1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,920 In Europe, a car clocks up 75% of its mileage in an urban environment. The result? An explosive 2 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,480 cocktail of congestion and pollution. Time wasted in traffic jams could soon be costing 3 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:31,480 the European Union 1% of its gross domestic product. Urban traffic is responsible for 4 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:38,120 40% of CO2 emissions generated by road transport, and 9 in every 10 Europeans are exposed to 5 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:43,920 harmful particle emissions that are higher than the tolerated threshold. However, the 6 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,360 European Commissioner for Transport believes that an alternative and more environmentally 7 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:55,160 friendly urban mobility can be achieved through well-targeted actions. 8 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,960 We first of all need to promote new fuels, and in particular bioenergy, in the field 9 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:08,760 of transport. The biofuel directive lays down that biofuel must replace 5.75% of the fossil 10 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:18,340 fuels used for transport. Then you have the far-reaching research and development programme. 11 00:01:18,340 --> 00:01:25,420 This is hinged in part on these new green propulsion methods. I've also proposed to 12 00:01:25,420 --> 00:01:32,020 the European public authorities that at least a quarter of new commercial vehicles purchased 13 00:01:32,020 --> 00:01:40,860 to renew fleets be clean vehicles. There really is a clear determination within the Union 14 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:47,220 to advocate the use of much cleaner vehicles, electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, and 15 00:01:47,220 --> 00:01:55,180 mixed propulsion vehicles. 16 00:01:55,180 --> 00:01:59,540 As far as urban transport is concerned, in addition to the financing of equipment and 17 00:01:59,540 --> 00:02:04,260 infrastructures, in particular in the new member states, the European Union is backing 18 00:02:04,260 --> 00:02:10,820 projects that aim to replace petrol with clean alternatives. 19 00:02:10,820 --> 00:02:15,540 Take the example of Lille in northern France. The city has something of a reputation as 20 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:21,420 a pioneer in the field of sustainable and more efficient transport. It was the first 21 00:02:21,420 --> 00:02:27,180 in the world to build a totally automatic high-frequency light railway system. Today, 22 00:02:27,180 --> 00:02:33,020 this system carries almost 80 million passengers a year. For the past 10 years, the urban community 23 00:02:33,020 --> 00:02:43,940 of Lille has been working on yet another new solution, the biogas bus. 24 00:02:43,940 --> 00:02:50,980 Biogas is made from organic waste or the sludge of sewage treatment plants, using naturally 25 00:02:50,980 --> 00:02:59,260 produced gas that is then purified for use as a fuel for buses. 26 00:02:59,260 --> 00:03:04,780 The purification process in question is an innovation. It makes it possible to convert 27 00:03:04,780 --> 00:03:09,500 the biogas produced by the fermentation of organic waste to obtain the same level of 28 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:15,380 quality as natural gas. The buses can therefore run on one or the other, which offers a solid 29 00:03:15,380 --> 00:03:18,260 guarantee of supply. 30 00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:22,340 It's not more expensive to run a bus on gas than it is on diesel, as far as the price 31 00:03:22,340 --> 00:03:26,340 per kilometre is concerned, which means that on the whole it doesn't cost the city more 32 00:03:26,340 --> 00:03:32,340 to use gas-operated vehicles. It's a real win-win situation. We are protecting the environment 33 00:03:32,340 --> 00:03:36,260 without having to dig deeper into our pockets. 34 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:40,660 Once the development phase was over, the city's projects gathered momentum with the acquisition 35 00:03:40,660 --> 00:03:46,980 of new gas-operated buses and the construction of an adapted bus depot. Each parking space 36 00:03:46,980 --> 00:03:52,020 is equipped with a recharging socket. When they return to the depot after their round, 37 00:03:52,020 --> 00:03:56,340 it only takes a minute for the drivers to plug their vehicle into the automatic distribution 38 00:03:56,340 --> 00:03:57,340 network. 39 00:03:57,340 --> 00:04:04,980 And at present, we have just over 200 gas-operated buses, 214 to be exact, of a total fleet of 40 00:04:04,980 --> 00:04:10,180 330, therefore around two-thirds. The aim is to make the entire fleet run on gas and 41 00:04:10,180 --> 00:04:15,660 to only have gas-operated vehicles. 