Biofuel Cities in action

Biofuel Cities is an EU-funded project which aims to develop a network for biofuels stakeholders from across Europe to meet and exchange ideas and best practice. The aim of the CCM workshop was to help develop a standard set of guidelines for implementing biofuel projects at a local level. Aimed at local governments and other public bodies, the guidelines will be based on the practical experience of several cities and projects that have pioneered biofuel transport solutions.

Rotterdam BEST
Highlighted at the event was, amongst others, Rotterdam and its considerable experience of using biofuels in the city’s public vehicle fleet. Ton Vermie, sustainable mobility advisor to the city and region of Rotterdam, expounded on Rotterdam’s ambitions. As a participant in the EU’s BEST project, the city aims to have 200 biofuel cars in its fleet by 2009, and another 750 in other regional fleets. Vermie said that bioethanol is the best way to achieve these targets, due to its relatively low cost, its versatility, and availability.

Greenports
The ‘Green Transport in the Dutch Greenports’ initiative was the focus of the second presentation at the workshop. Wim van de Geijn, from Van de Geijn Partners, explained that the Netherlands’ five Greenports – or horticultural business clusters – together are one of the pillars of the Dutch economy. The downside of that, however, is that they generate one third of all road traffic and use around 175 million litres of diesel annually.

Van de Geijn is working with stakeholders in the Greenports to improve the sustainability of the sector. He said that if the Netherlands is to meet its target of a 45 per cent reduction in CO2 by 2020, the sector needs to explore other modes of transport and other fuels, such as biodiesel. “Biodiesel is an ideal solution,” he said. “B100 biodiesel, or 100 per cent biodiesel, fits in perfectly to the whole ethos of the Greenports, it is readily available, and it works with existing technology.”

Munich Airport
Herman Wolz, of the environmental and regional policy office at Munich Airport, gave an enthusiastic summary of the airport’s success with its ‘Innovative Technologies’ initiative to increase the use of a range of biofuels across all types of transport at the airport.

“We launched the project in July 2006, when conditions were – and they still are – very favourable to increased use of biofuels. The oil price is up, bioethanol is tax free until 2015, biogas is subsidised until 2020 and there is a favourable tax regime for some other biofuels, such as canola oil,” said Wolz.

Innovations already introduced at the airport include a non-public canola oil fuel station, which was opened in January 2007, and a non-public E85 station, opened in September 2007.

Equally important
The relentless drive towards low CO2 emissions is not the only consideration for alternative fuels, however. Elke Rabé, a researcher at the Science and Industry section of TNO (the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research), reminded delegates that it is equally important to reduce emissions of pollutants such as Nitrous Oxides and Particulate Matter, but that the dual aims of lower CO2 and lower emissions do not always fit well together.

Rabé suggested that the best way to reduce emissions and CO2 levels is to use a combination of an increased supply of alternative fuels, pricing stimulation, more education on energy efficiency in general, and techniques as simple as better driving behaviour.

More effectively
Finally, Immo Schulz of TNT Express, showcased the company’s success in Germany with its adoption of CNG technology, a technology that meets both emissions and CO2 targets more effectively than either biodiesel or bioethanol. 27 out of 31 German branches now have vehicles in their fleet.

TNT’s German CNG experience hasn’t been painless, but Schulz is optimistic about future expansion of the CNG fleet. Indeed, his colleagues at TNT Post in The Netherlands have just launched their first CNG vehicle, in Den Haag.

Further information on:

• Innovative Technologies at Munich Airport
• TNT and CNG