Gives new meaning to the phrase ‘horse power’… but perhaps not a practical solution for everyone!
The purple section on this chart is transport emissions. Between the start of the chart in 1970 and the end in 2000, carbon dioxide emissions from transport have practically doubled, while all other types of emissions have remained around constant or have decreased.
This is clearly partly down to our increased ownership of cars
And of course their increased use (left chart). The right chart shows how rail and air travel has also increased, while pedal bike and motorbike use has decreased.
… again, this is in line with economic globalisation – allowing business people to link up with offices around the world. Cheap and frequent flights have also made it much easier and more attractive for us all to holiday abroad, which we’re doing at ever increasing rates.
Electric vehicles are becoming more readily available. They are very pleasant to drive, practically silent, give off no harmful emissions and certainly result in a lot less CO2 emissions than most other vehicles (especially if using a .green electricity tariff – i.e. electricity sourced from renewable energy)
Another option for existing diesel cars, is to use biodiesel. Controversial when sourced from oil crops as this is driving up the cost of food crops. But it can be made from recycled cooking oil. Recent experiments have found that algae is a really good source for oil for biodiesel – doesn’t displace farmland.
These savings are partly due to fuel efficiencies – having over double the mpg. They’re also due to having under 100kgCO2 per km, which means no road tax. With savings like these, swapping a standard saloon for a more fuel efficient car is effectively the same as sharing a car, or if all people did this, would be the equivalent to taking half the UK’s vehicles off the road.
Up to 21 people can share a small mini… although more sensibly 3-4 or even 5 people can travel together, cutting the number of cars on the road and reducing CO2 emissions.
Buses travel around 3 times as far for each tonne of CO2 emitted. Public transport is an often overlooked attractive option – offering stress free driving, an opportunity to make phone calls or catch up on reading and compared to the need to tax, insure and MOT a vehicle in addition to paying for fuel, can often be much an ultimately more cost effective way of getting around.
Around 24% of all car and van journeys in the UK are 2 miles long or less. Over 50% are 5 miles or less. While it’s fair to say that not all of these will be possible by bike or on foot, it’s also fair to say that some of them certainly could.
