Gov’t mulls mandatory usage of coco fuel on public vehicles

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to push for an Executive Order that will mandate the use of one percent coco methylester (CME) in public vehicles.

"We are proposing an EO that will provide a mandatory use of one percent CME in the transport sector," Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez said.

At the same time, Perez said the DOE is also working on a proposal to allow a portion of the coco levy fund to be invested in the development of coco mills that will produce products which can be used in the transport industry.

"To be able to develop this kind of clean fuel, we need to have an infrastructure like coco mills," he said.

The DOE official said there is also an ongoing study on the use of CME as oil for two-stroke (2T) motorcycles.

He said they expect the standards or guidelines on the use of 2T CME oil to be finalized in the early part of next year.

Perez noted that the first attempt to use CME in automobiles failed due to higher costs.

"Our first approach was to replace diesel with CME but it seems that we cannot compete with diesel in terms of cost. So instead of insisting on 100 percent use of CME, we just decided that it would be viable to just blend about one to five percent of CME on diesel products," he said.

Perez said the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) and the De La Salle University are presently studying how to run a tricycle on LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), combined with a roof made of solar-powered panel.

Perez said in Cebu, there are now about 50 taxis using LPG as fuel while in Metro Manila, some 200 taxis have shifted to LPG.

He said they expect that about 13,000 vehicles will be able to use alternative fuels in the next 10 years.

In Oct. 2001, the government launched the Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT).

The NGVPPT lays down the government policies in the downstream natural gas market to encourage active private sector participation and create a healthy competitive environment for all players.

Two demonstrations of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses from Ashok Leyland, India and South Korea have already arrived this month as part of the DOE’s efforts to introduce CNG-powered buses in the country.