Stagecoach introduces biodiesel trial in Scotland
Thu 29 November 2007
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Bus and rail operator, Stagecoach, has begun a biofuel trial in Scotland. Stagecoach says it is using biodiesel from tallow and used cooking oil to avoid the criticisms recently levelled about the sustainability of some biofuels made from food products.
Stagecoach intends to run the trial using eight buses on a Kilmarnock local service and is working with a Scottish-based bioenergy specialist, Argent Energy, which creates fuel from waste food industry products.
Stagecoach currently uses a blend of 5 per cent biodiesel in over 4,300 buses, covering around 60 per cent of its UK fleet. But Stagecoach claims that the Kilmarnock trial is the first in the UK of 100 per cent biodiesel by a bus operator.
National Express, one of Stagecoach's main competitors, recently abandoned a biofuel trial citing concerns that it may be causing more environmental damage than good. (See adjacent news link)
Stagecoach Group chief executive Brian Souter said: "We were disappointed [with National Express]. There need to be clear parameters in developing countries where biofuels come from...and there needs to be an embargo on biofuel coming from rain forests."
Stagecoach says it expects the trial to cut CO2 emissions from the buses involved by up to 82 per cent.
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