Sisk construction group switches its machinery to vegetable oil fuel

John Sisk & Son, the construction giant originally founded in Cork in 1859, has announced that it will start using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel on all of its Irish building sites.

The move is part of what Sisk describes as a series of “ambitious targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030″.

The rollout of HVO to all of its Irish operations is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The fuel, which is being supplied by Certa — a recent entrant to the Irish fuel market and part of the DCC group of companies — is made by adding hydrogen to waste vegetable oil in a process that effectively refines the oil into a diesel-like fuel.

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That fuel is then carbon-neutral as the carbon emitted from burning it will essentially be the carbon extracted from the air by the plants originally grown to be turned into oil in the first place.

That relies on sourcing hydrogen from green sources, such as extracting the gas from seawater using renewable electricity.

Ian O’Connor, Sisk’s energy manager, said: “Having pioneered the use of HVO, Sisk have spent over €2 million in the UK and Ireland to date on HVO. In Ireland we have been proactive in sourcing a supply of HVO into the country.”

By switching to HVO, Mr O’Connor said Sisk expected to see the group’s operational carbon emissions fall by 37 per cent.

The group has already switched its UK operations to HVO fuels, and said it hoped to roll out a similar programme to its continental European sites shortly.