New Zealand's First Ethanol Blend Fuel Reaches Market; Step to Carbon Neutrality

New Zealand's First Ethanol Blend Fuel Reaches Market; Step to Carbon Neutrality Share on Facebook
The first commercially available biofuel for New Zealand motorists went on sale Wednesday with a 10 percent bioethanol-blended petrol being sold from Gull New Zealand gas stations.

by Associated Press - Friday, 3 August 2007

From April next year, oil companies are required to blend biofuels with petrol and diesel they sell -- starting with 0.2 percent in 2008 and reaching 3.4 percent in 2012 under government moves to reduce carbon emissions.

Prime Minister Helen Clark poured the first biofuel at Gull's bioethanol-blended gas launch and congratulated the company for leading the way.

Earlier this year, Clark pledged big emission cuts by the government and set compulsory targets for biofuel use as a first step toward the ambitious goal of having New Zealand become the world's first greenhouse gas-neutral nation.
She likened the threat of climate change to a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War, and said New Zealand must lead the way to combat it.

The biofuel requirement on fuel companies would reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions by more than a million tons (1.1 million short tons) between 2008 and 2012, she said Wednesday.

Noting the transport sector accounts for 40 percent of New Zealand's carbon dioxide emissions, Clark said that "Gull's initiative is another example of the business sector ... helping put the country on a more sustainable path."
Bioethanol used in the Gull blend is made from a dairy industry byproduct by the Fonterra dairy export group subsidiary company, Anchor Ethanol.

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