Stagecoach buses get into nanotech
nanny particle | 06.12.2004 23:43 | Bio-technology | Globalisation | Technology | Oxford
Stagecoach Boss Brian Souter - one of the most homophobic rich men in britain who has personally bankrolled anti-gay campaigns - has announced that he will be using nanoparticle fuel additives in all stagecoach buses in the UK - Nanoparticle pollution from car exhausts is already a leading cause of child death - how can you claim to be environmentally friendly by adding more nanoparticles???
another nasty corporate person backing another nasty corporate technology? - more reason to boycott stagecoach...
another nasty corporate person backing another nasty corporate technology? - more reason to boycott stagecoach...
Nanotechnology News
Stagecoach Group to Roll Out Envirox Nanotechnology Fuel additive Across its Entire UK Bus Fleet
Stagecoach Group is to roll out the use of the next-generation fuel additive Envirox™ across its entire UK bus fleet after the success of a 12-month commercial evaluation.
The Perth-based international transport group announced today that its tests of the product in the north west of England and London had delivered more than a 5% cut in fuel consumption and an associated decrease in vehicle emissions.
Last year, Stagecoach signed an agreement with Cerulean International Ltd, the Oxford-based subsidiary of the nanomaterials company Oxonica Ltd, to trial the product in up to 1,000 vehicles across the country.
Now the fuel additive will be rolled out over the next six months across Stagecoach’s 7,000-strong bus fleet, which operates from the Highlands of Scotland to south west England.
Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “We are extremely excited about the potential of this product, not just for our business, but for the whole of the public transport and logistics sector.
“Fuel is one of the biggest costs in the transport industry and the savings this product is able to deliver will help us continue to provide value-for-money bus services that attract people to public transport. It will also help improve the environmental impact of our operations and the quality of life in our towns and cities.
“Stagecoach is committed to playing its part in building a sustainable environment. Along with our trials of hybrid electric bus technology, this innovation is further evidence that we are leading the transport industry in developing new ideas.”
Dr Kevin Matthews, Oxonica Group Chief Executive, said: “Oxonica is developing nanotechnology that addresses real market needs and Envirox is the first example which we are commercialising through our wholly-owned subsidiary Cerulean International.”
Stuart Anderson, Business Director of Cerulean, said: “Cerulean is working to introduce Envirox in a number of national markets around the world. We are delighted that Stagecoach has recognised the value of the benefit that the product brings and are excited by the opportunity within the UK transport market.”
Nanotechnology research is a key technology of the 21st century and is used to design and build materials at the atomic scale. Scientists work in nanometres, each of which is 1/80000th of the diameter of a human hair.
The fuel additive Envirox™ is based on a well-known oxidation catalyst widely used in catalytic converters. The material has been re-engineered using Oxonica’s nanotechnology expertise to allow it to be delivered as a fuel-borne catalyst, leading to a cleaner burn within the combustion chamber, resulting in improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions. No engine modifications are required to use the product, it has no impact on lubricant performance and the optimum dose rates are low.
For more information on fuels, click here.
Posted December 7th, 2004
Stagecoach Group to Roll Out Envirox Nanotechnology Fuel additive Across its Entire UK Bus Fleet
Stagecoach Group is to roll out the use of the next-generation fuel additive Envirox™ across its entire UK bus fleet after the success of a 12-month commercial evaluation.
The Perth-based international transport group announced today that its tests of the product in the north west of England and London had delivered more than a 5% cut in fuel consumption and an associated decrease in vehicle emissions.
Last year, Stagecoach signed an agreement with Cerulean International Ltd, the Oxford-based subsidiary of the nanomaterials company Oxonica Ltd, to trial the product in up to 1,000 vehicles across the country.
Now the fuel additive will be rolled out over the next six months across Stagecoach’s 7,000-strong bus fleet, which operates from the Highlands of Scotland to south west England.
Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “We are extremely excited about the potential of this product, not just for our business, but for the whole of the public transport and logistics sector.
“Fuel is one of the biggest costs in the transport industry and the savings this product is able to deliver will help us continue to provide value-for-money bus services that attract people to public transport. It will also help improve the environmental impact of our operations and the quality of life in our towns and cities.
“Stagecoach is committed to playing its part in building a sustainable environment. Along with our trials of hybrid electric bus technology, this innovation is further evidence that we are leading the transport industry in developing new ideas.”
Dr Kevin Matthews, Oxonica Group Chief Executive, said: “Oxonica is developing nanotechnology that addresses real market needs and Envirox is the first example which we are commercialising through our wholly-owned subsidiary Cerulean International.”
Stuart Anderson, Business Director of Cerulean, said: “Cerulean is working to introduce Envirox in a number of national markets around the world. We are delighted that Stagecoach has recognised the value of the benefit that the product brings and are excited by the opportunity within the UK transport market.”
Nanotechnology research is a key technology of the 21st century and is used to design and build materials at the atomic scale. Scientists work in nanometres, each of which is 1/80000th of the diameter of a human hair.
