Canadian city to sack biodiesel

The city of Sault Ste. Marie, in Ontario, Canada, is preparing to phase out the use of biodiesel in its public transport buses.

The decision to give up biofuels is due to city officials deeming the achieved benefits insufficient to justify their two cents higher cost per litre when compared to fossil fuels.

The biodiesel the city uses is not produced locally and instead it is imported from Michigan, US, and then blended in Ontario.

The decision came us a surprise to councillor Steve Butland, who has been biodiesel’s most vocal proponent in the city council.

He was under the impression that biodiesel would continue to be used after its successful pilot project in 2009.

‘It was working very well, I thought,’ Butland says.

‘It’s good, we like it. It’s good for the environment, it was good for the busses. I don’t want to let it die like that.’

The biodiesel was originally blended at a level of 5%, but this was later reduced to 2%.

Butland says now that he will begin work to figure out how to make biodiesel more viable and maintain its use in buses.

Source: Sootoday