An edition of the Tyne Tees Television programme investigating topics affecting life in the Northeast. In this episode presenter Kim Inglis looks into the world of biofuel; the new way that many of us will be running our cars in the future. Title: Northern Eye. The New Oil Rush At Blackgate Garage in the village of Coxhoe in County Durham presenter Kim Inglis is getting her car filled with a new type of fuel; biodiesel. The attendant returns the nozzle to the pump, back in the driving seat...

An edition of the Tyne Tees Television programme investigating topics affecting life in the Northeast. In this episode presenter Kim Inglis looks into the world of biofuel; the new way that many of us will be running our cars in the future. Title: Northern Eye. The New Oil Rush At Blackgate Garage in the village of Coxhoe in County Durham presenter Kim Inglis is getting her car filled with a new type of fuel; biodiesel. The attendant returns the nozzle to the pump, back in the driving seat Kim explains that it is the North-East who are leading the way with this new type of fuel. A montage of images from the programme changes to Kim driving along a country road. Archive footage of a train pulling into a railway station and a couple driving along a road in a vintage petrol-powered vehicle. Radar images showing average temperatures rising around the world because if global warming. Dr Phil Gates from Durham University explains why it has taken so long for biofuels to begin to replace fossil fuels is purely an economic consideration. The price of oil hasn’t been high enough for anyone to investigate other kinds of fuels, but because of both climate and political change it is becoming more imperative. Andrew Cox, an Energy Analyst, give two reasons why biofuels are being developed as an industry in the United Kingdom. The first is that these biofuels have lower Co2 and, secondly because of the high price of crude oil. In a laboratory a scientist conducts tests on a biofuel changes to show various plants that are being used to make biofuel, Rapeseed, soybean, and wheat. A large sack of soybeans is unloaded onto a grate changes to a cargo ship entering the Tees estuary. John Reynolds of Northeast Biofuels and Steve Douty from D1 Oils explains why Teesside is an idea site for biofuel development. It has a heritage of chemical manufacturing, a deep-water port for exports and a technical workforce ideal for setting up this new industry. Back at Blackgate Garage another car is filled with biofuel, Andrew Cox says that if you create a reasonable mix of biodiesel with diesel it can reduce CO2 by up to 50%. Kim Inglis drives through the countryside changes to show views of Blackgate Garage and the One North East ‘Green Route’ sign giving motorists the price of fuel. In a laboratory a man in a white lab coat and safety glasses pours a ‘Petroplus Biodiesel B5 Blend’ biodiesel from a tube into a labelled beaker and a Petroplus tanker leaving a chemical facility. Andrew Cox explains that the UK aren’t producing enough biofuels, however new plants are being built to produce either biodiesel or bioethanol. At D1 Oils at Sea Sands a tanker is filled with a biodiesel, general views around the plant of men at work producing more biofuel. A clip from a promotional video showing a crane lowing a module section into position on the site. Steve Douty provides details and figures in future production at the plant which will producing 320,000 tons per annum by 2010. Soybeans, which are currently being used to make biodiesel, being dropped onto a hard surface changes to a field of wheat. On the beach at North Gare with the chemical complex at Wilton in the backgrounds, Kim Inglis reads from a newspaper article on Teesside company The Biofuels Corporation. Sean Sutcliffe from the company explains that their facility is Britain’s largest biodiesel plant with a capacity of 250,000 tons or 1% of Britain’s diesel requirements. However, due to cheap imports from the United States (US) the plant is only running at 25% capacity as it is cheaper to import at present than produce directly. A cooling tower at the chemical plant at Wilton on Teesside changes to Eston Nab looking down on the Tees estuary and the Redcar steelworks below. At the farmers’ co-operative Farmway feed mill near Darlington a delivery being made and the silos where the product is stored. John Reynolds of Northeast Biofuels says that he believes the current issues the industry has with US subsidies making imports of biodiesel cheaper will be sorted out in the long term as the market settles down. A field of yellow flowering Rapeseed changes back to John Reynolds who talks about a project to build a crusher in the Tees Valley where farmers can send their seeds to be crushed to extract the oil, currently this can only be done abroad. A Grain Co. Ltd lorry arrives at a plant and unloads its cargo of seeds before driving away. Along the central motorway in Newcastle congestion of petrol-powered traffic moving around the city changes to a field of wheat, a cereal grain which can now be mixed with petrol to create a new kind of bioethanol for use in petrol vehicles. John Reynolds provides details on a new bioethanol plant which should open in 2009 which would produce 400,000 tons of bioethanol from 1.25 tons of wheat. Time-lapse footage of traffic moving through an intersection. Standing beside her car Kim Inglis says that she’s heading off to find some