Europe is taking the Lead again in the search for suitable alternatives to the ever increasing price of Oil and the ever present threat of the greenhouse gas effect on the Environment. As prosperity grows so does our greed as we put more and more gas guzzling vehicles on the road in an attempt to impress our neighbours! Is it really necessary to be changing that Car (we don't mentionSUVs, Jeeps, People Carriers, Range Rovers and the like in this column) every year or so? I don't think so! The Manufacturers and the Car Dealerswho have profits and shareholders to think about are bombarding us with news of the latest Models, the latest Deals and the latest tricks that our vehicles can perform and we have become used to this and fall for it every time!Here in Ireland the exponential growth of new Drivers on the road due to Prosperity, Demographics and Immigration is putting a strain on just about every aspect of our Infrastructure that you can think of...Traffic Flow; Noise Pollution; Air Pollution; Driving Test Waiting Lists; Road Improvement Programmes; Inner City Trade and so on. What's the answer you might suggest? Announced just last week the highly acceptable and Eco friendly B.E.S.T project(Bio Ethanol for SustainableTransport) was given its opening Fanfare in Stockholm Sweden, a country long known for its excellent Technological achievements and concern for its Citizens and the Environment. B.E.S.T is collaboration between three vehicle Manufacturers, Five Bioethanol Producers and Four Universities throughout Europe in a dynamic Plan to speed up the introduction of this alternative automotive propellant before we run out of time! Naturally enough the home base for this project is Stockholm and vehicle manufacturer Saab.Saab has long been known for its excellent Cars partly due to the fantastic success on the Motor Rally front in the sixties with Eric Carlsson and partly due to their Aeronautical activities which are the backbone of a very enterprising advertising campaign currently for the latest models in their stable. Saab is going to provide the base infrastructure for the project with some Test Cars and their obvious technical expertise. It is an amazing concept and deserves the support of all the motoring organisations, every Government and every Motorist. The initial stage of the project consists of an expected 140 Bioethanal Pumps at ten specially selected locations which will include 8 Cities, 6 of which are European...Stockholm, Dublin(yippee!), Madrid, Rotterdam, La Spezia, Baskia, and Nanyang in China and Sao Paulo in Brazil. In addition there has been included the Bio Fuel innovating Country Sweden and believe it or not the County of Somerset in England known for its strange accent and massive Cider production. Maybe one day in the distant future loading up with a bootful of apples might get you through a couple of days of motoring? Who is producing this fuel? Well, Sweden naturally, Brazil, Holland (they have always been very innovative) Great Britain and wait for it ...Ireland! With major contributions coming from Universities in China (Tsinghua); Sweden (Umea); Italy (Genoa) and U.K (Imperial College) What the heck does Bioethanol do when it's at home? Well the beneficial effect is that during driving, the amounts of CO2 emissions are counterbalanced by the removal of Co2 from the atmosphere by the crops that are grown to produce it. A fascinating concept and one that will gain momentum I am sure in the months and years ahead.Going back to SAAB it is a great credit to them that already nearly 5000 vehicles have been sold that are powered by this new technology and it shows that something as Eco friendly as BioEthanol can take on a life of its own given the right infrastructure. The Green movement has long been regarded as a fringe group and viewed with suspicion by the masses much like the Anti Nuclear, Ban -the Bomb campaigners throughout the Sixties. At that time Chernobyl was twenty years in the future. Any concerned citizen should view this ground breaking BEST project as certainly the best thing since the Internal Combustion Engine (I nearly said sliced Bread!) |
