Wake Up and Smell the Traffic? London Tries Coffee to Power Buses<br />tilled, blended and mixed with mineral diesel, that odor is removed." Despite their traditional penchant for tea, Londoners drink an average<br />of 2.3 cups of coffee a day, producing about 200,000 tons of used grounds, the news release said. that but once it is processed, dis<br />Such was the vehicle’s lumbering notoriety that a musical duo popular in the 1950s<br />and ’60s, Flanders and Swann, composed a tongue-in-cheek panegyric to the "London Transport diesel-engined 97-horsepower omnibus." They called their song "A Transport of Delight." On Monday, though, the city’s 9,500 buses — still mostly painted red — laid claim to a fresher narrative.<br />At present, according to Transport for London, which operates London’s public transportation system, the city authorities want to ensure<br />that increasing numbers of buses are fueled by a blend of diesel and biofuels made of products such as waste cooking oil and tallow from meat processing companies.<br />On Monday, in a much-hyped debut, a company called Bio-bean, in partnership with the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, introduced relatively<br />small amounts of oil produced from coffee grounds into the mix of diesel and biofuels mandated by the city authorities.<br />"Roughly speaking, more than 9,000 Londoners die prematurely because of the poor-quality air." His remarks were made as the authorities introduced a charge for people driving into the city center in vehicles powered by engines<br />that do not meet the latest European Union emissions standards, usually older diesel-powered models.<br />Given the tiny proportion of coffee-based oil in the bus fuel, there was no immediate, empirical indication<br />that the noisome whiff of central London’s air would turn into the alluring aroma of, say, a Roman cafe, or even a Starbucks.
