There has been a lot of dicussion in the media recently about biofuels.  Many people, even U.N. officials, claim that producing biofuels is pushing up the cost of producing food and thus making it more difficult to fund projects in third-world countries.

The issue is so important, that my car dealer has sent out a newsletter to inform his bio-ethanol customers how he sees the situation.

He agrees that the price of basic foodstuffs has risen, but points out that the price of grain on the world markets is at the same level as it was in 1980.

The reason for this is apparently that during the 1990s the EU and the USA there was an overproduction of grain which, coupled with subsidies, led to the price dropping so much that it often cost more to transport a sack of grain that the contents of the sack itself were worth.

I remember at the end of the 1990s being involved in projects campaigning for the “fair pricing” of goods from third-world countries.  Farmers in those countries should have a fair chance to sell their produce on the world markets, but were being forced to sell at artificially low prices due to the subsidies of the wealthier countries.

The rising food prices are down to these policies, and not due to biofuel production, he claims.  Indeed, he continues by writing that less than 1% of the world biomass production goes towards making biofuels.  It is unlikely that such a small percentage could have such a large effect on food prices.

It is also worth noting, that European biofuels are made from sources such as sugar-beet - and mainly from extra-production or as a secondary product.

So I shall carry on filling up my car with bio-ethanol with a clear conscience.

Today I had an appointment about 100km today, and it was only last night that I realised that I didn’t have enough bio-ethanol in the tank for the return journey.

For the first time, I had to make a detour to fill up with bio-ethanol, meaning that I had to leave earlier to allow enough time to drive to Bad Homburg before I hit the motorway.

Of course, I could have driving down the road to the nearest petrol station and filled up with normal 95-octane fuel, but with that sort of fuel costing around 50% more than bio-ethanol, I felt it was worth making the detour.

But the whole situation did make me conscious of the restrictions of the bio-ethanol fuel.  After all, I don’t get as many kilometres out of a tank as I used to with normal petrol.  I quick check of the list of petrol stations that stock E85 also showed me that there was nothing suitable in the area that I was travelling to.  Well, at least not without going out of my way and looking for it.

So in the end I took the quickest option and visited my usual petrol station, and wished it hadn’t been necessary.  Will the main petrol stations, especially those on motorway service stations, ever start stocking bio-ethanol?

So you’ve bought a new eco-friendly bio-ethanol car, what do you do with the old one?

Normally you might sell it to your dealer in part-exchange for the new one, or you might try to sell it yourself through local advertisements - something that costs time and money, not to mention the added cost of insuring two cars at once.

But have you ever considered car donations? ie. donating your used car to charity? Not only do you have less hassle getting rid of the car itself, but you could receive a nice tax receipt into the bargain.

A website for car-owners in the United States called Donate Car can help you do just that.

The idea is quite simple: you fill out a form on their homepage with your personal details and details of the car that is to be donated. If the car is no longer in a fit state to be driven, then they will arrange for it to be towed away. You can even specify a charity that you would like a portion of the proceeds to be given to. If you don’t then the site has a long list of charities that they support, so you can be sure that the money will be going to a good cause.

They also support projects such as “Donkey Ollie” - a series of animated films aimed a young children and available on DVD about a Donkey that lived in biblical times. The films use modern animation and songs to put across a Christian message. Thanks to the car donations the DVDs can be distributed free of charge.

Other projects include the anti-drug documentaries “Dope The Movie” and rehabilitation homes for teenagers.

So if you live in the U.S., consider helping the environment and people in need at the same time by switching to bio-ethanol and donating your old car?

Oh, and the scheme doesn’t just take cars - you can donate a house or property as well!