Morrisons Opens UK's First Bioethanol E85 fuel pump

BRADFORD, United Kingdom -- Morrisons supermarket yesterday opened the UK's first BioEthanol E85 filling pump, tying promotions of the new dispenser with the first deliveries of the Saab 9-5 BioPower flex-fuel car.

The fuel will be branded as Harvest BioEthanol E85, with the environmentally-friendly pumps featuring a new butterfly logo and a blue filling hose.

"Morrisons is proud to be the country's first petrol retailer to open a BioEthanol E85 refueling pump, reinforcing our position as the UK's largest forecourt retailer of alternative fuels," said Phil Maud, petrol director at Morrisons. "We believe that by encouraging the use of BioEthanol E85 we can contribute to a reduction in the harmful effects to the environment caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Creating demand for this product will, in the medium to long term, present major opportunities for UK farmers, who have always had strong support from Morrisons, to supply their excess cereals capacity to supply BioEthanol manufacturers."

Morrisons, which has petroleum operations at 274 stores across the UK, plans to open Harvest BioEthanol E85 dispensers at another four of its sites in the East of England - those of East Dereham, Lowestoft, Diss, and Ipswich - plus at five sites in Somerset, in the South West of England. Additionally, Morrisons has already earmarked several other sites across the UK, where Harvest BioEthanol E85 could soon be sold, depending on consumer demand.

Morrisons has chosen the town of East Anglia for the launch because of the region's role in spearheading the fast-emerging UK biofuels industry.

The availability of BioEthanol E85 on was timed to coincide with the first customer deliveries of the Saab 9-5 BioPower, which was officially launched in the UK in November 2005. Saab BioPower technology enables its cars to run on either the potent yet environmentally-friendly fuel BioEthanol E85, which is a blend of 85 percent BioEthanol and 15 percent petroleum, or on pure petroleum, without any adjustment required by the driver. When running on BioEthanol E85, the fossil CO2 emissions of the Saab 9-5 BioPower are typically 50 percent to 70 percent cleaner than when running on petroleum alone.

Futura Petroleum will supply Morrisons with the Harvest BioEthanol E85 in an initiative supported by the Energy Saving Trust and Renewables East.

BioEthanol is produced from a wide variety of agricultural produce, including forest residue, sugar cane, sugar beet, and grain, making it a totally renewable and sustainable fuel source. When mixed in high volumes with low volumes of petrol, a potent yet environmentally friendly fuel, known as BioEthanol E85 is created.

Morrison's currently operates more than 360 stores and employs approximately 130,000 associates.
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