Vehicles powered by vegetable oil take off at Edinburgh airport

Vehicles operating at Edinburgh Airport are now being powered by vegetable oil as the airport continues to look at ways of reducing its emissions.

Thirty-four vehicles have made the change from diesel to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (Hvo)whichisarenewablediesel alternative that eliminates up to 90 per cent of net carbon dioxide emissions whilst also offering significant savings on nitrogenoxide,particulatematterandcarbonmonoxideemissions.

There are plans for at least another thirty vehicles to make the switch to HVO in the next few weeks and months, and the airport has installed an HVO fuel pump on campus. The pump is being used by airport vehicles and those operated by third parties and contractors, supporting campus partnerswiththeirdecarbonisation programmes.

Hvoisa‘drop-in’fuelreplacement for vehicles that have previously been diesel powered.

Gordon Robertson, Director of Communications and Sustainability at Edinburgh Airport said:

“Zero Carbon is just one of the pillars in our Greater Good sustainability strategy and we are constantly evaluating ways of decarbonising our and our partners’ operations across the campus.

“Introducing the use of vegetable oil in our airside vehicles is part of our strategy to means we can now actively chip away at our emissions by replacing diesel with a renewable fuel source, driving down our environmental impact as we look to deliver a more sustainable future for the airport.”

Last June, Jodie Allan, 38, became the first home-owner in Scotland to have converted theheatingsysteminherfamily home in to run off HVO

The pioneering year-long trial at her property in Drymen, Stirlingshire, was developed to gather data and promote the use of the green fuel instead of traditional heating oil.

It is hoped the project, backed by trade bodies the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA) and Oil and Renewable Heating Technologies(oftec),willhelpscotland take a significant step towards achieving net zero by 2045.

There are 129,000 oil heated homes in Scotland, and over 1.5million in the UK, both representing approximately 5 per cent of total occupied homes.