BEST - Bioethanol for Sustainable Transport
Overview
Background & policy context:
In recent years, it has become perfectly clear that the world's reliance on fossil fuels for transport is unsustainable. To begin with, the days of cheap and easily available oil are numbered. In addition, fossil fuels are the main reason for global warming, a process that practically all climate scientists say we have to deal with - not soon, not tomorrow, but now. Fortunately, there are alternatives: hydrogen, electricity, and a number of others. But only a few can start making a difference right away. One of the most promising of these is bioethanol.
Most of us are familiar with ethanol as the 'alcohol' ingredient of alcoholic drinks. And precisely in the same way that grapes can be made into wine, or sugarcane into rum, these and many other crops and plants can be made into bioethanol to fuel cars, buses and trucks (when used as a vehicle fuel, it is usually known as e85 or e95). Bioethanol comes from plants and is a renewable resource. This means that, in the making and using of bioethanol, as much carbon dioxide is taken up by the growing plants as is produced when it is burnt.
Bioethanol is also biodegradable, less explosive, less poisonous and easier to extinguish if burning, compared to petrol and diesel. In addition, wherever crops can be grown, bioethanol can be made.
This means that Europe, which today is completely dependent on foreign oil imports, can become a major source of its own fuel. Bioethanol also works in the traditional internal combustion engine that almost all cars use, albeit with some minor adjustments. And it is a liquid, which means it can be handled in the modern fuel supply infrastructure. Vehicles fueled by bioethanol have been in use for many years in North and South America. Many big car manufacturers are today making these vehicles as a part of their normal production lines. And many countries have begun mandating that the regular petrol being sold is mixed with five, ten or even fifteen percent ethanol.
Bioethanol will, however, not replace fossil fuels simply by its own merits. Even if bioethanol has proved itself to be a viable alternative, more and more players - governments, industry representatives, consumers - agree that something needs to be done. It now is clear that bioethanol only needs a slight nudge to begin replacing fossil fuels for real.
Objectives:
The BEST project demonstrated an extensive substitution of petrol and diesel to bioethanol. Furthermore, the project initiated a lasting and accelerating development of bioethanol-fuel all over Europe through efficient ways of marketing and training and paved the way for a market breakthrough for ethanol fuelled vehicles.
For bioethanol-fueled vehicles to become valid, convenient alternatives for regular consumers, an infrastructure supporting these vehicles - car-makers selling the cars, fuel-producers making the fuel, and fueling stations providing it - has to be in place. BEST's goal was to help such an infrastructure emerge on a very practical, local level, by stimulating the market for bioethanol-fueled vehicles. In concrete terms, BEST helped the participating markets to develop, so that a market breakthrough occurs and the market could become self-supporting.
According to plan the BEST project introduced:
- 10 500 Flexifuel cars;
- 160 bioethanolbuses;
- 13 E95 fuelstations for buses; and
- 135 E85 fuelpumps.
Methodology:
BEST worked across several fields and with a great number of projects. Demonstration vehicles were introduced in bus and car fleets for services such as taxi, city and regional fleets, public transportation, etc. Evaluation and monitoring was carried out to prove the energy efficiency of bioethanol. Communication campaigns spread the message of the advantages of bioethanol. Studies on the possibilities and advantages of bioethanol were produced. Finally, BEST provided recommendations for environmental labelling, for standards and policies for local and national politicians, as well as the European Commission.
Not the car makers, not the filling stations, not even governments, municipalities or public bodies can make the bioethanol market share grow by its own. But if all these stakeholders come together, and do so in several countries at once, a breakthrough will happen. This is exactly what the BEST project aimed at. Apart from ten different cities and regions in Europe, South America and Asia, BEST participants included some of the world's largest car makers (Saab and Ford) as well as bioethanol manufacturers and leading universities.
By combining the wide-ranging knowledge, influence and experience of all these stakeholders, BEST aimed to help put more than 10 000 ethanol cars and 160 ethanol buses in operation, as well as contribute to the opening of numerous bioethanol fuel stations.
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