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Better and cleaner urban transport for Europe

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Subido el 8 de agosto de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Traffic jams, pollution, waste of time and energy - numerous cities are faced with problems such as harmful emissions and lack of efficient mobility for users. There is no one magic formula to solve this. Solutions integrate technological advances such as hydrogen and biofuel powered buses with transport policy measures such as traffic management, an example being the restricted access to the centre of London. A wide range of experiments are carried out by cities. Apart from its financial support for sustainable mobility initiatives taken by cities, the European Union works in partnership with them, particularly through the CIVITAS network, in order to stimulate the exchange of know-how and experience.

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In Europe, a car clocks up 75% of its mileage in an urban environment. The result? An explosive 00:00:00
cocktail of congestion and pollution. Time wasted in traffic jams could soon be costing 00:00:19
the European Union 1% of its gross domestic product. Urban traffic is responsible for 00:00:25
40% of CO2 emissions generated by road transport, and 9 in every 10 Europeans are exposed to 00:00:31
harmful particle emissions that are higher than the tolerated threshold. However, the 00:00:38
European Commissioner for Transport believes that an alternative and more environmentally 00:00:43
friendly urban mobility can be achieved through well-targeted actions. 00:00:48
We first of all need to promote new fuels, and in particular bioenergy, in the field 00:00:55
of transport. The biofuel directive lays down that biofuel must replace 5.75% of the fossil 00:00:59
fuels used for transport. Then you have the far-reaching research and development programme. 00:01:08
This is hinged in part on these new green propulsion methods. I've also proposed to 00:01:18
the European public authorities that at least a quarter of new commercial vehicles purchased 00:01:25
to renew fleets be clean vehicles. There really is a clear determination within the Union 00:01:32
to advocate the use of much cleaner vehicles, electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, and 00:01:40
mixed propulsion vehicles. 00:01:47
As far as urban transport is concerned, in addition to the financing of equipment and 00:01:55
infrastructures, in particular in the new member states, the European Union is backing 00:01:59
projects that aim to replace petrol with clean alternatives. 00:02:04
Take the example of Lille in northern France. The city has something of a reputation as 00:02:10
a pioneer in the field of sustainable and more efficient transport. It was the first 00:02:15
in the world to build a totally automatic high-frequency light railway system. Today, 00:02:21
this system carries almost 80 million passengers a year. For the past 10 years, the urban community 00:02:27
of Lille has been working on yet another new solution, the biogas bus. 00:02:33
Biogas is made from organic waste or the sludge of sewage treatment plants, using naturally 00:02:43
produced gas that is then purified for use as a fuel for buses. 00:02:50
The purification process in question is an innovation. It makes it possible to convert 00:02:59
the biogas produced by the fermentation of organic waste to obtain the same level of 00:03:04
quality as natural gas. The buses can therefore run on one or the other, which offers a solid 00:03:09
guarantee of supply. 00:03:15
It's not more expensive to run a bus on gas than it is on diesel, as far as the price 00:03:18
per kilometre is concerned, which means that on the whole it doesn't cost the city more 00:03:22
to use gas-operated vehicles. It's a real win-win situation. We are protecting the environment 00:03:26
without having to dig deeper into our pockets. 00:03:32
Once the development phase was over, the city's projects gathered momentum with the acquisition 00:03:36
of new gas-operated buses and the construction of an adapted bus depot. Each parking space 00:03:40
is equipped with a recharging socket. When they return to the depot after their round, 00:03:46
it only takes a minute for the drivers to plug their vehicle into the automatic distribution 00:03:52
network. 00:03:56
And at present, we have just over 200 gas-operated buses, 214 to be exact, of a total fleet of 00:03:57
330, therefore around two-thirds. The aim is to make the entire fleet run on gas and 00:04:04
to only have gas-operated vehicles. 00:04:10
And so as not to waste this great idea only on the buses, the city now has plans to make 00:04:15
its dustbin lorries run on gas. 00:04:20
Let's now head for Graz in Austria. Next time you're passing through, don't forget to taste 00:04:23
the local speciality, the schnitzel, with a generous helping of chips. You may not be 00:04:29
aware of it, but you'll be doing your bit to save the planet. 00:04:34
As you take your digestive walk, though, you may be struck by a strange slogan written 00:04:39
on the side of the buses. Von der Pfanne in den Tank. From the pan into the tank. 00:04:44
