Blooming Futures: Fuelling Vehicles With Plant Oils

1. WSSEN Blooming
We s t
Sussex
Social
Enterprise
Futures
Network
CASE STUDY
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For more details about this project: The Concept: Services
Contact : Fuelling vehicles with plant oils As well as converting vehicles, they have
Adam Living, Project Manager We live in increasingly environmentally established a consultancy to advise farmers and
conscious times, and motorists are bearing the farming organisations that are interested in the
Telephone : brunt of responsibility for fossil fuel emissions. production of PPOs, minimising, if not avoiding,
01273 462197 For many motorists, switching to a sustainable, any impact on the landscape Production of the
renewable fuel source with a reduced carbon raw materials needs to be incorporated into
Address : the range of crops grown in the UK in order to
footprint is high on the agenda. Blooming
Aldingbourne Country Centre Futures, a Shoreham based company, has maintain a sustainable fuel supply.
Blackmill Lane developed the technology required to convert
Norton Chichester Future Aims
diesel engines to run on pure plant oil (PPO),
West Sussex which is the most sustainable motor fuel Blooming Futures aims to establish a supply
PO18 0JP currently being produced. Production of PPOs chain of locally sourced PPO and make it readily
(in this case, rapeseed oil) uses much lower available to both private and commercial users.
Email : energy processes and simpler technology than Germany, for example, already has tens of
adam@bloomingfutures.com diesel and more importantly, the fuel itself is thousands of vehicles running on rapeseed oil
carbon neutral. and Blooming Futures aim to develop the UK
Website :
market in the same way, thus increasing the
www.bloomingfutures.com The Background number of PPO users.
Registered Company: Blooming Futures began research into
The Bio-Fleet Project
4214435 production of alternative, sustainable fuels as a
renewable energy source in 1999 and initially Raising awareness of the possibilities of
converted vehicles to run on high and low- using PPO is integral to the Blooming Futures
pressure gas. The revenue from conversions promotional plans. They set up the Bio-Fleet
to gas usage provided the funding necessary Project: a fleet of 50 highly-visible vehicles
to progress research into fossil free fuels and running on the sustainable fuel. The fleet
PPOs. After several years, extensive research comprises vehicles from 50 businesses in the
(a lot of it unpaid!) and numerous trials, the South East who agreed to a conversion, part
team at Blooming Futures carried out their first funded by DEFRA, torun on PPO. The project,
conversion to PPO. Since then, the team have running from 2005 to 2009, will also progress
enjoyed some highly positive and important development of a local fuel supply.
publicity, carrying out a number of high The Bio-Fleet is backed by DEFRA, the
profile conversions: a VW Transporter for Hugh Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Farm (and Affairs, under the Environmental Action Fund
featured on his tv series), a tractor for racing’s and the Network for Social Change.
Jody Schekter and recently agreed to convert
Recognition
five vehicles for Brighton & Hove City Council
who have been instrumental in helping fund In 2006, the then Secretary of State for the
research. They have also entirely powered Environment, Rt Hon David Miliband, visited the
several large events using Pure Plant Oil Power. site and the company put forward the idea of
Blooming Futures have evolved to become PPO as a viable fuel model. Later that year, it was
one of the most experienced PPO engineering announced that Blooming Futures had won The
companies in the UK. SouthEast Renewable Energy Award for
Innovation.
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