All About Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AFV)

August 16, 2007
Source:  http://www.nationnews.com/story/311344934522358.php

TWENTY-FIVE public transportation vehicles will be monitored in a year-long pilot project aimed at looking at saving Government fuel costs while being environmentally friendly. This is pending Cabinet approval. Speaking yesterday, at the opening of the Sol Fresh ‘N Fast Convenience Store located at Shell Redman’s Village, Minister of Energy and the Environment Elizabeth Thompson said if the project went as planned, “four different fuel sources” including natural gas, bio-diesel and electricity would be compared in areas of fuel efficiency, costs and effects on the environment.

The vehicles will operate on a number of routes in order to provide diverse data for analysis, “to deternime how best to transition the public transport sector from a diesel sector to using energy-friendly fuels”. The minister said Government was also looking at other initiatives, in various stages of development, to reduce energy costs, since within the past three years, expenditure had gone from “$150 million to $475 million with public transport being a significant portion of the energy bill”.

Three natural gas vehicles – which are already operational in a pilot project, a bio-diesel plant capable of producing bio- diesel for export within two years and the consideration of “a lower grade of gasoline” at gas pumps, as is the custom in many international markets – are all part of Government’s plans for the country to become greener. This, Thompson said would “give people options and reduce costs”. If implemented, these measures would see energy costs decrease for Government and for consumers, she said.