Rome has announced plans to run its public bus fleet on a fuel mix of 20 per cent biodiesel. The city council has signed an accord that would see its 2800 buses switch to the blended fuel in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution.
A trial of 200 buses, if successful, would see the entire fleet running on the
biofuel mix by the end of 2008. Estimates put the annual emission savings at 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Importantly, the accord covers not just the purchasing of the biodesel end-product but other stages of the supply chain including the growing of oilseed crops from which biodeisel is produced.
Farmers close to Rome have agreed to lift crop area devoted to rapeseed, soy and sunflowers from a few hundred hectares to 10,000 hectares, and to 20,000 if needed, to meet demand.
Biofuels have the potential to cut greenhouse emissions from transport but the size of the savings depend on supply chain factors such as what energy is used in the production process, and how feedstock and the resulting fuel supplies are shipped to market.
Reuters, 19/3/07