[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I hope that the fuel suppliers don't just try to "green wash" their fuels, as there is a real possibility that they could be quite inventive if they really tried to do the right thing.

For example, you may be aware that out King Charles 111, who has been quite an environmentalist for donkey's years, had his classic Aston Martin converted to run on biofuels many years ago. Some of the ingredients that make up the mix of the fuel include cheese and wine that are very much past their best.

Just turning food crops into bio-fuel should not be the answer, any more than the UK government does by giving special grants to one of our electricity generating companies for burning wood pellets that come from forests, many in Canada, that are being chopped down especially for that purpose.

All good points. I particularly am not a fan of crops creating a fuel vs. food quandary! Again I am not an expert on this at all. Regulations can be found here https://www.fia.com/sites/default/fi...2022-08-16.pdf

Article 16 covers the fuel specifics. Two areas that might speak to the above...

16.1.2 With regard to fuel, the detailed requirements of this Article are intended to ensure the use of Advanced Sustainable (AS) fuels comprising solely AS components, that are composed of certified compounds and refinery streams and fuel additives and to prohibit the use of specific power-boosting chemical compounds. The final, blended fuel must achieve a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings, relative to fossil-derived gasoline, of at least that defined for the transport sector in the EU Renewable Energy Directive RED(1), which was current on January 1st in the year prior to the relevant Formula One Championship. The GHG savings calculation takes into account any net carbon emissions from land-use change, the energy used in harvesting and transporting the biomass and the production and processing of the advanced sustainable component. In any process where sustainable energy is used, this must be surplus to the local domestic requirements. Where available, GHG emission savings will be taken from the current EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) or other equivalent, internationally recognised sources. The use of these compounds and refinery streams in F1 fuel will be dependent on evidence indicating that the supplier is genuinely developing these compounds for use in commercial fuels and that they are available from plants capable of producing at least 5m3 per year or are commercially available at similar volumes from a third party. Acceptable compounds and compound classes are defined in 16.2 and 16.4.3. In addition, to cover the presence of low-level impurities, the sum of components lying outside the 16.2 and 16.4.3 definitions are limited to 1% max m/m of the total fuel.

(1) Article 29, Section 10(c) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 for biofuels, and Article 25, Section 2 for RFNBO

and...

16.2.8 Advanced Sustainable component An Advanced Sustainable (AS) Component is one that is certified to have been derived from a carbon capture scheme, a renewable fuel of nonbiological origin (RFNBO), municipal waste, or non-food biomass. Such biomass includes, but is not limited to, lignocellulosic biomass (including sustainable forest biomass), algae, agricultural residues or waste, and dedicated non-food energy crops grown on marginal land unsuitable for food production. RFNBOs are considered renewable when the hydrogen component is produced in an electrolyser that uses new renewable electricity generation capacity. Biocomponents from food crops can be regarded as an advanced sustainable component only if they have already fulfilled their food purpose (e.g. waste vegetable oil because it has already been used and is no longer fit for human consumption). Furthermore, the biomass, from which the advanced sustainable component was made, must not originate from land with high biodiversity such as undisturbed primary forest or woodland, land designated for nature protection or highly biodiverse grassland, and were in this state in or after January 2008. Additionally, the biomass must not originate from any land with highcarbon stock such as wetlands and peatlands.

My take on the above is that they seem to be trying to do the right thing? Maybe still not getting it fully right, but trying???

Richard