Veggie Oil Prices

Had a nice note from Patrick B. regarding vegetable oil bulk prices. He gave me a link to Eilish Oils. I wrote to them with a few questions but they haven't bothered writing back so far. They list a high-grade rapeseed oil for use in cars etc. at €700 plus VAT for 1000 litres thats €847 for a fill. It would not make any sense to use it for heating at that rate.

One of the questions I asked Eilish Oil was; did they supply a lower grade oil suitable for central heating use. I can go to the supermarket and buy vegetable oil in a bottle for .69 cent in Tesco, so surely, in bulk lots of 1000 litres, without bottles and labels etc., the same oil should come at least 15% to 20% cheaper.

In the UK some farmers are pressing and filtering their own oil from rapeseed, and using the cake to feed cattle. The initial investment in the equipment is soon paid off.

If any readers are farmers with any knowledge of this practice, please drop me a note.

The Way it Works in Ireland

Hush now - we Irish have our own way of doing things!

I was talking to Manco Engineering in the UK recently (see earlier Blog on prices for Viadrus Boilers) about shipping to Ireland among other things. They didn't appear too anxious to do business and referred me to two firms on this Island. "We work through two companies (in Ireland) Nextgen Heat - Republic of Ireland; SI Energy - Northern Ireland"

I had a chat with NextGen Heat who told me they do not carry the range that Manco carry in the UK. The boiler they offer is a CN boiler at almost €10,000. Isn't that strange that they don't carry the Viadrus which Manco offer at £2200 sterling plus VAT, given that they are agents, of sorts, for Manco?

Seems if you want to get a wood pellet boiler cheaper you will have to take a van on the ferry to the UK or further afield.

In fact that is exactly what our little group are considering for next spring.

The Price of Heating Oil

Yes - I know this is supposed to be
a Renewable Energy Blog!

No I haven't gone over to wood pellet heating because of rip offs Irish style. So I am investigating oil prices this season, hopefully for the last time.

Heating oil prices in the US are generally now around the $2 per US gallon delivered. If you do the sums that works out at approximately .42 Euro cent per litre plus VAT.

Why are the Irish being asked to pay .60 Euro cent per litre (other then the good old RipOff factor) - can anyone tell me?

More RipOff Prices and Grant Abuses

SEI are Wasting Our Time and Money

While price abuse is allowed to flourish in Ireland, all the grants and incentives in the world will not make the sustainable energy market flourish to any significant degree. When people can see that Irish prices are hugely inflated over say German or Danish prices for equipment and installation charges, there will be no great rush to buy wood pellet systems or any other renewable energy system.

A Danish company offer an Opop pellet burner complete with 100 step modulation and a 1.6 meter auger unit for 11,500 Danish krowns that is €1542. They offer the Opop boiler to suit for 7,000 Danish krowns, which translates to €938. The total is €2480 add in Irish VAT at 21% and you get €3,000.80. Kerry Biofuels offer the same Opop combination for €4,490.00 this includes a small hopper which could easily be custom made for €200 to 300 max.

Let us do the math:

Danish Offer

Complete Opop boiler burner and auger unit with 100 step modulation: €3,000.80 plus €200 for a small metal hopper = €3200 inc. VAT in round figures. www.pillebraender.dk

Irish Offer

Complete Opop boiler burner and auger unit with 100 step modulation: €4,490.00 inc. VAT

The Difference?

The difference is if you buy in Ireland you pay 39% more for the exact same piece of equipment. You will most likely pay much more for installation also.

Energy Conservation a National Security Issue

How do we get the fat rich Irish public out of their comfort zone and into energy awareness?

Irish dependence on oil and other energy imports should not be considered just simply as economic issues; rather they should be looked on as matters of national security.

Ireland could be completely controlled by foriegn interests through our almost 100% dependence on imported fuels. If the fuel was cut off everything would stop working. Everything would stop. We would have no electricity except for a miserable 15% of our needs. We would have no cars, no trains, no working factories, no working farmers, no working, no wages, no money!!!

