Air bp reaches first milestone in implementing carbon emissions reducing start-stop technology

• Air bp has installed start-stop technology on all its fuel hydrant dispensers in Portugal.  
• Start-stop technology reduces the carbon emissions of each vehicle by an average of 25%

Air bp, the international aviation fuel products and service supplier, announces that all its fuel hydrant dispenser vehicles in Portugal now have stop-start technology. This is the first country in Air bp’s operated network to achieve the milestone and forms one element of the business’s carbon management plan. 

Effective immediately, Air bp will have start-stop technology installed on all its newly procured hydrant dispensers. The aim is that all existing hydrant dispensers across its global operated network, that are less than ten years old, will be retrofitted with the technology by the end of the year.

Start-stop technology automatically shuts down and restarts the vehicle engine to reduce the amount of time the engine spends idling, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Air bp’s hydrant refuelling vehicles equipped with start-stop technology have seen, on average, a 25% reduction in carbon emissions. This saving is estimated to be 3.5 tonnes of CO2e per vehicle per year.

To achieve this milestone, Air bp first identified that hydrant dispensers were the vehicles most suited to this technology. Air bp then worked with a selected supplier to design a system specific to Air bp’s hydrant fleet. Testing was completed to ensure the expected emissions savings were achieved and Air bp’s stringent technical safety requirements were met.

Since 2016 all Air bp’s global operated airport into-plane fuel facilities have been carbon neutral. An important part of maintaining carbon neutral status is having an effective carbon management plan. 

Gigi Yuen, Air bp’s global carbon neutral lead, comments: 

Some other initiatives Air bp has used and continues to use to reduce carbon emissions across its global operated facilities include: reducing the number of road journeys made by trucks; using electric powered vehicles and using an in-line magnetic filter, Magna-Strain, within pipelines to reduce the electrical demand on pumps.

Editor's notes

 The average 25% carbon emissions reduction is derived from the measurements taken in 2018 by trial start-stop technologies installed on bp vehicles.The start-stop technology measures the reduction in engine idling. The reduction in engine idling and DEFRA emission factors (2018) for the combustion of diesel fuel was applied to average annual diesel usage for a vehicle to obtain a total CO2e emission savings figure.

About Air bp:

As the aviation division of bp, Air bp is one of the world’s leading suppliers of aviation fuel products and services. It has been investing in the aviation industry for more than 90 years to keep people flying safely around the world. In 2019 we supplied over 6.7 billion gallons of aviation fuel, fuelling over 7,000 flights per day at over 800 locations in more than55 countries – that’s more than five planes a minute.Its customers include commercial airlines, the military, business and private aircraft owners, airports and airfield operators. Air bp has a wide range of services to support its fuel offer including the design, build and operation of fueling facilities, technical consultancy and training, low carbon solutions, the Sterling Card for efficient general aviation refueling and innovative digital platforms to increase efficiency and reduce risk.