Sao Paulo Launches First Ethanol-Powered Bus

First ethanol-powered bus unvieled in Sao Paulo.


By Marina Sarruf*
marina.sarruf@anba.com.br

São Paulo – Starting in December, the city of São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, located in the southeast of the country, is going to be the first city in the Americas to have an ethanol-powered bus. The vehicle, which was released yesterday (23), is a project developed by the University of São Paulo (USP), executed by the National Centre for Reference in Biomass (Cenbio) under the Institute of Electrotechnics and Energy (IEE). "This project has a social and environmental impact. I hope that it is expanded to other cities in Brazil, becoming a project of reference to other cities in the world," stated the IEE director, José Aquiles Baesso Grimoni.

The main objective is to reduce pollution, providing incentives to the use of ethanol instead of diesel, which is currently used in urban public transportation in Brazil. The new vehicle is going to operate for a year in the city of São Paulo, between the neighbourhoods of Jabaquara and São Mateus, as a test for demonstration of viability.

According to the coordinator of the project, José Roberto Moreira, the use of ethanol in public transportation reduces carbon monoxide emissions by 92%. "Now the idea is to have the bus operating together with other buses in the fleet to make comparisons," he said.

The forecast is to have another two buses circulating next year. The mayor of the city of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, who participated in the event for release of the vehicle, showed great interest in the concept and said that he is going to discuss the possibility of placing at least 10 vehicles of the sort in operation in 2008. According to him, the city currently counts on 15,000 vehicles for public transportation.

Brazil-Arab News Agency, Oct. 25, 2007