Carbon-cutting steps are being taken by Cumberland Council to make more of their vehicles greener and cleaner.
They are launching a trial of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a replacement to diesel in some of its refuse and recycling collection vehicles.
HVO is a renewable fuel alternative to diesel that offers a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, helping the council to meet its carbon reduction targets.
It can be used as a drop-in alternative to regular diesel with no modifications or changes necessary to the existing fleet.
The trial will initially run for six months on four vehicles in the Whitehaven area with the option to roll this out further to other fleet vehicles and to other areas across Cumberland contributing to further carbon reductions.
The trial will deliver carbon reductions of 67.5 tonnes over the six months period (135 tonnes across a full year).
Cumberland Councillor Denise Rollo, Executive Member for Sustainable, Resilient and Connected Places, said:
“This is an important trial that will support deliver our carbon reduction targets.
“We will monitor the progress of this trial closely and if successful we will be keen to explore options to roll this out further across other areas of Cumberland and in other fleet vehicles to further reduce carbon emissions.
“The trial also complements our other fleet carbon reduction activity as evidenced by the introduction of additional electric vehicles as direct replacement for diesel vehicles. Collectively, we are working to deliver a cleaner, greener council fleet for Cumberland.”
Cumberland Council has also added to its fleet of fully electric vehicles with a further seven new electric vans now in services across our key services, including pest services, green spaces, property and facility services, and our hostels service. The vans have replaced seven diesel vehicles and will directly contribute to carbon reductions across our fleet.