London Plans for Hybrid Bus Expansion
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 10.30.06
Buses are already a fairly green option for transportation: even the regular old diesel bus gets cars with single drivers off the streets. The City of London plans to up the stakes in coming years, though, by converting its entire fleet of 8,000 buses to diesel hybrids, which would produce 200,000 less tons of carbon emissions per year. According to the Guardian,
Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, wants every new bus from 2012 to run on hybrid motors that will generate 40% less carbon dioxide than their diesel-powered forebears. The aim is to put 500 hybrid buses on London's roads each year, with the aim of creating a green fleet. "We take very seriously our role in cutting CO2 emissions and tackling climate change," said Peter Hendy, London's transport commissioner. "We are sending a clear message to London and the transport industry that we are serious about this." ...Despite these initial problems, it's not hard to imagine that engineers can work the kinks out of the engines, and have plenty of them on the streets in six years. Interestingly, Friends of the Earth gave a somewhat mixed review of this move, applauding the effort, but calling for more buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Sure, fuel cells are cleaner, but we're guessing that prices aren't even comparable. London gets another feather in its cap for leading the pack on addressing carbon emissions by various forms of transportation in the city. ::Guardian UnlimitedA trial of six hybrid buses ran into trouble in London this year when the diesel engines overheated, forcing a temporary withdrawal of the vehicles, which ran on the 360 route between Elephant and Castle and Kensington.
Transport is a significant contributor to London's carbon emissions, accounting for 20% of all CO2 generated by the capital. Buses create about 5% of all the transport emissions.
Great ! But the photo itself contains a hint of irony - the bus is advertising EasyJet flights for £27 with the words 'shop somewhere else' ...
oh dear ...
Nice irony.Livingstone goes to great lengths to appear eco friendly, yet he's not above taking the aviation industry buck. Wonderful. I don't understand the obsession with buses...hateful things chucking out some exceedingly nasty stuff. Give me a tram network all the way. Shame UK Gov keeps scrapping them so they can expand airports instead. Not that we're allowed to use them, obviously, as aviation is the work of the Devil...
I'm getting mixed signals.
London had an extensive tram network until the 1940s when it was all ripped up to make way for cars. Buses in London are driven erratically and to tight time schedules. (taxi drivers in London tell me that because of aggressive bus driving, ALL London traffic has become more aggressive.) Trams on the other hand must follow prioritised lines and run on local emissions free electricity. (A new breed of tram could use hyper efficient electric motors and regenerative braking.) Ultimately trams MUST be the long term solution for London, perhaps even running on some variation of the below ground third rail (for power) that was originally used in the Kingsway trams in London.