The Department of Environment's National Parks and Wildlife Service is to convert or replace all of its 160 vehicles with biofuel models, writes Tim O'Brien
The move follows a pilot project on just one test vehicle which has shown the fuel to be comparable in performance and economy to diesel, while having a more beneficial effect on the environment.
Pilot biofuel projects are also being run by Cork City Council, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, as well as a number of fisheries boards, local authorities, other state agencies and private haulage firms. The growth in interest in biofuels has been sparked by the rising cost of fossil fuels, concern about their effect on the environment and uncertainty over supply.
Ireland lags behind other European countries and has still not reached an EU target volume of 2 per cent of all diesel and petrol sold by the end of last year. The target rises to a minimum of 5.75 per cent by 2010, and 20 per cent by 2020. This means that in 15 years time one fifth of all our petrol and diesel requirements should be met by biofuels.
However, while biofuels can be made easily in Ireland from rapeseed, beet, wheat, corn, straw, wood, tallow and milk derivatives, producers say it is not really for ordinary motorists as break-even costs on conversions can be upwards of 30,000 miles. Possibly more appropriate for the private user are increasing numbers of hybrid or flexible fuel vehicles. The Ministers for Environment and for Communications, Dick Roche and Noel Dempsey, have themselves taken delivery of hybrid cars - each a Lexus GS 450h which run on electric motors as well as petrol.
High performance saloons that can travel at up to 250km/h they are marketed as being more environmentally friendly than cars with engines of a similar size. They attract generous tax breaks and are understood to have cost about €70,000 - that is about €40,000 less than the Mercedes vehicles used to drive the Taoiseach and President. More "ordinary" motorists may avail of the hybrid Toyota Prius which starts at a few euro less than €30,000 or the Ford Focus Flexifuel which retails in the region of €21,000 and runs on a bioethanol mix or simply petrol.
The Parks and Wildlife Service will convert its newer four-wheel drive vehicles while older models will be sold off and replaced with biodiesel models. While this initiative is primarily one of meeting Ireland's emission obligations, it is being watched closely by hauliers' whose diesel bills have risen by as much as 40 per cent in recent years.