Sunday, April 15, 2007 CH eyes using bio-fuel for 800 vehicles
THE Cebu City Government will decide next week when to start using bio-fuel for its 800 vehicles.
It has experimented on using coco-methyl ester (CME) for four weeks now, and results have been encouraging, said City General Services Office Chief Ester Cubero.
With CME, motorists who contribute to air pollution can reduce their vehicle emissions and save up to 20 percent of their diesel consumption at the same time.
Cubero said CME increases mileage and the vehicles no longer emit black smoke.
Presidential mandate
“It has been mandated through the President’s memorandum circular that local government units must use bio-fuel. So far we have tried it out. We’ll decide next week,” she said in Cebuano.
President Arroyo issued Memorandum Circular 55 last Feb. 9, 2004 “directing all departments, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities of the government, including government-owned and -controlled corporations, to incorporate the use of one percent by volume CME in their diesel requirements.”
Cubero said a committee formed to look into the use of CME will make the recommendation to the mayor.
According to the Department of Energy, 16 people die of air pollution-related causes in the Philippines daily. This is why the government is now promoting the use of bio-diesel.
Early last year, Department of Trade and Industry management services and support group head Ma. Lourdes Baua said tests on eight official vehicles using CME saw a marked increase in distance traveled using the same amount of diesel.
Lower consumption
In less than a month of using CME, she said an L-300 was already running at 8.5 kilometers per liter from 6.83 kilometers per liter.
She also reported that 15 minutes after adding CME, the average emission reading of a Land Rover Defender ‘90 dropped to 1.647 from 7.513.
In another development involving City-owned vehicles, Cubero said she will ask the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 about the City Government’s request to register eight fire trucks that lack donation papers.
She was told that LTO Manila has a process of registering government vehicles whose papers cannot be traced, and the City already submitted the required documents as early as last August.
So far, however, her office, which is charged with registering all City Hall vehicles, has yet to receive feedback from LTO 7. (RHM)
