Posts Tagged ‘Climate change’

Are Electric vehicules sales falling flat?

Monday, February 13th, 2012

chickenRecent coverage in the UK media has questioned the viability of the electric cars with the observation that there are now more charging points than cars registered in the UK. Given the nascent state of the market, this is a point that is likely to be closely followed.

Most research indicates the ‘chicken or egg’ scenario when it comes to the vehicles as prospective buyers are hesitant due to the lack of charging infrastructure and infrastructure providers are hesitant due to the low number of vehicles. From the URBACT EVUE project experience however, it has become clear that once an initial availability of charging points has been provided, the focus needs to go on education and awareness training.

This can be achieved through Electric Vehicules days where people can test the cars and experience the cars for themselves. In addition, a focus on getting electric vehicules  into commercial fleets will contribute significantly as they give access to large numbers of employees to travel. So perhaps it’s less of which comes first, but both come together.

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Matthew Noon
EVUE Lead Partner

Posted in Urban Development | 2 Comments »

Addressing Climate Change at Local Level…

Monday, December 5th, 2011

evue_carWith the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban this last week, it has got me wondering how we can seek to address its issues at a local level. After all, if all politics is local, with the challenge of climate change and global warming that is facing us all, isn’t this the ultimate local question?

In Durban, and at the preceding conferences in Cancun and Copenhagen, the focus has been on extending the Kyoto protocol; addressing global warming by stabilising and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At first glance it appears there is little we can do about these truly global problems, but is that the case?

In the URBACT funded EVUE project, cities are discussing how they can best aid the transition to electro mobility to address the challenges posed by the internal combustion engine – not least the emissions of greenhouse gases. With the growing urbanisation of people across the world, and more people in cities than rural areas for the first time in history, this is a clear example of how cities are required to take a lead and the global has become local.10% of the global population live in only 100 cities , if each of those cities adopted e-mobility as the plan for the future, the reduction on global emissions could be significant.

But how are cities supposed to do this? Especially given the financial challenges affecting us all? Isn’t this a luxury we cannot afford at this time?
The Mayor of Lisbon Antonio Costa was recently asked what his motivation was for investing in electric mobility and was it a vote winner? His response “”I don’t think so,” the mayor replied. “Right now the number of users of electric cars is small. For a long time we will have more parking spaces for electric cars than people using them. But it’s a duty of politicians to anticipate the needs of the future.”  (author’s emphasis)

While Mayor Costa may be seen as particularly visionary, it is a clear illustration of the global being local. So what can the individual do?
One model that URBACT suggests is the formation of Local Support Groups which bring together diverse stakeholders to address these common challenges. Too often, local discussions are framed by ‘us’ and ‘them’ positions. A Local Support Group works by bringing all stakeholders in and its by working together we can achieve the benefits for all. But it needs all stakeholders – not just the usual suspects of industry and policy makers, but the citizens, academics, young, old and business people.

Through working together and developing a new way of responding to the challenges, we can overcome the barriers and find the opportunities that will address the issues we are facing. Where the global has become local, the local can now be global.

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Matthew Noon
EVUE Lead Partner

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“Hyper-active” travel in London

Friday, October 15th, 2010

velo_londonFollowing developments in Paris, Brussels and other EU cities, London introduced a Cycle Hire scheme on the 30th of July 2010. After 10 weeks of operation the system has already welcomed its millionth passenger and while the scale of the operation cannot yet match the Parisian experience (20,600 bikes available) up until now it has been relatively free of the negative effects of theft and vandalism.

While the Paris introduction has provoked a veritable sea-change in terms of the use of this transport mode, London already had a significant cyclist lobby contributing to daily commuter and recreational journeys, despite often confrontational traffic conditions. So the London scheme seems well on its way to success as an additional impulse, an element building on a more “active travel” modal split, incidentally a fundamental objective of the URBACT II project , Active Travel Network.

The Hire Scheme received a fairly unexpected boost on the 7th of September when London’s transport system was hit by a 24 hour tube (underground) strike. This industrial action resulted in a peak use of the cycle hire system with some 24,000 individual journeys recorded  (+/- 6,000 more than a normal weekday). This forced change of habit may well have importantly contributed to a greater awareness of the potential and efficiency which cycle trips can represent in the urban context. However this day of plenty did bring some teething troubles to the surface in that before 8 o’clock in the morning most docking stations at London’s mainline stations were already empty. Natural return to empty docking stations was clearly insufficient and the redistribution, pick-up and delivery system foreseen by London Transport was unable to cope.
For the 5,000 bikes and 335 docking stations located across London initial estimates previewed redistribution provision based on the mobilisation of 10 electric low emission vehicles and manned by 20 staff. Transport for London have since revealed that 20 vehicles are now in use (no longer all “green”) and the number of staff relocating bikes has doubled to 40.

So success can also produce unforeseen difficulties and provide valuable lessons for other cities embarking on similar initiatives. While London’s problems surely can be described as a temporary blip, it is perhaps worth avoiding the possibility of negative perceptions in cities where a cycling culture has yet to be stamped out of the ground – or where other existing conditions conspire consciously or unconsciously against a change in modal split.

Philip Stein
Thematic Pole Manager

Posted in Urban Development | 1 Comment »

Belgium prepares for the electric car – already a complement for new URBACT project EVUE?

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

elec_carsWith a comment which might suggest history is repeating itself, “Electricity is the fuel of the future”, the Belgian Secretary of State for Mobility inaugurated the first charging post for electric cars in the country on the 17th of December, 2009. This first infrastructure access point was installed perhaps not surprisingly in the premises of a car leasing company in Zaventem. It was followed by an announcement from the McDonald’s hamburger chain that they would open a “public” charging point (the next day) linked to their fast-food outlet in the Maasmechelen shopping centre, as part of a strategy to spread out this service to their other similarly located restaurants across the country (Europe?).

Simultaneously Total Belgium also announced plans to develop points at initially 10 petrol stations, while a new petrol station company ElectraSun has introduced a charging point at one of its stations in Grobbendonk, using green energy based on solar power source.

These initiatives are strongly supported by Belgian government policy developed in recent weeks and based on the premise that promotion of new electric vehicle types can counter the problems currently being experienced in the automobile production industry (General Motors, Volvo and Ford all have plants in Belgium with GM under apparent/imminent threat of closure). The strategy appears to be, to create a performing widespread charging infrastructure network to benefit electric vehicles, as a way of ensuring that Belgium will be in the front line for location of an electric vehicle production plant.

Philip Stein, URBACT Thematic Pole Manager

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Stockholm, first European Green Capital : a model for other cities ?

Monday, November 30th, 2009

imagestockholmThe 2009 URBACT Annual Conference was held in Stockholm. Let us take the opportunity to look at this City which is often seen as a green model for other European cities. In 2010 the capital of Sweden will be the first European city to celebrate its status as European Green Capital. The new European Green Capital Award recognises cities that are at the forefront of environmentally- friendly urban living. Indeed, the City of Stockholm has outlined an overall, long-term vision – Vision Stockholm 2030 – for sustainable growth and development. The city council’s holistic vision combines growth with sustainable development and Stockholm is determined to lower its carbon emissions. To date, the city has achieved a 25% decrease in climate emission levels since 1990 (to 4 tonnes per inhabitant in 2005, half the Swedish average), and the city council has set an ambitious target of becoming totally fossil fuel free by 2050. Stockholm seems to be  committed to share its experience and act as inspiration for other cities… But we can ask ourselves if European cities are ready to solve environmental problems and improve the quality of life for citizens by taking the environment systematically into account in urban planning.

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