Hi folks,
We are going to be progressively building this new area of the forum to provide advice and assistance and model documentation for people who are trying to convert their vehicle fleet over to biofuels or to more environmentally responsible fuels than straight out petrol and diesel.

We are hoping to also have some powerpoint presentation templates that you will be able to use and add your own details into and then present at whatever would seem an appropriate forum such as a Board meeting or a presentation to management.

This section is intended to be a two way street - if you have something to share or offer up please do and if you need something hopefully it will be here for you as we build up a resource library of downloadables.

The motivation for doing this is that I have developed/had developed some materials but only with help from others such as Julian and Virag from UNSW, Chris from Manly and Morris from the Biodiesel Station. Ideally I need more help as well and I expect many others will too. Whenever we get something better than we already have we will update.

Regards,
Cameron
University of New South Wales, Sydney.

Hello Cameron,

This fleet forum is a great idea. We've been running two trucks on B100 in our business since Sept '06 and have had no problems using it, both trucks run beautifully. Although we have no presentations or 'hard' data about performance we would be happy to talk to anyone interested in our experience using BD.

I also saw a great presentation at the Alternative Technology Association by Stuart Nesbitt, Hume’s Sustainable Resource Technical Officer, he is managing the Hume City Council Fleet Biodiesel Project. He is a former mechanic and has some extremely thoroughly tested data on using BD in a fleet, he also approached the whole thing from a fuel lifecycle sustainability angle. The project was such a success that the council is considering converting its entire fleet to BD. I suggest Stuart would be a fantastic source of information and reliable performance data for anyone wishing to run heavy vehicle fleets on BD.

I am interested to know how your supply locations and distribution networks are set up.

We have been carrying out extensive modeling here in Western Australia, and while my clients are currently making land acquisitions to cater for future expansion, their biodiesel plans are nonetheless factored into their strategy.

Perhaps we can form an expert panel on this, since there appears to be a great deal of work that still needs to be done. Every business model we have considered has been wrong in its basic assumptions, and it strikes me forcefully that to proceed we not only have to get fossil fuels out of our heads, but the economic and business modeling that presupposes fossil fuel supply as well.

I am happy to put my hand up, although I should say up front that once it gets down to business and there is money involved a fee for service is in order.

Suffice for now that this is my patch, after 20 years in the motor industry in farm maintenance and fleet management, then University and another 15 years plus in Permaculture and Premium Organic marketing, rural and regional development, land management, and high level data analysis on forward projections.

If that sounds like advertising and self-promotion, I only partly apologise.

We have enormous expertise available here in this country, and if we do not start seriously investing in it so people are not being distracted away all the time trying to make a living for themselves elsewhere, we are not going to get anywhere.

My argument here is that the technology is well established. It is the business modeling based on supply logistics and distribution networks that we need to be working on now, else price structures and availability are dead in the hole.

Kind regards,

Gil