Comments on "Spot the Difference"

Gerry has sent in this Comment on the last blog:

This seems typical so: What are the chances of a callcosts.ie equivalent site for the alt/renewables enegy field? Would the SEI be up for it? (www.callcosts.ie , an official site which monitors phone and broadband charges)

If not, would Fine Gael - who (and there's an election in the offing) have shown appetite for this sort of consumer champion thing before with their ripoff Ireland site (or even the great Eddie who was possibly inspired by it to make his TV series).

Seems to me that only some widely publicised info source which compares all the offerings and prices from all the suppliers might have some effect in stimulating a bit of sense in pricing.

(I would fully agree with you Gerry. SEI really need to wake up, step in and monitor. They also need to sanction profiteering and bad service. ed.)

Wood Pellet Deals Compared

Spot the Difference

Boiler Number One a Dor Boiler with a Scotte Burner

Boiler Number Two a Scotte Boiler with a Scotte? Burner


TWO DEALS
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Deal One

SCOTTE 15 combined log wood and pellet boiler

Nominal output 14.8 KW
Including auger 1.6 m
Including Lambda control unit.

Boiler mass: Height: 1040mm
Width: 700 mm plus pellet burners depth: 770
Water Capacity: 46 litre.
Efficiency: 90.3%

Price: €2,815

24 KW €3,427
32 KW €4,095
40 KW €4,612
60 KW €4,978

This price does NOT include a feeder pellet unit. (You could have one made for €200 - 300) All prices exclusive VAT ex factory

Deal Two

Dor timber and pellet boiler

output : 16kW
efficiency : 90.3%
h : 1040mm
w : 826mm
d : 730mm
water content : 45 litres

Dor timber and pellet boiler

Price: €4194 less €300 silo price = €3894

24 Kw €4586 less €300 silo price = €4285
30 Kw €4979 less €300 silo price = €4679
40 Kw €5388 less €300 silo price = €5088
60 Kw €6632 less €300 silo price = €6332

Price includes a pellet feeder silo. I have subtracted €300 to make a comparison.
Prices exclude VAT.

One deal is available in Germany. The other is in Ireland. Guess which is the Irish deal??

More to Follow

Ireland Preparing for the BIG Drop!

The BIG Drop or No Drop at all!!







The 2040 Oil Exhibition in Ireland

During September of 2040 old fashioned MineralOil will be on display in the New Retro-Look Irish Museum of Technology. Bring the kids along to smell the oil, even feel oil, and see how it was used in the world of yesterday. You will not get this close to oil anywhere else in the world today!!

Oil disappeared from our planet in 2025 but the Museum of Technology has secured a quantity of 5000 litres of oil in several of it's previously used states including crude oil, fuel oil, lubricating oil etc. The Oil Age, like the Steam Era before it, is a facinating time for all the family to discover.

Apologies to Bertie and Noel

I apologise to Bertie Ahern and Noel Dempsey for poking fun at them in the last post.

I did have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to reading the news of the Green Paper.



I was really horrified to read that Ireland will only plan to be using a mere 30% renewable energy at a time when there will only be 5 more years of oil left on the planet. What the heck will we do in that 5 years? Get the other 70% changed over to renewables?

Daring Renewable Energy Planning!!

Daring Renewable Energy Planning!!

Noel Dempsey the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, is to publish a Green Paper on energy policy fairly soon. They (Tweedledum and Tweedledee) have announced that it will include a target of meeting 30% of Ireland's energy needs from renewable resources by the year 2020.

Woop-di-doo and Gee-whiz - how daring, how fantastic.

Wow!! Are we all knocked out or what - by how daring and forward thinking this figure really is? Yea right!

The Titanic

Irish Bucket for Bailing the Titanic

This energy policy is like saying that they will increase the bailing out of the sinking Titanic by 50 bucketfuls a day.

Are they for real? Is this not a script for Fr. Ted?

I have no political affiliation whatsoever, and I usually do not poke fun at individuals BUT this takes the biscuit for an Alice in Wonderland situation.

Bring on the Mad Hatter!