Recently in Biofuel Category

Electricity provider Western Power Distribution (WPD) has started trailling two Smith Edison vans; one in Plymouth and the other in Cardiff. According to WPD if the trials are successful it'll be introducing more battery-powered vans to its existing fleet.

John Brooks, WPD's transport manager, says: "We are constantly looking for innovative technology that can reduce our carbon footprint and electric vehicles are on solution. The first two vans have settled in well and we continue to evaluate tehir performance. If they meet our expectations, we will look at rolling out more electrice vans accross our fleet."

A handfull of hauliers have dabbled with biodiesel as a way to reduce their fleet emissions, but there's been mixed results. Commercial Motor Magazine will be doing a feature soon on different hauliers and operators' experiences of using biodiesel plus the effects it has on the trucks.

So, this is where you come in. If you want to get a free and shameless plug for your business in the next issue of Commercial Motor then get in contact (ian.tonkin@rbi.co.uk) and let us know about your experiences with biodiesel whether it be good, bad or ugly.

FFD braved the snow (and public transport) to go and drive Merc's compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Sprinter at the manufacturer's base in Milton Keynes.

I don't know about you but i'm getting a little confused with the whole biofuel thing. Today, a 'cutting-edge' technology development centre has been opened at the seaside town of Hull (UK). Kingston Research Ltd, which is a tie-up between BP and DuPont, will focus on the "commercialisation of advanced biofuel technology" at the purpose-built £25m facility.

The Green Inc. blog on the New York Times website is reporting/blogging about a trifecta of wealthy blokes that are fast-tracking an alternative feedstock that has the potential to replace coal as the energy-source of choice at those 'dirty' power stations.

Photo: Brazilbiomass

How it works is that the insightful entreprenuers will build several plants to process a sugercane byproduct called bagasse. The leftovers are compacted into small pellets that can then be incinerated in the power station furnaces, which brings us nicely onto the virtues of electric CVs.

We think that when company's say 'zero-emissions' van/truck they are talking purely about tailpipe emissions because the electricity used to charge the batteries in that Modec or Smith Electric most likely came from a coal-fired power station (in the UK at least).

So if coal can be substituted with these biomass pellets we could get closer to sustainable transport, right? The article doesn't mention how much cleaner pellets are to burn versus coal, although they do say that if the bagass is left to rot it is more harmful to the environment. Naturally.

But even if it's only slightly less harmful to the atmosphere than coal it's still a waste product so in that respect it's superior to the black stuff. With the EU wanting 20% of all Europe's energy to come from renewable sources this could actually pave the way for a full-on electric vehicle market.

Roadtransport.com's intrepid lorry crime reporter Jo Bourke sent us this link and we were quite amazed at what we saw. CO2Sense, a Yorkshire-based non-profit organisation is conducting a demonstration project looking at the commercial viability of recycled vegetable oil and its effectiveness at reducing CO2 emissions.

News reaching FFD is that the UK Sustainable Bio-diesel Alliance (UKSBA) is turning up the heat on the UK government to prevent them removing the 20p tax differential on biofuels.
Chairman of the UKSBA Mark Sneesby said that removing the tax buffer in April next year would "undermine the UK's growing low-carbon economy by making biodiesel more expensive than fossil fuels and therefore commercially unviable."

Photo: jsbarrie

The government's plan is to rely on this thing called the Renewable Transport Obligation (RTFO), which obliges fuel suppliers to ensure that at least 5% of their forecourt sales come from renewable sources like biodiesel.

Sneesby adds: "Many renewable solutions, such as wind or nuclear, require long-term investment and take many years to fulfil their potential, whilst the sustainable bio-diesel industry is an established and growing economic sector delivering real results in reducing CO2 emissions and providing 'green collar skills.

According to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Task 39, global biodiesel production has increased ten-fold in the past eight years and could double to 21.8bn litres by 2012.

Photo: trasroid 

The IEA's report on biodiesel production looked at the 21 leading biofuel producing countries and it showed that nearly 11bn litres was produced in 2008. Bioethanol, too has seen unprecedednted growth since 2000 with 20bn litres produced annually rising to 66bn lfor the whole of last year.

The UK is the sixth largest biodiesel producer making 347m litres of the stuff per annum and there has been no shortage of UK-based hauliers using or trialling biodiesel. The most notable company running biodiesel is 3663 First for Foodservice who use recycled chip fat from the KFC outlets they work with.

But again we get back to the UK government's reluctance to budge on the 20p price differential for biofuels, which is due to fall away next year, and could severely hamper any future development. On the flipside though, the UK government is ploughing alot of funding and resources to the electric vehicle market so maybe they don't belive that biodiesel is the answer...

Word reaching FFD is that there's going to a parliamentary face-off on the issue of biofuels tomorrow (13 October) and you can watch it live on the internet. The civilised row will be over the abolition of the 20p tax differential on biofuels, which, if erased, will undoubtedly have dire implications on the long-term viability of the green fuel. Keep it locked on roadtransport.com, moreover Future Fuels Debate to get all the details.