Another lean Volvo bus

The new 8900 is another new lean workhorse from Volvo Bus corporation. Previously the low entry Volvo buses 8500 in Aluminium body and 8700 in steel body were the ultimate versatile bus for both city and regions. The easily accessible low floor portion was combined with an elevated rear part offering comfortable riding in rural areas.
The new front of 8900 in combination with the aluminium body has allowed a weight decrease of 200-800 kg (depending on specification details). The weight decrease lead to increased capacity as well as lower fuel consumption.

We now offer the 8900 with two engine alternatives:
Volvo D9B 380 hp
Volvo D7E 290 hp (optional with Diesel Particulate Filter)

The high power outtake now realised for the D9 engine enable low fuel consumption also in demanding applications.
Another news is that the highly efficient D7 engine now also is offered for high capacity buses (25.5 tonnes) with a length up to 14.7 metre.

The superior fuel consumption of the D7 engine in combination with the high capacity body will be interesting to follow. What I can see so far in the fuel consumption statistics, it seems that in mixed traffic conditions with an average speed around 26 km/h the fuel consumption is 37 litre per 100 km for the 14.5 m version of the 8900 with the D7 engine.

Im sure I will come back with more reports on this!

New report on food and fuel

The Committee on World Food Security is a sub committee of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. In a recent report  the mechanisms of the food price is analysed. In recent years the price has been “volatile”, i.e. unstable.

In the “Summary for Policy Makers” a list of eight recommendations are brought forward. On the subject of fuels it is written that:

“By generating a new demand for food commodities that can outbid poor countries and food-insecure populations, industrial biofuels highlight the tension between a potentially unlimited demand (in this case for energy) and the constraints of a world with finite resources.”

“Given the major roles played by biofuels in diverting food to energy use, the CFS should demand of governments the abolition of targets on biofuels and the removal of subsidies and tariffs on biofuel production and processing.”

When reading the background material I find that the main arguments for removing subsidies for biofuels is that in a conflict between biomass used for food and biomass used for fuel the energy sector all over the world can outbid the persons in need of food to limited prices.

The statements moves the biofuel discussion in a new direction and puts pressure on governments. Will this report change the politics in EU, US or Brazil?

New Energy Tax proposed for EU

Today, EU sets the minimum level for energy taxation with different thresh holds for gas, coal and oil. In addition most member states inEuropehave very different principles for energy taxation that gives. Considering that: “The EU has set itself a series of demanding, legally binding climate and energy targets to be met by 2020.”

The commission has recently proposed new principles for the taxation and the proposal is now being reviewed. You can find the document here.

If I understand the proposal correctly the energy taxation will in the future put a common minimum level for all energy “sources” independently of origin and purpose of usage, including heating, motor fuel, electricity and similar. The energy tax will be set as a tax of about 0.15 Euro per MWh.

The purpose of the tax is to provide the same incentive to save energy all overEurope.

At the same time a CO2 taxation is introduced and fixed to 20 Euro per tonne CO2. Again the same principles applies for all fossil CO2 and independently of whether the emissions occurs in a vehicle or in a stationary power plant.