Strong interest in cleaner, safer fuel at Arb Show 2010

The weather gods were smiling on Cirencester and the Bathurst Estate for the Arb Show, held on June 11^th & 12^th, 2010, and a couple of thousand people treated themselves to a splendid day or two out.

Visitors to the show were mostly professionals in the arboricultural industry, although a good number of hobbyists, gardeners and those simply interested in all things technical, treelike and woody made up the crowd.

Interest was especially keen at the rather vividly-coloured Aspen stand, manned by Anglo American Oil Company Ltd (AAOIL) Technical Consultant Jon Walthall.

Aspen alkylate petrol – available as 4-stroke and pre-mixed 2-stroke – and another low-impact Swedish fuel, EcoPar clean diesel GTL alternative, are distributed in the UK by AAOIL.

Visitors to the Aspen stand were a mix of regular users, people who had heard of it and those who were complete newbies to the concept of fuels for chainsaws and chippers free of benzene, sulphur, toluene and solvents.

Those professionals who were using it recalled the bad old days when, using regular pump fuel to power their machines, they would finish a day’s work feeling nauseous, dizzy and bothered by a headache and a cough from breathing in the emissions from their saw.

When asked if they would switch from Aspen or EcoPar back to pump fuel the response was unanimous: “Never.”

Others decided to pitch the idea of using Aspen and EcoPar to their employers, while company bosses – keen to protect the health of both their staff and the environment – placed their first orders.

Said Jon, “I was especially heartened to hear how many professional users reported that using Aspen in their saws and EcoPar in their chippers had made their daily work a more pleasant – and healthier – experience.

“These fuels are in common use in Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Germany, France and elsewhere in Europe,” continued Jon, “in some cases because laws are in action to protect employees’ health and the natural environment.

“Quite a few people had seen the article in the most recent edition of Service Dealer, in which the benefits of alternative fuels and oils were highlighted, and came to ask questions just because of the article.”

A high number of professional users mentioned how much more business, and from diverse sources, they had secured from switching to Aspen environmentally-friendlier fuel. They reported that it was easier to tender for work with councils, local branches of the Environment Agency and other organisations since making the switch.

Michael Coombs, an Aspen user for more than two years in the Wiltshire/Hampshire border area, has begun to specialise in working at trout farms and near chalk streams.

“Some of the best trout fishing in the country is in the chalk streams of my home patch, and some of the best trout farms, too. I got the idea to use Aspen near them when fishing one day.

“I thought it was crazy to be using fuel that pumps out so many harmful substances especially close to water and a source of food. I don’t know about you, but the idea of eating fish living in water that might have been contaminated, even just a bit, by benzene – which causes cancer – or sulphur fair turns my stomach,” he said.

Jon also secured a few new dealerships from the Arb Show, getting closer to one of AAOIL’s aims of having a dealership for Aspen no more than a 20-minute drive from anyone in the country.

“The momentum towards cleaner, safer fuels is growing all the time,” said Jon. “Employers are naturally keen to keep their workers safer and the environment cleaner ahead of potential liability cases.

“Benzene is a known carcinogen and I had chats with a couple of long-term tree surgeons who switched to Aspen because some of their friends, other tree surgeons, died of cancer. It can’t be proven – yet – but the cancer could have been caused by breathing in the toxic emissions from regular pump fuel all day long,” commented Jon.

“The savvy ones are moving over to fuels that are better for people, machines and the environment,” he concluded.

AAOIL will next be demonstrating Aspen and EcoPar low-impact fuels at the Royal Welsh Show in July.

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