Green options – not if, but whenBy Vaib Gangan Since 1990, New Zealand’s green-house emissions have increased by almost a third – on a per-person basis, we are now the sixth-largest polluter in the world. By 2012, we are required to reduce our emissions to the 1990 level under the Kyoto Protocol, or we will have to face the music.This affects all of us. Commercial fleet operators and companies with a large number of vehicles, like engineering and construction companies, DHBs and councils, are faced with a dual challenge – high costs and a growing emphasis on environmental considerations. While most environmentally friendly vehicles have heavy initial capital costs, in the long run they result in lower operating and maintenance costs, and provide cost savings. Adoption of green measuresBut change doesn’t come easily. Overseas experience highlights a need for push-and-pull measures to encourage the adoption of green vehicles. In India’s capital city of New Delhi, for example, most public transport buses and three-wheelers now run on CNG – a change driven by legislation. In London, the Toyota Prius (a popular hybrid) is exempt from congestion charges. Tax on petrol and diesel has gone up, while duty on LPG and CNG hasn’t. A polluting commercial vehicle entering London’s Low Emission Zone is charged £200 a day. The UK has also introduced emissions-based road tax or vehicle excise duty which encourages use of clean fuels. The UK government’s Powershift and CleanUp schemes provide financial support for conversions and for clean fuels. Reducing emissions Similar to the UK, the fuel we use here could become less of a choice and more of a regulation. While New Zealand contributes only a tiny proportion of the world’s emissions, our per-person emissions are high by international standards. To address this, the New Zealand Transport Strategy 2008 aims to increase the movement of freight by coastal shipping to 30 percent, and by rail to 25 per cent, by 2040. An important regulation in the ETS is about a fuel economy information label which will be displayed on new and used cars at the point of sale. It will help buyers compare fuel consumption of cars, which affects both running costs and emissions. Because different models can be compared, regulators could develop policies, for example, rewarding the best performers in the fleet. The government has noted that establishing a vehicle fleet standard for fuel economy would spread the incentive to improve fuel consumption across all vehicles entering the fleet, as well as providing flexibility to the industry and choices to consumers. Beating the regulationsBut some commercial operators are not waiting for regulatory intervention. New Zealand’s largest taxi company sees the benefit in being proactive. Auckland Co-operative Taxi Society, which operates a fleet of 760 vehicles, has decided not to buy any more petrol-only vehicles, and any replacement diesel vehicle must now be brand new. Auckland Co-op chairman Ian Graham says: “We already have a long line of members wanting hybrid vehicles. In a business like taxis, there is no shortage of views, so achieving consensus on an environmental and business sustainability policy is a reflection of the crucial role the transport industry plays in improving the environment.” But New Zealand needs a holistic approach. A vehicle should be green both in terms of what goes in and what comes out. That means less fossil fuel as well as lower air-quality emissions, says Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. “That would include improving the fuel efficiency of the fleet. Our light vehicle fleet currently averages 10.5 litres/100 km, while in Europe it is 7 litres/100 km, and heading down from there.” Ms Fitzsimons supports fuel economy standards for vehicles entering the country, both new and used. “I would favour a fleet average standard that importers could meet by a having mixture of smaller cars and electric or hybrid as they choose.” Incentives for going greenCycle-couriers have proven their worth in Auckland and Wellington where they are faster than cars in congested traffic, Ms Fitzsimons says, and firms should be encouraged to offer equal benefits to staff that don’t drive, if they are offering free car parks to those that drive, such as cycle vouchers and public transport passes. But what’s the incentive for businesses to go green? “I guess the main thing is that every little bit counts,” says Seeby Woodhouse, managing director of Green Carbon, a carbon footprint assessing company. “We will see more rapid adoption of hybrids with the recent high oil prices. “Businesses will in general make the change once it makes economic sense, and it is clear that taxi companies and couriers can certainly benefit from running hybrids, not only in terms of lower running costs, but also by having a lower impact on the environment.” Vaib Gangan is an Auckland-based writer and managing editor of an ethnic publication. email this article to a friend=================================================== you may also be interested in the following article:
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|