Avon Fire & Rescue Service hopes to significantly reduce its vehicle emissions following a successful trial to use vegetable oil as an alternative to diesel.
Photo © Avon Fire & Rescue Service
The trial, which used Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), was initiated by the Fleet, Technical Services and Environment teams at Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS), to explore potential environmental benefits and financial feasibility.
It involved running one of their workshop vehicles on HVO for 1,065 miles, with the technicians driving the vehicle not seeing a drop in performance.
Head of Transport & Technical Services, Matt Derrick, said: “In an era where environmental concerns and operational efficiency are at the forefront of everyone’s mind, emissions reductions have become a critical focus for us as an emergency service to assist in our sustainability targets.
“I’m pleased to see the success of this trial, as we’re keen to trial new methods to reduce our carbon footprint as a Service.
“We are looking forward to progressing with the use of HVO and other renewable energy sources and we are now rolling it out to some of our Euro 6 Volvo fire engines and also all Euro 6 ancillary vehicles, including cars and vans.”
HVO is a renewable fuel that can directly replace diesel in modern engines without needing any vehicle modifications.
One of its major benefits is that it produces 80-90% fewer emissions compared to traditional diesel.
It also has a longer shelf life, lasting up to 10 years, unlike diesel, which starts to degrade after just one year.
Lab tests conducted before and after the trial revealed a significant reduction in engine wear when using HVO.
The test also revealed a significant reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
A diesel engine produces 2.512 kg of CO2 per litre of fuel, whereas an engine running on HVO emits a 98.6% reduction.
Therefore, if AF&RS’ entire diesel fleet switched to HVO, their annual CO2 emissions would drop from 540 tonnes to just 7.6 tonnes.