It refers to the fact that we run our buses on waste oil, which means that the waste vegetable 00:04:53
oil from restaurants and homes goes from the pan into the tanks. In other words, waste 00:05:00
vegetable oils are transformed into biodiesel. 00:05:07
For example, in Graz, once the cooking oil of your schnitzel has been used, it's no longer 00:05:13
thrown down the drain. A collection lorry comes by to recover it and to take it to a 00:05:18
factory where it will be transformed into biodiesel. That's to say, of non-fossil origin 00:05:23
before being reused in the bus tanks. 00:05:28
Our entire bus fleet runs on 100% biodiesel. In other words, we no longer need fossil fuel 00:05:34
to run our fleet. To keep our entire fleet running, that's to say 130 buses, we use 3.8 00:05:41
million litres a year. 00:05:48
Of course, the oil that is recovered from restaurants is not enough to operate all the 00:05:52
buses throughout the year. Biodiesel comes mainly from colza and sunflower crops. As 00:05:56
the director of this engineering firm that designs production units explains, biodiesel 00:06:02
can be obtained from a large number of raw materials that are readily available. 00:06:07
The raw materials are everywhere, on our very doorstep. They're all around us, whether colza 00:06:14
oil, sunflower oil, waste oils or animal fats. I usually say that as long as we eat 00:06:20
meat or schnitzels or steak, we'll have animal fat, which, by the way, is an excellent raw 00:06:25
material for biodiesel. 00:06:30
Another good piece of news. The equivalent of biodiesel exists for petrol. This is bioethanol 00:06:35
and is produced using plants that Europeans grow in large quantities, such as sugar beet 00:06:43
or wheat. 00:06:48
The European directive has given a serious boost to the use of these biodiesels. In Graz, 00:06:51
for example, one taxi company runs its 200 cars exclusively on biodiesel. 00:06:57
This takes us to the third stop on our travels, to London. The British capital is one of the 00:07:06
most polluted cities in Europe. One of the culprits? The frenzied vehicle traffic. 00:07:13
Here again, the solution could come in part from the famous red buses, or at least from 00:07:23
this bus in particular. At present, only three of them actually run in the city. At first 00:07:28
glance, they don't appear to be any different to the others. But if you take a closer look 00:07:34
around the back, what you could mistake for exhaust fumes is nothing more than a plume 00:07:39
of water steam. 00:07:43
London is in fact one of the European cities that is testing the hydrogen bus on its network, 00:07:48
within the framework of a European research programme. 00:07:53
Nine cities were selected to participate in the trial, and the objectives really were 00:07:57
to look at a number of issues, such as demonstrating fuel cell buses in everyday service to gain 00:08:02
an understanding of how they operate and performance and reliability. Secondly, to trial different 00:08:07
methods of hydrogen production, and then also look at the effects of temperature, climate 00:08:12
and topography on the performance of the fuel cell buses. 00:08:18
The one thing that really stands out is how reliable the buses have been. In 2005, the 00:08:21
availability, the percentage availability of the buses was 90%. That means that just 00:08:26
for only 10% of the time were the buses not running in service due to problems or faults. 00:08:30
We think that's a really good result for new technologies such as fuel cells. 00:08:35
As we've just heard, hydrogen buses use fuel cell technology. In layman's terms, this works 00:08:40
a little like a battery in reverse. By applying hydrogen to one pole and the oxygen of the 00:08:46
surrounding air to the other, electricity is generated that is used to feed an engine. 00:08:51
At the other end of the fuel cell, the hydrogen and oxygen are recombined to form water. 00:08:57
Therefore, zero pollution, especially if upstream, renewable energies are used to produce the 00:09:05
hydrogen. And visibly, this is not the only advantage of this clean bus. 00:09:09
They're exactly the same as a normal bus, except that it's much smoother and quieter 00:09:15
drive. And for similar reasons, the passengers also like them as well. I mean, they're much 00:09:21
quieter and smoother. And also the fact that they're zero emission. We've had very positive 00:09:26
feedback from the public. They like the fact that there's no exhaust emissions. And they'd 00:09:31
like to see more of these vehicles in the future. 00:09:35
Between now and 2010, London intends to bring 70 hydrogen buses into service on its network. 00:09:38
The engineers have until then to solve the problems linked to the autonomy of the buses 00:09:45
as well as the storage and distribution of the hydrogen. Today, to fill up with hydrogen, 00:09:49
the three London buses still have to leave the city to reach the only available hydrogen 00:09:55
station. It's been built just alongside a conventional petrol station along the motorway. 00:09:59
However, this is probably a sign that hydrogen is moving out of the prototype phase and that 00:10:05
