Montreal buses to run on vegetable oil

Over 150 Montreal buses have been put on a fat diet for the next year. The Montreal transit system has dedicated 155 downtown buses for a $1.3 million biodiesel project. The buses will be fueled by a combination of regular diesel and recycled vegetable oil and animal fats.
In an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Government of Canada, Canada Economic Development, and the Climate Change Action Fund are funding the green initiative. It will require 500,000 litres of biodiesel in two different blends. Both have a mix of 5% biodiesel and 20% regular diesel. The buses started to run on the fuel last month and will continue until March 2003.
The initiative will explore the use of biodiesel under real-life conditions, the feasibility of supplying biodiesel to a mass transit company, and the economic and environmental impact of using the fuel. The scientists involved hope that it will show how agricultural industry waste can be put to use and will help to move from fossil fuels to clean sources of energy.