biofuel production from
foods such as maize, corn and sugar cane.
Analysts have attributed rising global food prices to the
shift in growing crops for fuel - "tortilla riots" have been
reported in Mexico.
Producing biodiesel from waste oil steers clear of the
controversy, because the oil has been used in the first
place.
Experts are now trying to convert the waste products of
plants and crops into second generation biofuels.
And only yesterday the EU promised new guidelines to ensure
its target isn't damaging.
Sundance Renewables collects its oil from nearly 400
schools, restaurants, takeaways and councils in South West
and Mid Wales.
Director Jan Cliff then processes it on site and sells the
resulting biodiesel to a loyal band of nearly 300 customers,
including the National Trust and Forestry Commission.
You would think the Government would go out of its way to
help sustainable pioneers like Mrs Cliff.
Well, not exactly.
True, the duty is 20p a litre less than conventional petrol
and diesel, at 30.35p.
But when you add on VAT, you realise that nearly 50p of
every litre sold goes to the taxman. That has soured some of
the idealism of the not-for-profit Sundance firm.
"When we first launched the scheme in October 2004, it was a
like a dream come true," said Mrs Cliff.
"For quite some time before, we thought it might just be a
crazy idea, but we managed to get it all together. It was
very inspiring."
But she added: "Taxation has been dire. We sell a litre of
biodiesel for 97.5p, and nearly 50p of that is tax.
"It's an outrageous situation. It's a renewable fuel. We
don't make any money, and we've taken cuts in our wages.
We're keeping it going by the skin of our teeth."
She pointed out that LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) was only
taxed at 7p a litre, and that is a fossil fuel.
The 47-year-old added: "If we hadn't been taxed like this,
we'd have been able to support ourselves and finance our
latest expansion plans.
"Instead we've had to get a considerable number of loans."
She has a message for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"Back renewables and back local solutions."
Mrs Cliff described how the biodiesel was made.
The oil is screened, filtered and gets heated up in a
processor.
Then it's mixed with chemicals to thin it.
The waste product, glycerol, can then be processed for its
methanol.
"We are aiming for zero waste," said Mrs Cliff, whose
husband Joe and three children all help out in the business.
The main problem is the plastic bottles which many suppliers
put their waste oil in.
Mrs Cliff can churn out a maximum of 1,500 litres of
biodiesel every other day. That will increase once a
10,000-litre processor is installed. But finding new waste
oil suppliers will be crucial.
As well as the biodiesel for cars, Mrs Cliff also produces
heating fuel, at 85p a litre.
And the support from customers has helped reinvigorate her
enthusiasm. "Some have said they've been waiting all their
lives for this," she said.
"Others have helped us out with loans and donations."
Marine engineer Geoff Seago, of Llanelli, has produced
biodiesel for his Land Rover and Transit van on a small
scale.
"It's very satisfying," he said.
"And in this day and age, we must do something because we're
running out of resources."
For more
information on our activities over the past year, please see our
latest Newsletters and Annual Reports on the Sundance Profile
page.
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