One third of London’s buses to run on B20 fuel

Almost a third of London’s buses will be running on  B20 fuel, a greener blend of diesel, reducing CO2 emissions by 21,000 tonnes each year.

Stagecoach and Metroline have signed deals with Argent Energy to supply them with B20 fuel, green diesel which will reduce CO2 emissions from each bus by 10%. This comes on top of the 48,000 tonne reduction from 2013, which was a result of the introduction of lower emitting buses such as hybrids.

The cleaner burning fuel is made from blending diesel with renewable biodiesel from waste products, including cooking oil and tallow from the meat processing trade.

A total of 642 buses operating out of four Stagecoach depots have been using B20 for two months on a trial basis, and by March next year almost 3,000 of the 8,900 buses will be powered by the fuel.

Transport for London (TfL) requests that the biodiesel blended into B20 for London buses is made from waste, rather than crop-based feedstocks. B20 is a mix of 80 per cent standard diesel with 20 per cent biodiesel which are blended at Argent Energy’s London blending facility.

Mike Weston, TfL’s Director of Buses, said: “Our bus fleet is now making a major contribution to improving air quality and bringing down CO2 emissions. This improvement, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 21,000 tonnes each year, is being introduced now with no extra spend needed and no long delay for the fitting of new kit. It’s just one of a number of measures we are taking to make London’s environment better for everyone.”

London’s bus network carries almost 2.4 billion passengers a year, making it one of the largest in the world. The fleet uses around 240 million litres of fuel each year, with 80 million litres of the new fuel to be consumed each year under the new deal.

The Capital’s bus fleet already has over 1,500 hybrid electric buses and 15 pure electric buses. Over 2,000 older buses have been retrofitted with Selective catalytic Reduction, reducing their NOx emissions by up to 88 per cent per bus. The number of hybrid buses will increase to over 1,700 by 2016 – a figure that will represent over 20 per cent of the fleet.

TfL will soon be trialling inductive charging technology between Canning Town and Tower Gateway, which will enable special extended range diesel electric hybrid buses to wirelessly charge their batteries while they wait at bus stands.

The announcement was made just a fortnight after the Mayor’s visit to the Paris conference on global warming.

The post One third of London’s buses to run on B20 fuel appeared first on UK Construction Online.