• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Greece Plans to Replace Urban Buses With Natural-Gas Powered Vehicles

Posted on: Sunday, 8 January 2006, 09:00 CST

Greece plans to replace urban buses with natural-gas powered vehicles ATHENS, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said on Saturday that the government was mulling the utilization of EU funding for replacement of the urban bus fleet with natural-gas powered buses.

Inaugurating a natural gas refueling station for public transport buses in Anthoussa, the second in the Attica prefecture, the largest of its kind in Europe and environment friendly, the prime minister said that under the plan being examined, the replacement of the urban bus fleet would begin in the greater Athens area and Thessaloniki, and gradually spread to other cities throughout the country.

Karamanlis said that the top priority for his government in the sector of energy is to reduce the country's oil dependence, the conservation of energy, and the adoption of more environmentally- friendly forms of energy.

He noted that long-pending issues concerning the construction of projects that would render Greece an energy hub -- such as the Burgas-Alexandropoulos oil pipeline, the Greece-Turkey and Greece- Italy natural gas pipelines, and the SE Europe energy community -- have been resolved in recent months.

He added that the framework for bio-fuel has already been instituted, while soon a new framework would be introduced aimed at boosting investments in renewable energy sources.

Meanwhile, Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas said that a study for extension of natural gas use to private cars would be completed by summer, while the prospect of purchasing natural gas- powered garbage pick-up trucks was also being examined, noting that natural gas consumption increased by 17 percent in 2005 against 2003 in Greece.

Transport minister Michalis Liapis noted that the procurement of 416 natural-gas powered urban buses by ETHEL was completed in 2005,while procedures were underway for the procurement of another 520 new buses that would be powered by diesel oil and would be fully equipped with cutting-edge anti-pollution technology that would ensure fewer pollutants than natural gas.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

More News in this Category