The fuel additive Envirox™ is based on a well-known oxidation catalyst widely used in catalytic converters. The material has been re-engineered using Oxonica’s nanotechnology expertise to allow it to be delivered as a fuel-borne catalyst, leading to a cleaner burn within the combustion chamber, resulting in improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions. No engine modifications are required to use the product, it has no impact on lubricant performance and the optimum dose rates are low.
For more information on fuels, click here.
Posted December 7th, 2004
nanny particle
Comments
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Please check your information
07.12.2004 11:07
I'm pasting in a short passage that originated from the New Scientist:
For some time cerium oxide has been viewed as a potential fuel additive but it has never reached commercial success. It is known to act like a type of storage unit for oxygen releasing oxygen to oxidise carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon gases. It also absorbs oxygen to reduce the amount of harmful nitrogen oxides released. The net result is a cleaner burn with more fuel converted to carbon dioxide, less carbon deposits on the internal workings of the engine and a less noxious exhaust.
SNIP
Envirox has been successfully trialled in buses in Hong Kong. This trial covered 12 million kilometres and now the largest bus operator in the UK is doing its own tests. Stagecoach from Scotland are testing Envirox in 1000 of their 7000 diesel-fuelled vehicles.
Primary author: Barry Fox
Source: New Scientist
eileen
Replacing one form of pollution with another?
07.12.2004 16:36
Whilst Oxonica's nanoparticle fuel additive Environex may lead to fewer emissions from diesel engines, which is a good thing, I think their press release leaves several big questions unanswered and should be viewed cynically.
Does the use of Environex just replace a known and understood form of pollution (conventional air pollution) and with another pollutant (manufactured nanoparticles) whose dangers are only just becoming apparent and are as yet poorly understood.
As increasing numbers of products containing Nanoparticles are coming onto the market a growing body of scientific opinion is urging caution about their use. The small number of safety tests done on nanoparticles suggest that they have unique and largely unassessed safety problems.
Even the Royal Society has urged caution about the use of free (not bonded together in some other material), manufactured nanoparticles. Despite this, at present there is no regulation of the use of nanoparticles in the UK (or anywhere else yet).
Just how safe is a product like Environex
1. Exactly what comes out of the exhaust pipe of a motor burning a deisel/ Environex blend? Is it safe? Are those manufactured nanoparticles released into the environment?
2. What about Environex in its liquid state? Is it safe for Oxonica or Stagecoaches workers to handle or come into contact with or accidentally ingest? what happens if it gets spilt? Or accidentally washed down the drain? What are its implications for human health and the environment? How adequately has it been tested?
It strikes me as interesting that Environex a product that is supposedly 'good for the environment' is one of the first well publicised commercial uses of Nanotechnology in the UK. It reminds me of GM crops companies like Syngenta and Monsanto talking lots about feeding the world and launching products like vitamin A Golden Rice in order to convince the world that GM crops were a good thing.
To me it looks as though Oxonica (a company with a whole range of Nanotech products all with major questions about their safety) are using Environex to try to gain public acceptance of Nanotech as a whole. Nanotech is a technology that is surrounded by a whole load of unanswered questions. It is being rushed onto the market by companies like Oxonica (incidentally backed to the hilt by chemical giant BASF) their bottom line is making a profit and quickly, not saving the world. We should not be taken in by their PR about techno-fix solutions to stopping pollution. Nanotech innovations should be questioned and if necessary resisted at every step
In response to your quotes from New Scientist here are some other sources of information on Nanotech
A really interesting briefing on Nanoparticle toxicity is published by research group ETC group and is available online at
A good critique of Nanotechnology is available at
nano geek!
Magic bus?
07.12.2004 16:43
Info -
Fill yer tank -
Mavis
exhaust fumes and nanoparticles
08.12.2004 01:39
so heres the story on nanoparticles in exhaust fumes as i understand it. When you burn soemething at high temperature (eg incineration or internal combustion) you get production of ultrafine particles which are teh same thing as nanoparticles. Air pollution research has shown that these smallest particles are the most dangerous part of pollution - even when you exclude larger particles of air pollution (called PM10) you still get significant particle related mortality that seems to come from this tiny portion of the pollution. I think this also true for biodeisel (sorry..)
Its not clear to me if using Envirox will reduce the ultrafine component of air pollution form buses or just the larger PM10 and above particles. What i do know (as nano-geek rightly says) is its trying to fix another problem with a potentially worse problem (more engineered nanoparticles)- like spraying your dinner with DDT to keep the ants away.
The Royal Society (despite being a very very pro-industry organisation) said very clearly that free engineered nanoparticles should go through an independent assesment process before going on to the market and that they should be prohibited from environmental applications. Pouring them into the engines of thousands of UK buses - and by extension potentially out the exhaust contradicts this advice directly. Oxonica's environmental claims are not open to democratic challenge. There aren't even agreed protocols for assessing nanotoxicity. they simply can't make verifiable safety claims and the precautionary principle would disagree with them intrinsically.
nanny particle
Royal Society on Nanoparticles
08.12.2004 12:27
– Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering, “Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and uncertainties,” July 2004
nano geek!