Car Travel Commentary for Christchurch Energy Awareness Week, 30 March 2009. Rhys Taylor, Sustainable Living. ppt

Car Travel Commentaryfor Christchurch Energy Awareness Week, 30 March 2009.. ‡ High public costs for hospital & accident/ emergency services: city road accidents at 26 per 1000 peop

Car Travel Commentary

for Christchurch Energy Awareness

Week, 30 March 2009

Rhys Taylor, Sustainable Living

www.sustainableliving.org.nz

We seem to Love our Cars!

Advantages to the Car User

‡ Door to door transport, if parking space.

‡ Flexibility on timing, if congestion allows.

‡ Passengers, including the younger & older.

‡ Inexpensive if several share car, or if only fuel cost is considered (already have car)

‡ Large load carrying – boot, roof, trailer.

‡ Vehicles can be mobility adapted.

‡ Play music of choice inside.

‡ Status - conferred by society on the user?

Disadvantages for Society?

‡ Fast, wide traffic routes

deter pedestrians and

cyclists; cut through

whole communities.

‡ Ever more land for roads

and parking space is at

high cost to car owner,

taxpayer and ratepayer.

‡ High public costs for

hospital & accident/

emergency services: city

road accidents at 26 per

1000 people per year.

‡ Driving unhealthy – is inactivity plus the body’s stress responses.

‡ In USA: 50% are active and fit, 25% barely active, 25% are completely

inactive! Similar in NZ?

‡ Noise intrusion.

Cars, cars, more cars

‡ 48million cars/year are manufactured globally

‡ 40m cars/yr discarded in USA+ Japan+ Europe

‡ NZ has twice level of household car ownership of the

UK, near-equal to USA

‡ Fuel demand was growing 4% a year, until 2008

‡ Making a car requires more (embodied) energy than

the average car will use in fuel for its first 10 yrs.

we import inefficient older cars

And waste fuel in them, then scrap them!

Vehicle fumes hurt us!

‡ Over 90% of toxic Carbon Monoxide (C0) in city atmosphere comes from car exhaust pipes

oxygen carried by haemoglobin around the body

in red blood cells

‡ Nitrogen Dioxide (N02) is a brown acidic gas

from car tailpipes, and also from welding,

factories & fires 80% of N02 in city atmosphere comes from car exhausts

inflames the lining of the lungs It can reduce

resistance to lung infections

Typical car emissions

• Exhaust nitrogen oxides

(NOx) and hydrocarbons,

• Tiny soot particles from

burnt fuels, especially

diesel, also carry irritants

and carcinogens deep

into our lungs

• Vehicle emissions may kill more city people

than local road accidents (Auckland study)

• Carbon monoxide (CO)

is toxic; and both CO and CO2 emissions are

‘greenhouse gases’

New Zealanders Under Scrutiny

‡ New Zealand is 4th largest producer of

greenhouse gases per capita (measured as CO2

equivalents, coming after Australia, USA and

Canada) We burn less coal per person

‡ By 2005, NZ emissions grew 37% over 1990

levels Increasing livestock numbers is a

significant methane contributor, but a large part

of NZ increase is CO2 from growth in road freight, car ownership and higher use of cars Air travel only a small part, but it’s growing fast too

We are in new territory for CO2 levels, beyond historical variation of ice ages and warm periods

Can the Climate Cope?

Global Warming is Real

Summer melting of Greenland ice sheet edges

Greater summer melt of Arctic sea ice threatens bears

Variation in CO2 Emissions for a 10km trip

Per person, bus

Bike, walk

Petrol Price Trend is Up

Global Oil Demand

What is Peak Cheap Oil?

‡ Global oil field discovery

peaked in early 1960s

‡ Annual finds have declined

since (Almost no ‘easy’ liquid

oil reserves left to find)

‡ Production peaks 25 - 40 yrs

after discovery peak in each

region

‡ 90% of all conventional oil

reserve discovered globally

is now in production stage

‡ NZ potential oil mostly

offshore, costly to access

Supply & Demand Converging

Where else is Oil used?

Air travel, car-making, plastics, paint, heating, PCs, pesticide, fertiliser, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Addicted to Oil?

‡ 95% of all transportation, whether by land, air or sea,

is fuelled by oil

‡ 95% of all goods in shops involve the use of oil.

‡ 95% of all food products require oil use (figures from USA).

‡ The world consumes approx 85 million barrels of oil a day (approx 5,500 Olympic sized swimming pools)

‡ Compare to 1990 global oil consumption at just 66

million barrels a day

Can we escape car dependence?

‡ Live nearer to work?

‡ Not be able to afford

some jobs, schools &

leisure interests?

Driving tips to save on fuel

‡ Combine journeys &

tasks, avoid shortest

car trips entirely

‡ Give workmates &

friends lifts: carpool

extends vehicle life

and reduces sooty

air-pollution

‡ Use smaller vehicles

Driving styles and ‘mode’ choices

‡ If you drive at 90 km/h, you save on buying 20% of the fuel you’d require going at

109 km/h, adding only 12 mins per 100km Start trips earlier, to save the money!

‡ Accelerate and brake gently

to save 10% of fuel costs

‡ Or, travel by coach or rail This cuts fuel use by 80% compared to making a car trip, for a solo traveler, if the public transport is well used.

Faster!

Fuel Economy by Car Type

small

How can technology help?

‡ Easier car hire.

Hybrid & electric cars available

Batteries need improvement & ‘plug-in hybrid’ not yet available in NZ

Hybrid dual-power system is more complex to construct &

maintain, and heavy.

Time-saver, or life-shortener?

‡ Road congestion trend = up 40% from 2000 to 2020

‡ Is it really time saving to commute by car? You can

read and chat while on a bus; get fitter when cycling or walking (& save money on gym fees); no parking cost!

‡ Recent ‘commuter challenge’ in Christchurch showed cyclists matching car travel times into workplaces.

Compare walking, cycle, car, bus

‡ Car with a single traveler is least efficient use of energy per km of road travel (Air travel is worse still, per Km)

‡ Multi-passenger cars & buses are similar to

eachother; trains are better still

‡ Bicycle or walking are the most efficient, (so:

“My other car’s a bicycle” could be your

bumper sticker?)

Road-space for same no of travelers:

One car each One bus full Cycles

Buses & walking more attractive?

‡ Faster city journeys

-simpler ticket systems

(cards), low fares for

return trips & discounts

for regular commuters

pensioners & children

‡ Knowing when bus is

due (timetable, website,

and electronic displays)

‡ More comfortable seats

‡ Bus lanes & bus priority

‡ Shelters at bus stops

‡ Work on the bus, or

read, make friends…

Next Steps?

‡ Discover other ways to help the environment when mobile, stay healthy & aim to save $$ too Walk instead of gym fees!

water, cars, reducing rubbish, gardening, and shopping-

choice actions at:

www.sustainableliving.org.nz