April 22 was Earth Day. It also was Lenin’s birthday, making it a doubly regrettable date, even if the overlap serves the mildly useful purpose of reminding us of the perennial appeal of collectivism, the irrational, and the urge to control others. What’s more, Lenin, rather surprisingly, given the strong Promethean strain that ran through Bolshevism, favored conservation of the environment, if not of people, supporting the creation of nature reserves, a novelty in Russia (the first was established shortly before the revolution).
Fast forward (or, more accurately, don’t) to this tale from Great Britain, a country preparing to leap off the ledge into “net zero.”
Green fuels have been blamed for almost cutting Salisbury and Exeter off from rail services to London.
South Western Railway has been forced to run a reduced timetable after biofuels used to cut carbon emissions clogged up train engines’ fuel filters.
Many diesel-powered trains have been run on biofuels as part of a push towards net zero in recent years.
Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable fuel manufactured domestically from vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant grease.
But it is understood that engines were blocked by algae, which forms “organic growths” in train fuel tanks. The algae forms if biofuel sits unused for a period of time and is not treated with chemical additives.
The fact that chemicals are needed to clean up the organic fuel only adds to the joy that this story should bring.
As should this:
Engineers are racing to flush fuel tanks and potentially fill them with standard diesel instead.