Chris cooks up way to cut ... fuel costs! (From Western Telegraph)

Chris cooks up way to cut ... fuel costs!

A PEMBROKESHIRE man has found an ingenious way of recycling cooking oil from the kitchens at County Hall - and helping the environment at the same time.

Chris Dovey has converted a van to run on used or new cooking oil (biodiesel), rather than conventional diesel fuel.

Mr Dovey, who works as an electrical engineer in construction commissioning with Pembrokeshire County Council, is very pleased with the performance of the van.

The cooking oil has to be filtered, then is preheated in the van for a few minutes before switching over from ordinary diesel.

Mr Dovey said: The diesel engine does not miss a beat. The conversion is pretty straightforward, and there is no need for any conversion if using biodiesel that is poured straight into your fuel tank.

The Pembrokeshire Energy Agency has produced a bio-diesel information sheet, showing that it is both cleaner and cheaper than ordinary diesel, producing less than half the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

Most diesel engines are capable of running on biodiesel with no modification whatsoever. With the price of biodiesel set to be reduced to 25.82p a litre from August 2002, Mr Dovey is leading the way in cutting harmful exhaust emissions in Pembrokeshire by using a cleaner, cheaper form of diesel.