Morrisons supermarket will today open the UK’s first bioethanol E85 filling pump. This follows Tesco's launch of its 99 Octane fuel last November, containing five per cent bioethanol (see link below). The fuel will be branded Harvest BioEthanol E85, with the pumps featuring a new butterfly logo and a blue filling hose.
As the name suggests, it's a mix of 85 per cent bioethanol and 15 per cent petrol. Derived from plants, bioethanol is said to be more environmentally-friendly than fossil fuels. However, while not all cars can use it, it does offer a higher octane rating and therefore the potential for more power. Saab reckoned that its new 9-5 BioPower shows power gains of up top 20 per cent (see below).
The first BioEthanol E85 pump will be on the forecourt of Morrisons' Albion Way, Norwich site to be immediately followed by supplies of Harvest BioEthanol E85 at another four of its sites in the East of England -- East Dereham, Lowestoft, Diss and Ipswich -- plus five sites in Somerset. Furthermore, Morrisons has already earmarked several other sites across the UK, where Harvest BioEthanol E85 could soon be sold, depending on consumer demand.
Harvest BioEthanol E85 will retail for two pence per litre less than petrol. In Norwich, this means that it will sell for 84.9 pence per litre compared to 86.9 pence per litre for unleaded petrol. Morrisons said it had chosen East Anglia for the launch because of the region’s role in spearheading the fast-emerging UK biofuels industry.
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Morrisons' petrol director Phil Maudsaid: “Morrisons is proud to be the country’s first petrol retailer to open a BioEthanol E85 refuelling pump, reinforcing our position as the UK’s largest forecourt retailer of alternative fuels. We believe that by encouraging the use of BioEthanol E85 we can contribute to a reduction in the harmful effects to the environment caused by the burning of fossil fuels.” Mr Maud went on to comment: “Furthermore, creating demand for this product will, in the medium to long term, present major opportunities for UK farmers, who have always had strong support from Morrisons, to supply their excess cereals capacity to supply BioEthanol manufacturers.”
Futura Petroleum will supply Morrisons with the Harvest BioEthanol E85 in an initiative supported by the Energy Saving Trust and Renewables East.
Simon Davis, Head of Sales at Futura Petroleum, the supplier of Harvest BioEthanol E85 to Morrisons, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Morrisons and Saab to provide Harvest BioEthanol, the first E85 available to the UK public. This launch reinforces Futura’s position as the leading supplier of renewable motor fuels to British motorists.”
Potent Bio-Saab
The launch also ties in with the first deliveries of the Saab 9-5 BioPower flex-fuel car, launched in the UK last November. The turbocharging technology enables the Saab to run on either BioEthanol E85 or petrol, with no adjustment required by the driver. When running on BioEthanol E85, the fossil CO2 emissions of the Saab 9-5 BioPower are typically between 50-70 per cent lower than when running on petrol.
According to Saab, the BioPower is more powerful because of bioethanol's higher octane rating. The Swedish company reckoned that it saw an impressive 20 per cent gain in brake horsepower and a 16 per cent growth in torque when the car runs on BioEthanol E85.
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Saab's UK boss Jonathan Nash said: “Biofuels can play a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions from passenger cars, and as the Government itself said when it announced plans for a Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) in November, a five per cent use of biofuels today would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the road. Although I welcome the positive steps that the British Government has taken so far in its introduction of a five per cent RTFO and the 20 pence-per-litre tax rebate on biofuels, our experience in other markets shows that the Government needs to take a more strategic approach. Government should show genuine joined-up thinking, by introducing an integrated package of long-term incentives to give consumers the confidence to make the switch to greener fuels, including BioEthanol E85.
“In Sweden, central and local government financial incentives to encourage bioethanol-fuelled cars – including a reduction in company car tax, exemption from Stockholm’s congestion charges and free city parking – have resulted in over five and a half thousand Saab 9-5 BioPower cars already being delivered to Swedish drivers since last summer. Here in the UK, Morrisons has demonstrated its commitment to the fuel – now let's see the Government do the same.”
BioEthanol E85
BioEthanol is produced from a wide variety of agricultural produce, including forest residue, sugar cane, sugar beet and grain, making it a totally renewable and sustainable fuel source. When mixed in high volumes with low volumes of petrol, a potent yet environmentally friendly fuel, known as BioEthanol E85 is created.
Unlike traditional fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel, the consumption of BioEthanol E85 does not significantly raise atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), the greenhouse gas that, according to scientific research, contributes to global warming. This is because the emissions that are released during driving have already been cancelled out by the amount of CO2 that was removed from the atmosphere, through nature's photosynthesis process, when the crops for conversion to bioethanol were grown.