Only a passing reference but a feature about the use generally in Sweden of various sources of biofuel on the BBC programme Newsnight showed the new biopower Saabs.
The *star item* in the report was a train fuelled by biomethane made from cows intestines !
Apparently it seems that Sweden is currently importing bio-ethanol from Brazil to meet current E85 usage.
in article snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com, Pooh Bear at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 25/10/2005 05:48:
Yeah, that part was just "offal" :)
Although certainly no more harmful than a tanker full of crude oil, I did wonder what the environmental impact of shipping is ... Not to mention the environmental risk of that ship failing at sea.
What astounded me was that Sweden as a nation had pledged to replace something like 2% (or was it 3%) of oil usage with alternative fuel sources by the end of next year, compared to 0.2% by the UK. Shameful!
The figure of something like 5.75% by then end of 2007 was also cited and the programme noted that kommunes such as Lidköping had already achieved that target.
The reporter driving the E85 powered 9-5 gave, what I thought was, an underwhelming report. He said it was "nice to drive", which gave the impression that it was still sub-petrol feeling/performance. Perhaps he meant there was no difference, or no degraded performance, but it dodn't come across that way. SAAB found that a standard 150 BHP 9-5 when fuelled with E85 returned 180 BHP and better fuel economy in both urban and extra-urban conditions. The urban condition is the clincher, since that's where pollution is most concentrated.
That the Bio-power 9-5 comes on sale here in the UK next year was also not mentioned, nor was it clarified that the Bio-power 9-5 will run on 100% petrol through to 15% (85% ethanol) without issue. Not a great job of clearing up the FUD surrounding alternative fuel sources, IMO, but an interesting and shaming documentary (for some nations) nevertheless.
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