Captain Gadget

Gadgets - A green reason to eat chips

The continuing climate change debate is concentrating my mind on the question of transport. It is unlikely that most of us will take radical steps and convert to electric powered cars but budget changes and peer pressure are both making every consumer’s choice of fuel more relevant. If, like me, you are suspicious of the new bio-fuel fads and you believe you may be paying over the odds, you will be delighted to know that a home bio-diesel unit is now available.

The FuelPod 2 can produce up to 50 litres of bio-diesel a day from waste cooking oil. Standing 140cm tall and 60cm wide, this unit can be positioned in your garage to give you both the green moral high-ground and the savings associated with cheaper fuel for your car.

If you are lucky enough to already own a diesel car then this gadget might just make financial and environmental sense. Apart from those advantages, think of the pleasure of filling you own car from your front drive, a 24-hour filling station!

There are a few drawbacks however. The main one being that the unit requires a huge amount of used cooking oil. There are only a certain number of deep fried meals one can make at home, so it might be advisable to speak to your local fish and chip shop before investing in the fuelpod. The second drawback is, of course, the cost: the fuelpod2 is selling in the UK on special offer at just under £2,000. However, any device that can save up to 10% on your fuel costs may just make good commercial sense. This could be the ‘must have’ gadget of 2008.