• Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac's KERS system nominated for MotorSport World Expo award
• E.ON UK to order new cars only with CO2 ratings of 165g/km or less
• Biofuels: EU confirms cuts in farm aid for energy crops as area reaches 2.84m ha.

Following the announcement in September of the first application of their mechanical ‘kinetic energy recovery system’ (KERS) with a major Formula 1 (F1) team, Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac have been shortlisted for a Professional MotorSport World Expo Award.

Competing in the category of Engine Innovation of the Year, the KERS development is among four finalists drawn up from nominations submitted to the Professional MotorSport World Expo website.

The mechanical regenerative braking KERS system developed for F1 comprises a toroidal traction drive CVT and a mechanical flywheel developed by Flybrid Systems, used to store the moving vehicle’s kinetic energy. This energy is recuperated from the driveline, through Torotrak’s CVT, as the vehicle decelerates. This energy is subsequently released back into the driveline - again through the CVT - as the vehicle accelerates.

Torotrak’s CVT has been engineered for the F1 application by Xtrac, who will also manufacture the device. In June 2007, both companies entered into a licence agreement to enable Xtrac to develop and sell the CVT for motorsport applications.

The power generator Powergen’s parent E.ON UK has announced that it will be cutting the emissions of its company cars by only ordering new vehicles with a CO2 rating of 165g/km or less, with immediate effect.

Derek Parkin, Managing Director of Business Services at E.ON UK, said: "We've already reduced the non-operational carbon intensity in our buildings by 16.7% per employee in 2006 and we aim to reduce the carbon intensity of our generation by 10% by 2012, having already cut it by 20% since 1990.”

E.ON believes that this car procurement policy will reduce average emission levels across its company car fleet to 140kg/km, a reduction of over 12%.

E.ON employs around 18,000 people in the UK; its non-operational carbon intensity dropped by 15.5% per employee in 2006. It's release did not confirmthe size of its car fleet.

The EU’s Management Committee for Direct Payments yesterday backed unanimously a European Commission proposal to reduce the area on which farmers may claim special aid for energy crops in 2007, because the eligible area of 2 million hectares has been exceeded.

The aid was introduced in the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to provide an incentive for farmers to increase the production of biofuels and electric and thermal energy produced from biomass. Up to the maximum guaranteed area of 2 million hectares, farmers receive €45 per hectare as long as they had a contract with a collector/first processor, in order to ensure the crops will be used for processing into the relevant energy products. If this is exceeded, the area on which each farmer can claim aid is reduced by a coefficient to ensure that the €90 million budget is not overrun.

The area in 2007 reached approximately 2.84 million hectares and so a reduction coefficient of 0.70337 has been set. In other words, farmers will receive the €45/ha aid for just over 70 % of the land on which they claimed the aid.

"This payment has been very useful in stimulating the European biofuels sector," said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. "But when we come to the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy next month, we will have to ask whether it is still necessary. We now have a binding target for biofuels and a blossoming marketplace."

Figures presented by the Member States show that applications this year have risen to approximately 2.84 million hectares. This year is the first time that 10 of the 'new' Member States which use the Single Area Payment Scheme have been eligible for this aid. The maximum area was therefore increased from 1.5 to 2.0 million hectares.

The simplification of the scheme, introduced recently by the Commission, has apparently contributed to its popularity among both farmers and the processing industry. New elements, like the possibility for Member States to replace a security by the "Optional system of approval" of processors and first collectors, have significantly reduced the administrative burden.

The implementation of the scheme started in 2004, when the area covered totalled 0.31 million hectares. The area increased over the next two years (2005 – 0.57 million ha and 2006 – 1.23 million ha). This year the total area reached approximately 2.84 million ha.

The expansion of the areas under the scheme in 2007 reflects its implementation among Member States. The EC says farmers’ interest in energy crops has significantly increased over the four years since the scheme’s launch, and for the first time in 2007 the total budget of €90 million will be fully used.