it has a bright future ahead of it. 00:10:10
Parallel to these technological solutions, cities are taking an increasing number of 00:10:14
measures to better regulate their traffic. In this field, the Mayor of London took a 00:10:18
politically courageous decision, as anyone who wants to drive into the heart of the city 00:10:23
during the daytime now has to pay for the privilege. 00:10:27
Traffic congestion got so bad in London, something had to be done. The congestion charge has 00:10:31
been a painful financial penalty for driving into the centre of London. And at the same 00:10:36
time, we've massively expanded the bus service. So we were carrying four million passengers 00:10:42
a day, now we're carrying six million. 00:10:47
The charge? Eight pounds a day. And don't even think of sneaking in without paying as 00:10:49
you'll be hit by a very heavy fine. At each entrance point to the area, cameras automatically 00:10:53
analyse all the registration plates. So, how much money does this charge generate and what 00:10:59
can be done with it? That's the question that we put to the systems manager. 00:11:04
About 80% of the 122 million went back into improving buses, so some extra buses were 00:11:08
bought, some new bus priority measures were introduced, also there were a variety of safety 00:11:15
measures and some road improvements occurred as a result of that extra money. 00:11:21
At the end of the day, the system will without a doubt have led to a more balanced mobility 00:11:26
with a greater emphasis on public transport and greater consideration given to less mobile 00:11:30
users. 00:11:36
Congestion is now down 26% on what it was before charging was introduced. Buses have 00:11:37
something like 50% less of their time spent caught in traffic jams and we've also seen 00:11:44
very positive benefits in terms of reduced emissions, 12% down on the emissions which 00:11:50
are harmful to our health and a reduction in accidents. 00:11:57
Therefore the bet has paid off for the Mayor of London, who's clearly proud of his achievement. 00:12:02
To such an extent that he wants to double the perimeter concern and then turn his sights 00:12:07
towards the most polluting vehicles. 00:12:11
I'm going to amend the congestion zone in a couple of years' time so that the more polluting 00:12:14
vehicles will pay much more. So somebody driving a highly polluting vehicle like a sports utility 00:12:19
vehicle will pay £25 a day. Now this will be a real pressure on people to trade down 00:12:26
to less polluting cars. My vision in London in 20 years is a city which has cut its carbon 00:12:33
emissions by about 25% and I feel we have failed if we haven't done that. 00:12:38
There is no single solution. At European level, cities are a breeding ground of ideas 00:12:44
and experiments that integrate leading-edge technologies and various measures of traffic 00:12:49
management or user awareness, for example. Not only does the European Union financially 00:12:53
support a large number of such initiatives, but it works with a large number of local 00:12:59
authorities to promote the sharing and the spreading of their experiences. That's the 00:13:03
aim of the exchange network Civitas, which covers around 100 cities from Tallinn to Burgos, 00:13:08
including Stockholm, Bremen, Krakow or Rome. 00:13:14
We rely heavily on this Civitas network because its member cities are a laboratory for new 00:13:21
methods, for new means of reducing pollution, of saving energy and of easing traffic flow. 00:13:28
Lille, for example, has built park and ride car parks at the strategic points of entry 00:13:39
to the city. For only 3 euros a day, anyone can leave their car in a guarded car park 00:13:47
and jump onto the bus that goes around the entire city. To make these car parks even 00:13:52
more attractive, users can take advantage of a number of services, such as car washes 00:13:58
or collection points for mail order purchases. In Graz, the decision was taken to encourage 00:14:03
clean vehicles by handing their owners an Umweltjeton. This translates as environmental 00:14:09
token, which grants users preferential rates for the city's parking meters. 00:14:17
The heart of the city is the reserve of pedestrians and bikes and, as for the trams and buses, 00:14:25
almost all serve the centre, most of the time along their own lanes or on priority bus lanes, 00:14:30
which means that they cannot be blocked by an articulated lorry making deliveries. They 00:14:36
unload in a groupage centre outside the city and the goods are then delivered by smaller 00:14:41
vehicles. 00:14:46
As we have seen, quality of life and mobility are therefore compatible. And we have the 00:14:51
recipe. A good dose of Europe, a measure of local political will, a sprinkling of 00:14:57
technology and a generous helping of acceptance among users. 00:15:02
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
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Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
1009
Fecha:
8 de agosto de 2007 - 11:13
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
15′ 15″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
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