Companies push for green transport in the UK
The environment has lept into the spotlight over the last year in a way we haven't seen before. Global warming and green house gas emissions have moved beyond a theory to be a call to arms for governments, business and individuals alike. As we all know, transport has a huge impact on green house gas emissions like carbon dioxide. In the United Kingdom, a number of new polices have recently been introduced to tax transport and encourage the use of more fuel efficient means to move around. A major report has proposed the implementation of a road pricing scheme to ease congestion and cut emissions while the U.K. government has announced plans to double taxes on air travel, increase petroleum fuel taxes and simultaneously lower biodiesel fuel taxes.
This is but one example of governments around the world moving to offer tax breaks and subsidies to promote the far more carbon-neutral biofuels of ethanol and biodiesel. Under the United Kingdom's Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, five percent of transport fuel sold by 2010 must come from renewable sources. This relatively small percentage is expected to cut carbon emissions by an amazing 1m tonnes, equivalent to taking 1m cars off the road.
Businesses are getting behind emissions reductions schemes as well, for example, the giant Tesco supermarket chain is currently trailing a system developed by Clean Air Power, which enables its truck fleet to run on a mixture of natural gas and diesel. Not only does this allow Tesco to meet local emissions regulations, but they will save considerably on their fuel bill as well. The chance to improve the bottom line will always get a company's attention, but often its individual employees that bring such opportunities into focus for business. If you're working for a company, make sure you take a look around for a chance to save them money, and your environment as well.
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[Source: The Guardian]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pete 10:05AM (1/08/2007)
Is it not about time that the UK replaces it's very old bus fleet like the old style duble decker buses in london, ok it is great for tourism but not good for our future.
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Scatter 10:55AM (1/08/2007)
The old Routemaster buses had considerably lower CO2 emissions than the buses that have replaced them! The new ones are much better on the particulates and NOx though.
Now the focus is on Bendy Buses (Citaro) which have a much higher capacity than the new double deckers and much quicker load and unload times although they do have a habit of clogging the traffic on some routes. We also have a couple of fuel cell buses (although the CUTE trial ends very soon) and i think there might be a few diesel electric hybrids on the roads now.
There are now only a few Routemasters left on a couple of "Heritage Routes" for the tourists (and many Londoners) to enjoy.
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