Sustainable Scotland: Find out about fuel for the drive to deliver on low carbon goals
Ilona Amos asks if biomethane can become the breakthrough fuel for a waste-not, want-not Scotland on the road to delivering climate change goals
Scottish shops and supermarkets could soon be stocked with goods transported by green trucks powered by poo. Juggernauts delivering goods across Scotland will soon be able to fill up with an environmentally friendly fuel made from manure, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and helping the country achieve its climate change targets.
The move comes as Scotland’s first filling station offering 100 per cent renewable biomethane at the pumps gets set to open up near Glasgow later this year.
The new outlet is being set up by CNG Fuels, based at the Eurocentral industrial estate, off the M8 close to Bellshill.
It will have capacity to refuel up to 450 lorries each day, with potential customers including supermarket giants and big-name delivery companies that have opted to switch their fleets to biomethane in a bid to shrink their carbon impacts.
Biomethane is chemically identical to natural gas, a fossil fuel, and can be used as a lowcarbon alternative to diesel. It is considered renewable because it is created through biological decomposition of dead plant and animal materials, such as food waste – and manure.
It is the cheapest and lowestcarbon alternative to diesel for heavy-goods vehicles (HGVS), cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 85 per cent and running costs by up to 40 per cent.
Transport, including international shipping and aviation, is responsible for about 37 per cent of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions, with HGVS alone accounting for almost 5 per cent.
The new refuelling station will support Scotland’s target to achieve net-zero carbon by 2045.
Its location means that HGVS will be able to make low-carbon deliveries across a large area of Scotland, including all of its cities.
Most of England and Wales are already within a 300-mile round trip of a biomethane refuelling station, and the new Bellshill facility will put Inverness and Aberdeen within this range.
It is due to open in November, the month when Glasgow will play host to the COP26 UN climate meeting – one of the most important events in the global environment calendar.
Philip Fjeld, chief executive of CNG Fuels, says: “Fleet operators keen to cut carbon and save money are switching to biomethane in
Fleet operators keen to cut carbon and save money are switching to biomethane in droves
droves, and our first station in Scotland will play a vital part in our network, allowing gas trucks to make deliveries throughout Britain.
“Biomethane can play a key role in helping the country meet its net-zero targets and it is fitting that the station will open just as Glasgow hosts the UN Climate Summit.”
Warburtons, the UK’S largest bakery brand, is the latest major name to announce it is adopting biomethane, following companies such as delivery firm Hermes, John Lewis, Waitrose and Asda.
David Landy is head of fleet at Hermes, which has a depot at Eurocentral and already has 90 gas lorries. He says that the new filling station was “welcome news” for his company.
“This will allow us to run our Scottish-based fleet on 100 per cent renewable biomethane fuel and push the range of our existing Cngpowered HGV fleet, so vehicles can travel between England and Scotland and take even more emissions off UK roads.”
Steven Gray, national transport manager for Warburtons, says: “After extensive alternative-fuel vehicle trials, Warburtons has chosen CNG technology, and specifically biomethane fuel, as our preferred strategy to decarbonise our primary HGV fleet.
“CNG Fuels’ progressive BIOCNG Station roll-out plans across the UK will allow us to begin our decarbonisation strategy, and the Eurocentral refuelling facility is a key location for our fleet.”
From next year, CNG Fuels will dispense fully carbon-neutral fuel by sourcing biomethane from manure.
Manure gives off methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Using methane as an HGV fuel prevents it from going into the atmosphere and reduces overall emissions.
The European Union’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) recognises biomethane from manure as being a carbon negative fuel, and the UK Government is expected to adopt the same rules in 2022.