drivers who can be the real judges if biofuel will take off, she also asking the question will cheaper fuel have any hidden costs for us all. She gets into her car and dives off. Title: Northern Eye. The New Oil Rush As presenter Kim Inglis walks through a Gateshead car park, she says that the local council is taking part in a ground-breaking experiment by testing its vans on a high-percentage biodiesel. Dale Robson from Gateshead Council talks about how two years previous the council introduced an 80% 20% biodiesel mix and explains how successful this has been. As he talks a council employee from Local Environmental Services gets into and drives away in one of the council biodiesel vans. A sticker on the rear door reads ‘This vehicle is powered by bio-diesel’. Along the Gateshead Quayside a tourist double-decker bus drives along South Shore Road towards the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art. Sitting at a computer Kim talks to camera, in the background images of sports cars at a track play on a monitor in the background. At Snetterton Circuit near Norwich engineers and mechanics check over the D1 Lola sports car, a vehicle developed by D1 Oils on Teesside to run on 50% biodiesel and 50% ordinary diesel. It is pushing out onto the track and speeds around the circuit. At the Scott Racing test lab at Langley Moor in County Durham a BMW engine is being put through its paces, performance information coming up on computer screens. Tim Scott explains while everyone at the company is passionate about motor sport, they wanted to find a way of doing it more environmentally friendly so are at the early stages of developing an engine for a British touring car that will run on 100% biodiesel. As he provides details of the work being done a touring car speeding around a track and Tim and one of his colleagues looking over data on a screen. He continues to talk about his hopes for the car which should be ready for competition next year. A montage featuring cars travelling along the central motorway in Newcastle, four people watching a cargo ship enter the Tees estuary and waves crashing onto a beach. Kim comes over a sand dune and asks the question is the total environmental impact of biofuels as green as it seems? Andrew Cox explains that in the UK we don’t produce enough plant oils so it has to be imported. The example given is of palm oil from Indonesia which is being grown at the expense of traditional forests. As he talks archive of rainforests being burned and cleared to make palm oil plantations. A field of wheat changes to Dr Phil Gates expressing concerns that using a food crops such as wheat for biofuel reduces food production. He also comments that as the demand for biofuel grows then the price of cereal crops also goes up to meet the demand. It is a tricky balancing act between producing crops for food and producing crops for biofuel. Sugar cane growing inside a greenhouse at Durham University where scientists are working on producing plants the grow more starches, sugars and oils. Soybeans again being poured out onto a table with Kim explaining D1 Oils is moving away from using the crop due to rising prices. At a plantation in India men working, cultivating, and harvesting a new biofield crop called Choffer. Steve Douty from D1 Oils explains what this plant is and why it is an important development. At his home in Darlington Carl Townsend fills his car with cooking oil, he explains how well it has worked in his engine. As he drives along a dual carriageway, he explains it no different to driving in normal or biodiesel. Back home he pours used oil from a chip-pan into a plastic drum through a filter, at the base of the drum a plastic bottle filled with the oil. Dr Phil Gates walks through a garden, as he does so give the analogy that today we are at the same level in biofuel as the Wright Brothers were with early flight. He says it will be big technological jumps that comes next to be able to break down all the different plant tissues to make biofuel. Andrew Cox says that while the North-East has not started developing 3rd generation technologies as is happening in Europe and North America, he is confident in the next decade the region will be part of the vanguard of developing a new range of plants that will produce biodiesel or bioethanol from wood or wood waste. Fields of yellow Rapeseed changes to an electric car and man filling the hydrogen fuel cell at a filling station. Clouds passing at speed over an electric pylon and a computer animation showing the workings of a clean-coal power station. Professor Paul Younger from Newcastle University explains that there are huge opportunities for new forms of employment in technologies, new ways of generating energy, new ways of saving energy, new ways we use transport which we should be grabbing with both hands. Kim Inglis walks along the beach at North Gare with both the Tees estuary and Redcar steelworks in the background. She explains that a whole mix of technologies will be powering our cars and meeting all of our energy needs, and if we can get it right then it will be a better future for the region. Credit: Presenter Kim Inglis Camera John White Graphics Jon King, Dave Richardson Editor Adam Giles Sound Post-production The Edge Executive Producer Graeme Thompson Series Producer Mary Wimpress Producer/Director Susan Drummond © Suedunnit Productions 2007 End credit: Suedunnit Productions production for ITV