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."