Cork city is to become the first local authority in the EU to run vehicles on vegetable oil harvested from Irish farms.
Seventeen vehicles in the city council's motor fleet - including vans and refuse trucks - have been converted to the renewable fuel and will be monitored over coming months for cost effectiveness, before officials decide whether to convert the rest of the fleet.
The converted vehicles - accounting for almost 7 per cent of the council's fleet - are being run on pure cold press rapeseed oil harvested from Irish farms and milled in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow.
The conversion - which cost €1,000 per vehicle - was carried out by German engineering company, Elsbett, and involved the addition of special filters to accommodate the vegetable oil which is more viscose than either petrol or diesel and has to be heated to allow it to flow through an engine. Once converted, vehicles can run on vegetable oil or diesel from the same tank.
The move is part of an innovative EU-funded project aimed at creating more sustainable transport and traffic management. Thirty representatives from Rome, Barcelona and Winchester met their counterparts in Cork earlier this week to discuss the project. However, the fuel is 33 per cent more expensive than diesel and the council will be calling for reduced excise duty.