It's Not Easy Being Green

[kitesurf_phil]

Is anyone else following this series? I caught episode 1 a couple of weeks ago and episode 3 tonight (missed it last week because of work).

They are growing all their own veg, Keeping pigs & chickens, generating their own electricity for lighting with a water wheel, heating their greenhouse by storing heat built up in the daytime in a heat sink and next week they are going to show us how to make bio diesel from old chip oil.

I have a few questions about this series. A friend of mine did the same thing in North Wales a few years back. The predecessor to DEFRA made them dismantle their water wheel on the grounds that it was an illegal obstruction to the water flow. Did the BBC have to get permission? If so it wasn't mentioned.

Another question is. If you make your own diesel you have to pay fuel duty on it. If you generate your own electricity from renewable energy do you have to pay duty or VAT on it? If not, why not? (Not that I want to give Gordon any ideas).

The argument I am leading up to is, if you don't have to pay duty on domestic energy you generate from renewable energy sources, then why do you have to pay duty on home made bio diesel?

Discuss.

[mud skipper]

i noticed in next weeks episode they are showing you how they will convert chip fat into bio diesel


life is unfair is it not

[mud skipper]

i noticed in next weeks episode they are showing you how they will convert chip fat into bio diesel


life is unfair is it not

sorry i didnt read your post fully



must pay more attention to others
must pay more attention to others
must pay more attention to others

[Apache]

Good point, but I think if all diesel car owners used veggie (or a large amount) then the govt would be missing out on a huge cash cow (people generating a bit of electricity in their back garden is small potatos in comparison), or an entire herd of them and they just would not let that happen! Giving us the 'go green' message in the media makes them look caring and sharing, and then stabbing us in tha back when we make a go of it is their way.

It's about money going into the treasury plain and simple. Yes, I am that cynical.

[BUSHWHACKER]

Not cynical, just a realist same as me.

[Diezel Weazel]

Well wurth watching !!!!

Good point Phil,
I've Bin watching it wiv interest from the start also.
For those that havent seen it, it's on BBC 2 next Tuesday @ 20.30

There's always a Payback.... You just can't see it Comin !!!!

[kitesurf_phil]

I find it interesting but the funny MTV style camera angles get on my tits a bit.
Ordinary folk would not be able to do it on the scale they are doing it. They had £500,000 to buy the property before they even started to do it up.
I have been generating my own electricity for garden/shed/greenhouse lighting/security for about four years. The wind generator drives an old computer tape drive DC motor, home made rectifier/regulator charging a couple of leasure batteries in the shed.
I want to sink a tank in the garden to capture rain water for car washing, plant watering etc because I don't have enough room for water butts. Plus my home grown salad and veg prefers rainwater.

[NFC]

I've been following it with interest. (A 4x4 driver who agrees with "green" principles How did that happen? Oh, you mean there are more of us? Tell the Antis. Quick!)

There is no duty on domestic fuel, only VAT. If you are not buying it, there is no value to tax. However they may have trouble if they start harvesting rainwater because technically any water that lands on your property belongs to the water board. Not you.

Why is the Defender shown considered green when the Audi is not? They probably do about the same to the gallon. The Defender's only cleaner once it's running on bio-fuels. Could equally well have been a Surf.

All this has reminded me to get an EX103 and to see what parts of the garden I can plant without upsetting the landlord

[DaveD]

(A 4x4 driver who agrees with "green" principles How did that happen? Oh, you mean there are more of us? Tell the Antis. Quick!)

However they may have trouble if they start harvesting rainwater because technically any water that lands on your property belongs to the water board. Not you.

I dont have any probs with green principles I recycle all my carlsberg cans.

When I lived up in Gateshead there was a report on a hill farmer in Northumbria who had no leccy no gas etc. Water board kept sending him bills. He claimed that as he had no water supply no gutters and no sewers he wouldnt pay them. Water boards reply was that water off his roof would drop down soak through the land and eventually go through their system.

[CaptainBeaky]

I Water boards reply was that water off his roof would drop down soak through the land and eventually go through their system.

You are not liable for sewerage charges on surface water/soakaway drainage - only drainage into the sewers.

[marky]

Ive put £100 DIESEL in my truck since Monday so they can sod off.
Mr BROWN us Fuel guzzelers are obviously already paying more TAX than any one else so put that in your pipe & smoke it.

RANT OVER

[M35A2]

I'm going to get my GF to tape that programme where they make the Bio-Diesel. I'm going to nick the design that they have set up, and run my truck on it. Customs can stick it!!

[NeilT]

they may have trouble if they start harvesting rainwater because technically any water that lands on your property belongs to the water board. Not you.

WTF! Feck this democracy BS i'm off to live in a monarcy/dictatorship - did you know that in Saudi there is NO TAX, no road tax, no fuel tax, no tax on compulsory car insurance, no VAT on tires, spares, tools etc, no income tax on the earnings needed to fund the whole lot in the first place, no paying an accountant to work out the effing tax. OK so they have a rather large oil income to pay for their excellent roads etc but we've had oil and gas and the Saudi's could still tax everyone and not give them ANY SAY in where that tax money goes. The NHS crumbles while we pay ever more tax FOR WHAT? The roads are rubbish, the water is rationed, parking is charged for even outside your own fecking house, the NHS only treats those who would otherwise become an embarrassing pile of bodies in front of their entrance, oh no, i've blown a fuse, stand back

[M35A2]

WTF! Feck this democracy BS i'm off to live in a monarcy/dictatorship - did you know that in Saudi there is NO TAX, no road tax, no fuel tax, no tax on compulsory car insurance, no VAT on tires, spares, tools etc, no income tax on the earnings needed to fund the whole lot in the first place, no paying an accountant to work out the effing tax. OK so they have a rather large oil income to pay for their excellent roads etc but we've had oil and gas and the Saudi's could still tax everyone and not give them ANY SAY in where that tax money goes. The NHS crumbles while we pay ever more tax FOR WHAT? The roads are rubbish, the water is rationed, parking is charged for even outside your own fecking house, the NHS only treats those who would otherwise become an embarrassing pile of bodies in front of their entrance, oh no, i've blown a fuse, stand back

Saudi Arabia isn't the only country not to tax it's citizens. I for one would much rather live in the United States, where prices are low and freedom is high. Check out this link to see what states don't charge Income Tax or Sales Tax (VAT). Even the ones that do are far lower than we pay here. My GF and I are looking at moving over there. Had enough of being ripped off.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005954.html

[NeilT]

Saudi Arabia isn't the only country not to tax it's citizens. I for one would much rather live in the United States, where prices are low and freedom is high.

I'm tempted to argue that freedom isn't that high in the USA if you are scared to drive down certain streets in case a crack head rips your heart out for a buzz but there must be some areas that are OK. I liked the Frisco area, anywhere north of there seems ok, would be nice to buy a bit of land with a house on it for less than a million £s.... Remember me if your new government starts sending nukes over to Saudi for no good reason!