42 00:04:15,660 --> 00:04:20,460 And so as not to waste this great idea only on the buses, the city now has plans to make 43 00:04:20,460 --> 00:04:23,900 its dustbin lorries run on gas. 44 00:04:23,900 --> 00:04:29,460 Let's now head for Graz in Austria. Next time you're passing through, don't forget to taste 45 00:04:29,460 --> 00:04:34,740 the local speciality, the schnitzel, with a generous helping of chips. You may not be 46 00:04:34,740 --> 00:04:39,660 aware of it, but you'll be doing your bit to save the planet. 47 00:04:39,660 --> 00:04:44,260 As you take your digestive walk, though, you may be struck by a strange slogan written 48 00:04:44,260 --> 00:04:53,260 on the side of the buses. Von der Pfanne in den Tank. From the pan into the tank. 49 00:04:53,260 --> 00:05:00,180 It refers to the fact that we run our buses on waste oil, which means that the waste vegetable 50 00:05:00,180 --> 00:05:07,180 oil from restaurants and homes goes from the pan into the tanks. In other words, waste 51 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:13,780 vegetable oils are transformed into biodiesel. 52 00:05:13,780 --> 00:05:18,420 For example, in Graz, once the cooking oil of your schnitzel has been used, it's no longer 53 00:05:18,420 --> 00:05:23,420 thrown down the drain. A collection lorry comes by to recover it and to take it to a 54 00:05:23,420 --> 00:05:28,860 factory where it will be transformed into biodiesel. That's to say, of non-fossil origin 55 00:05:28,860 --> 00:05:34,340 before being reused in the bus tanks. 56 00:05:34,340 --> 00:05:41,340 Our entire bus fleet runs on 100% biodiesel. In other words, we no longer need fossil fuel 57 00:05:41,460 --> 00:05:48,860 to run our fleet. To keep our entire fleet running, that's to say 130 buses, we use 3.8 58 00:05:48,860 --> 00:05:52,380 million litres a year. 59 00:05:52,380 --> 00:05:55,980 Of course, the oil that is recovered from restaurants is not enough to operate all the 60 00:05:56,020 --> 00:06:02,060 buses throughout the year. Biodiesel comes mainly from colza and sunflower crops. As 61 00:06:02,060 --> 00:06:07,060 the director of this engineering firm that designs production units explains, biodiesel 62 00:06:07,060 --> 00:06:14,060 can be obtained from a large number of raw materials that are readily available. 63 00:06:14,260 --> 00:06:20,260 The raw materials are everywhere, on our very doorstep. They're all around us, whether colza 64 00:06:20,260 --> 00:06:25,700 oil, sunflower oil, waste oils or animal fats. I usually say that as long as we eat 65 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:30,620 meat or schnitzels or steak, we'll have animal fat, which, by the way, is an excellent raw 66 00:06:30,620 --> 00:06:35,740 material for biodiesel. 67 00:06:35,740 --> 00:06:42,740 Another good piece of news. The equivalent of biodiesel exists for petrol. This is bioethanol 68 00:06:43,280 --> 00:06:47,980 and is produced using plants that Europeans grow in large quantities, such as sugar beet 69 00:06:48,020 --> 00:06:51,020 or wheat. 70 00:06:51,020 --> 00:06:57,380 The European directive has given a serious boost to the use of these biodiesels. In Graz, 71 00:06:57,380 --> 00:07:04,380 for example, one taxi company runs its 200 cars exclusively on biodiesel. 72 00:07:06,980 --> 00:07:13,060 This takes us to the third stop on our travels, to London. The British capital is one of the 73 00:07:13,060 --> 00:07:20,060 most polluted cities in Europe. One of the culprits? The frenzied vehicle traffic. 74 00:07:23,660 --> 00:07:28,220 Here again, the solution could come in part from the famous red buses, or at least from 75 00:07:28,220 --> 00:07:34,180 this bus in particular. At present, only three of them actually run in the city. At first 76 00:07:34,180 --> 00:07:39,100 glance, they don't appear to be any different to the others. But if you take a closer look 77 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:43,820 around the back, what you could mistake for exhaust fumes is nothing more than a plume 78 00:07:43,820 --> 00:07:48,300 of water steam. 79 00:07:48,300 --> 00:07:53,260 London is in fact one of the European cities that is testing the hydrogen bus on its network, 80 00:07:53,260 --> 00:07:57,260 within the framework of a European research programme. 81 00:07:57,260 --> 00:08:02,060 Nine cities were selected to participate in the trial, and the objectives really were 82 00:08:02,060 --> 00:08:07,380 to look at a number of issues, such as demonstrating fuel cell buses in everyday service to gain 83 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:12,740 an understanding of how they operate and performance and reliability. Secondly, to trial different 84 00:08:12,740 --> 00:08:18,460 methods of hydrogen production, and then also look at the effects of temperature, climate 85 00:08:18,460 --> 00:08:21,380 and topography on the performance of the fuel cell buses. 