Prince Charles is running his car on a substance converted from white wine, while the royal train runs on cooking oil.
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The prince’s Aston Martin – a 21st birthday gift from his mother Queen Elizabeth – has been overhauled in a bid to make it more environmentally friendly.
It now runs on bioethanol – a substance extracted from local vineyards surplus wine – which costs £1.10 per litre and is 10 per cent more efficient than using petrol.
The prince approached Gloucestershire-based Greenfuels about the car conversion last year.
Managing director James Hygate said: “We were asked whether it would be possible to run the Prince’s Aston Martin on a waste product.
“We have come up with a means by which ordinary white wine can be converted into bioethanol which then can be used as a fuel. We distil the wine again, extracting all the alcohol to make 100 per cent pure ethanol. In effect, we are making 100 per cent proof vodka.
“If the wine is 13 per cent alcohol, then 13 per cent of each bottle makes the bioethanol. Bioethanol is more environmentally friendly because you grow a crop then harvest it. The only energy used is the energy it takes to distil the waste wine.
“As far as we know the Prince is pleased with the results.”
For the first time, Charles, 59, yesterday (30.06.08) published statistics on how environmentally-friendly he has become, slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 12 per cent.
As well as his car and train, Charles has bought bikes for all his staff at London’s Clarence House and splashed out £285,000 on super-efficient boilers at St. James’ Palace.
