VILNIUS - Over half the vehicles in use at Vilniaus Autobusai (Vilnius Buses), the public transport operator, now run on ecologically friendly biodiesel fuel, the municipal company announced last week.
According to a company official, older buses - Soviet-made Ikaruses - were the first to be adapted to the new fuel, while the 30 Volvos obtained in recent years will be next.
A total of 136 buses out of 210 that operated on Vilnius streets on Aug. 13 ran on biofuel, Arturas Zuokas, mayor of Vilnius, said at a news conference on Aug. 13.
"We hope that the number of vehicles on ecologically friendlier fuel will increase even more in future," he added.
Vilnius is the first Lithuanian city to launch the use of biofuel in the public transport sector on such a scale. As a result of the switch, the buses' harmful emissions should be reduced from 30 percent to 20 percent.
The chief ingredient in the biofuel - rapeseed - is supplied by the Mazeikiai-based company Rap-soila that launched the production of biofuel components this spring. The company reported sales of 1.7 million litas (493,000 euros) in the first half of 2004, a nearly eightfold rise from a year-earlier figure of 220,000 litas.
Moreover, in May the production of ethanol, which is used for the manufacturing of biofuel, was launched at the MG Baltic-controlled alcohol plant in Silute, which has an annual capacity of 10,000 tons.
Biofuel is also produced by Klaipeda-based Rapsolis, which has an annual output capacity of 20,000 tons.
Officials at Vilniaus Autobusai, which operates a fleet of 240 buses, said consumption of biofuel would total 400 tons in the second half of the year alone.Pursuant to the law on biofuel, biopetrol and biolubricants that is in effect, biofuel should account for 2 percent of the engine fuel market in the country by the end of 2005 and should expand its market share to at least 5.75 percent by the end of the decade.
Annual expenditures on biofuel are expected to reach about 200,000 litas.