86 00:08:21,380 --> 00:08:26,340 The one thing that really stands out is how reliable the buses have been. In 2005, the 87 00:08:26,340 --> 00:08:30,380 availability, the percentage availability of the buses was 90%. That means that just 88 00:08:30,380 --> 00:08:35,820 for only 10% of the time were the buses not running in service due to problems or faults. 89 00:08:35,820 --> 00:08:40,380 We think that's a really good result for new technologies such as fuel cells. 90 00:08:40,380 --> 00:08:46,200 As we've just heard, hydrogen buses use fuel cell technology. In layman's terms, this works 91 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:51,620 a little like a battery in reverse. By applying hydrogen to one pole and the oxygen of the 92 00:08:51,620 --> 00:08:57,900 surrounding air to the other, electricity is generated that is used to feed an engine. 93 00:08:57,900 --> 00:09:04,900 At the other end of the fuel cell, the hydrogen and oxygen are recombined to form water. 94 00:09:05,420 --> 00:09:09,900 Therefore, zero pollution, especially if upstream, renewable energies are used to produce the 95 00:09:09,900 --> 00:09:15,900 hydrogen. And visibly, this is not the only advantage of this clean bus. 96 00:09:15,900 --> 00:09:21,220 They're exactly the same as a normal bus, except that it's much smoother and quieter 97 00:09:21,220 --> 00:09:26,400 drive. And for similar reasons, the passengers also like them as well. I mean, they're much 98 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:31,060 quieter and smoother. And also the fact that they're zero emission. We've had very positive 99 00:09:31,060 --> 00:09:35,220 feedback from the public. They like the fact that there's no exhaust emissions. And they'd 100 00:09:35,220 --> 00:09:38,420 like to see more of these vehicles in the future. 101 00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:45,380 Between now and 2010, London intends to bring 70 hydrogen buses into service on its network. 102 00:09:45,380 --> 00:09:49,880 The engineers have until then to solve the problems linked to the autonomy of the buses 103 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:55,260 as well as the storage and distribution of the hydrogen. Today, to fill up with hydrogen, 104 00:09:55,260 --> 00:09:59,460 the three London buses still have to leave the city to reach the only available hydrogen 105 00:09:59,460 --> 00:10:05,060 station. It's been built just alongside a conventional petrol station along the motorway. 106 00:10:05,060 --> 00:10:10,220 However, this is probably a sign that hydrogen is moving out of the prototype phase and that 107 00:10:10,220 --> 00:10:14,460 it has a bright future ahead of it. 108 00:10:14,460 --> 00:10:18,420 Parallel to these technological solutions, cities are taking an increasing number of 109 00:10:18,420 --> 00:10:23,260 measures to better regulate their traffic. In this field, the Mayor of London took a 110 00:10:23,260 --> 00:10:27,640 politically courageous decision, as anyone who wants to drive into the heart of the city 111 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,880 during the daytime now has to pay for the privilege. 112 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:36,200 Traffic congestion got so bad in London, something had to be done. The congestion charge has 113 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:42,280 been a painful financial penalty for driving into the centre of London. And at the same 114 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:47,240 time, we've massively expanded the bus service. So we were carrying four million passengers 115 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,440 a day, now we're carrying six million. 116 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,680 The charge? Eight pounds a day. And don't even think of sneaking in without paying as 117 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:59,020 you'll be hit by a very heavy fine. At each entrance point to the area, cameras automatically 118 00:10:59,020 --> 00:11:04,240 analyse all the registration plates. So, how much money does this charge generate and what 119 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,680 can be done with it? That's the question that we put to the systems manager. 120 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:15,840 About 80% of the 122 million went back into improving buses, so some extra buses were 121 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:21,000 bought, some new bus priority measures were introduced, also there were a variety of safety 122 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:26,280 measures and some road improvements occurred as a result of that extra money. 