HVO - Super Fuel or Duper Fuel

it is less than a week since I published an article highlighting how the environmental Lobby had adopted a by any means necessary approach to carbon reduction how the world had set sail towards a sustainable future without checking the likely travel conditions how the road to zero seem purely as a destination with as little or no consideration given to the actual route or the journey and here we are less than seven days later and the industry appears to have hit a significant pothole on the road to zero Hydra treated vegetable or HBO as it's known was widely heralded as the ideal stepping stone and almost carbon neutral stop Gap that would suffice into electricity or hydrogen fuel machines became a viable alternative hvo certainly appeared to have all the right credentials it's 90 carbon neutral and producers say that it reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 30 and particulates by up to 85 it's also biodegradable construction and demolition companies and plant heart firms were quick to spot the potential just over a year ago the national Federation of demolition contractors urged its members to switch to HBO but now comes the news that two significant organizations have come out against the use of atrio the first is Balfour beating now Balfour Beatty is no TR notoriously contrarian tell Balfour Beatty that the sky is blue and they will try to convince you that it is in fact green even so it will unquestionably set alarm bells ringing when the UK's biggest construction company says publicly that Balfour Beatty does not directly purchase HBO fuel for our sites and will expect our supply chain to support our policy position when working for Balfour Beatty the company goes on to say we are working with our supply chain Partners to keep HBO use when operating plant and Fleet on our sites to an absolute minimum for example while some plant may arrive from other sites with tanks powerful of HBO once used up we expect them not to fill with their plant with HBO whilst on a Balfour BT site now as I said before Balfour BT has something of a track record for rowing Its Own Canoe as a build UK found recently to its considerable cost the second organization to drop a fly into the atrio ointment is rather harder to ignore the environment agency you know the public body charge we've protected the environment has banned the use of HBO on its sites since September much of the concern from both Balfour Beatty and the environment agency seems to stem from the categorization of HBO HBO is made from used cooking oil or UCO because nothing scientific really counts without an acronym and many in construction circles have been led to believe that HBO was in fact a way in which to repurpose a waste product that apparently is not the case UCO has been used for years in the production of animal feed and there are now fears that diverting UCO into the production of HBO will mean that animal animal feed manufacturers will have to find a new and potentially unsustainable substitute according to Joe Gilroy Balfour Beatty's group sustainability director it is simply a matter of due diligence we're very good at jumping on Solutions and thinking they're the answer to our problems aren't we she says we look for easy wins and HBO will look like that but any one hit wonder solution needs to be examined carefully you always have to do your due diligence and now as I said last week's industry society and the world is rightly focused upon the need for carbon neutral a carbon neutral outcome so so much so that it is probably not given sufficient thought to the journey from here to there or as David Taylor at the construction index very nicely puts it your path towards net zero is more likely to lead you into a maze than it is to take you straight from A to B

Channel: Demolition News

Views: 605

Keywords: demolition, demolitionnews, demolition news, excavators, dozers, trucks, builder, diesel, construction, machines, machinery, heavy equipment, attachments, heavy machinery, skidsteers, loaders, loadalls, recycling, jcb, caterpillar, hitachi, komatsu, john deere, bobcat, operator, dirt civil, civil engineering, EX1200, D11, D6, earthmovers, engcon, oilquick, CAT D11, CAT D6, Liebherr Stand, ConExpo, Bauma, Hillhead, Tallest excavator, awesome earthmovers, lets dig, mega machines, high reach, NFDC

Id: DrgUese6TGQ

Length: 3min 59sec (239 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 19 2022