Can we adopt London’s fuel from human waste, cooking oil and Meat ?

By Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai

A third of London’s buses will run on fuel made from meat from next year, transport bosses have revealed.

“Every mistake in London is a new style locally ” , this is a popular saying that was used during conversation when I was very young indicating that We rely so much on new happenings in England, land of our colonial masters . Yes this is true for we copied happenings from London from the way they speak and wear their clothes. The last time I checked I found that there is nothing wrong with imitating in this globalised world as long as anything done in England would be of benefit to us in Ghana and Africa.

Africans rely so much on vehicles such as cars, buses for their movements to and from work ,farms and work places. However the increasing cost of transport comes with it increasing cost of fuels. Again the fuels being petrol and diesels being used now contribute to environmental pollution. Many private and commercial vehicle owners are yearning for the day they would have alternative cleaner fuels. For some time now scientists in English higher schools of learning have been experimenting with the use of reliable alternatives for petrol and diesel oils. Low carbon experts at of the University of East Anglia have discovered clean biome thane gas. Some experts have also been blending diesel with biodiesel from waste products including cooking oils while other are also experimenting with biome thane from human poop or feces. On top of them all the authorities in England have made a huge discovery that is likely to catch the attention of all those wanting to move away from the use of expensive finite fuels now in use world wide. Come to think of this A third of London’s buses will run on fuel made from meat from next year, transport bosses have revealed.

By March next year third a of London’s buses (about 3,000 of 8,900) will run on fuel made into B20 green diesel, which is blended with waste from the meat industry. Information gathered from transport authorities in London indicates that animal fat and cooking oil are among the ingredients that will be churned into the bus fuel. The buses are all owned by Stagecoach and Metroline, while the diesel will be supplied by Argent Energy. More than 640 buses already run on the modified fuel as part of a two-month trial. Deputy Mayor for environment and energy Matthew Pencharz said the development would “slash the overall carbon emissions of the fleet and make use of fuels that would otherwise be clogging up our drains”. He added: “These buses will be a proud addition to what is already the greenest bus fleet in the world, including hybrid, pure electric and pure hydrogen vehicles. “We will continue to work with our industry partners to use more of London’s used cooking oil turned into biodiesel right here in the city, creating green jobs and fuel self-sufficiency benefits.”

TfL’s buses director Mike Weston said: “This improvement, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 21,000 tonnes each year, is being introduced now with no extra spending needed and no long delay for the fitting of new kit.”

Argent’s development director Dickon Posnett said he hoped other cities would follow London’s cue and start using the B20 blend in buses.

It is true that the clean fuels from meat and other waste products would help in providing clean fuels . However we are yet to know how much it would cost to produce the fuels from the waste product that are available all year round. If such fuels are cheaper and can be produced the whole year round the new industry would provide employment opportunity and get more vehicles to switch over from petrol and diesel to the use of the new fuels. As a result of this discovery the government of Ghana, Nigeria and other nations of Africa must Rush to learn the new ways of fueling vehicles from London to be able to apply the method to their nations.

. Executive Director EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT P.O.BOX 17070AN 233244370345/23327483710/ 233208844791 abdulai.alhasan@gmail.com /eanfoworld@yahoo.com