It is not necessary to have stayed in London to know that the bright red Buses used for public transport are also a symbol of identity for the English capital. Apart from this, these London Buses are a dominant mode of transportation in the city. Millions of people depend on this public transport on an everyday basis. These double deckers run to and fro all day, hence we can imagine the number of pollutants they let out on the atmosphere. Various researches have proved that these buses are the major cause behind the city’s immense pollution levels. London has been suffering from the problem of smog for almost a few decades now. Keeping this in mind, a startup has come up with a way to cut down on pollution.

It seems that Londoners can’t do without their Coffee. According to the British Coffee Association, around 55 million cups of coffee are consumed in the UK. Out of this, London alone creates 200,000 tonnes of coffee waste every year. Instead of simply dumping this waste, it could be made useful in trying to bring down the pollution level of the city. This will be done by blending the biofuel with the diesel used in these London buses that will control the hazardous emissions of the vehicle. This effort will not yield immediate results but with the proper dilution in the diesel, over a period of time, it will definitely make a difference to the environment. Apparently, London is quite keen on using biofuel in its public transport vehicles. This isn’t the first time it is doing so.

London buses aim to go green

The English capital currently has over 9,500 such buses running on its roads. Each of these buses is responsible for the toxic diesel fumes emitted into the atmosphere. This gave rise to the need to hunt for new sources of energy causing less harm to the environment. The best and feasible way to do so is finding alternative sources using biofuel. Bio-Bean is a startup which first came up with the concept of uses coffee waste as a source of energy when diluted with diesel. It further collaborated with Shell and Ardent Energy to implement this idea. B20 biofuel will be produced through the process of extracting oil from coffee waste. This oil will then be blended with diesel.

Currently, Bio-Bean has successfully produced enough fuel which can last for a year for one bus. Due to the city's high consumption of coffee, this alternative will be enough to power around one-third of the entire network of London buses. This startup gets raw material to produce this oil by collecting waste from coffee factories as well as coffee shops. This processed oil is later mixed with fat in order to create a 20 percent biocomponent of the B20 fuel. This is later added to the diesel used in these buses. The highlight of this concept is that the buses will need no modification to use this biofuel.

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