Thursday, November 25, 2010
Ethanol on public transit
Cosan to supply ethanol for 50 buses in the city of Sao Paulo
At left, Mr Gilberto Kassab, Mayor of São Paulo
Pursuing its mission to provide more renewable and cleaner energy for the population, Cosan, the only completely vertical player in the sugar and energy sector, will be the official supplier of ethanol as an additive for a fleet of 50 buses in Sao Paulo.
A protocol of intentions has been signed to supply ethanol-powered vehicles in the Sao Paulo city. The announcement was made at a ceremony on November 25, was attended by the Mayor, Gilberto Kassab, and representatives of the Municipal Transport and Environment Departments, SPTrans, Viacao Metropolitana, the Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), and Cosan.
Supplying 300,000 liters of ethanol a month for an initial period of 12 months, Cosan will also be responsible for mixing the fuel with an additive supplied by Swedish company, Sekab. The company has also committed to storing this additive, at its fuel terminal in Paulinia (Sao Paulo state) and transporting it to Viacao Metropolitana, the company that will be responsible for the routes the vehicles made by Scania will serve.
The headquarters of the transport company will also have a module that will store fuel for future supply. This project is aligned with the commitment made by the Sao Paulo City Hall to to adopt renewable fuels across the public transport system from 2018, with a progressive reduction in pollutant emissions up to that date.
The vehicles will be delivered in batches from as of April 2011, and they will enter circulation the following month. Ethanol-powered buses emit 70% less carbon dioxide than diesel buses. Mark Lyra, new business director at Cosan, stresses the importance of ethanol as a global commodity: "Initiatives such as this, celebrated today by all of us, are examples of how our ethanol can supply the needs of a globalized world without losing the high efficiency that is expected of the best fuels.”
The signing of this protocol shows that the adoption of ethanol in the large cities is an extremely viable alternative and necessary to efforts to reduce pollution and its effects on the environment and the population. Since last year, Cosan has supplied ethanol as an additive to Viacao Gato Preto, which owns a Scania vehicle which operates every day on the Lapa Terminal - Vila Mariana route. This initiative is part of pilot project BEST - Bioethanol for Sustainable Transport, - which aims to encourage the replacement of fossil fuels in urban public transportation worldwide.