123 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,760 At the end of the day, the system will without a doubt have led to a more balanced mobility 124 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:36,000 with a greater emphasis on public transport and greater consideration given to less mobile 125 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,960 users. 126 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:44,240 Congestion is now down 26% on what it was before charging was introduced. Buses have 127 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:50,880 something like 50% less of their time spent caught in traffic jams and we've also seen 128 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:57,880 very positive benefits in terms of reduced emissions, 12% down on the emissions which 129 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:02,400 are harmful to our health and a reduction in accidents. 130 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:07,520 Therefore the bet has paid off for the Mayor of London, who's clearly proud of his achievement. 131 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,640 To such an extent that he wants to double the perimeter concern and then turn his sights 132 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,060 towards the most polluting vehicles. 133 00:12:14,060 --> 00:12:19,500 I'm going to amend the congestion zone in a couple of years' time so that the more polluting 134 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:26,820 vehicles will pay much more. So somebody driving a highly polluting vehicle like a sports utility 135 00:12:26,820 --> 00:12:33,180 vehicle will pay £25 a day. Now this will be a real pressure on people to trade down 136 00:12:33,180 --> 00:12:38,380 to less polluting cars. My vision in London in 20 years is a city which has cut its carbon 137 00:12:38,380 --> 00:12:44,020 emissions by about 25% and I feel we have failed if we haven't done that. 138 00:12:44,020 --> 00:12:49,020 There is no single solution. At European level, cities are a breeding ground of ideas 139 00:12:49,020 --> 00:12:53,740 and experiments that integrate leading-edge technologies and various measures of traffic 140 00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:59,540 management or user awareness, for example. Not only does the European Union financially 141 00:12:59,540 --> 00:13:03,860 support a large number of such initiatives, but it works with a large number of local 142 00:13:03,860 --> 00:13:08,380 authorities to promote the sharing and the spreading of their experiences. That's the 143 00:13:08,380 --> 00:13:14,620 aim of the exchange network Civitas, which covers around 100 cities from Tallinn to Burgos, 144 00:13:14,620 --> 00:13:21,620 including Stockholm, Bremen, Krakow or Rome. 145 00:13:21,780 --> 00:13:28,100 We rely heavily on this Civitas network because its member cities are a laboratory for new 146 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:35,100 methods, for new means of reducing pollution, of saving energy and of easing traffic flow. 147 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:46,380 Lille, for example, has built park and ride car parks at the strategic points of entry 148 00:13:47,140 --> 00:13:52,380 to the city. For only 3 euros a day, anyone can leave their car in a guarded car park 149 00:13:52,380 --> 00:13:58,420 and jump onto the bus that goes around the entire city. To make these car parks even 150 00:13:58,420 --> 00:14:03,820 more attractive, users can take advantage of a number of services, such as car washes 151 00:14:03,820 --> 00:14:09,900 or collection points for mail order purchases. In Graz, the decision was taken to encourage 152 00:14:09,900 --> 00:14:16,900 clean vehicles by handing their owners an Umweltjeton. This translates as environmental 153 00:14:17,580 --> 00:14:24,580 token, which grants users preferential rates for the city's parking meters. 154 00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:30,540 The heart of the city is the reserve of pedestrians and bikes and, as for the trams and buses, 155 00:14:30,580 --> 00:14:36,420 almost all serve the centre, most of the time along their own lanes or on priority bus lanes, 156 00:14:36,420 --> 00:14:41,380 which means that they cannot be blocked by an articulated lorry making deliveries. They 157 00:14:41,380 --> 00:14:46,380 unload in a groupage centre outside the city and the goods are then delivered by smaller 158 00:14:46,380 --> 00:14:51,380 vehicles. 159 00:14:51,380 --> 00:14:57,180 As we have seen, quality of life and mobility are therefore compatible. And we have the 160 00:14:57,180 --> 00:15:02,860 recipe. A good dose of Europe, a measure of local political will, a sprinkling of 161 00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:06,980 technology and a generous helping of acceptance among users.