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Environmental The voice of technology should be heard in climate debate
Environmental The voice of technology should be heard in climate debate | The voice of technology should be heard in climate debate |
| Written by Tony Quested | ||||||
| Wednesday, 27 February 2008 | ||||||
Page 1 of 4 BT’s former futurologist Ian Pearson has urged East of England companies to use scientifically based recommendations as the basis of their environmental policies rather than input from green groups that either hold science in contempt or nurse politically motivated agendas. In ‘Carbon’ – a new report on UK eco policy – Pearson turns conventional strategy inside out, branding it outmoded and counter productive, and tells the metaphorical lunatics to get out of the asylum.Piece by piece, Pearson dismantles current UK thinking. Ecotowns Too often the plans focus on old-fashioned environmental solutions so are in danger of locking in out-of-date technologies, he says. “Current environmental dogma says that cars are bad and public transport is good. Quite the reverse is true in the long term. “To use 1990s solutions such as guided busways is severely misguided. It would be far better to implement pilot schemes such as electronic routes and electronic vehicles. If a whole town is being built, given that most journeys are local, there is a perfect opportunity for genuine eco-towns to trial such new technologies, that are far more environmentally friendly than any bus-based system, while allowing unrestricted travel, and allowing full social inclusivity for an ageing population. Transport – Guided Bus & Buses Cambridgeshire County Council is in the process of building the longest guided busway in the world, scheduled to open early next year. The aim of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is to provide high quality, reliable and frequent local public transport along the A14 corridor. But Pearson reckons the system will soon be overtaken by new-tech solutions. He said: “Occupancy of guided busways is low. Like railway lines, dedicated track is only occupied for a small fraction of the time, so it represents poor efficiency. Depending where the busway is, a bus might go on one of these just once every several minutes and only takes a couple of seconds to pass. The track still takes up significant space and being made of concrete, contributes CO2 during fabrication. “The biggest problem, though, is that because it represents significant investment, it is likely that councils will stick with the system long after it has past its ‘use by date’. Even when electronic tracks and electronic cars are available and could provide public transport much more efficiently and with better comfort, convenience and social inclusion, councils will stick with bus based systems because they have invested heavily in them. “Also, buses last longer than cars, so will not benefit as quickly from engine improvements or electrification. If the road architectures have also been designed around buses, it might well be prohibitively expensive to move to the more efficient systems, locking in dirty bus based systems for much longer than need be. “This will be a big problem in eco-towns, where they are designing residential areas to be largely car-free with a high dependence on buses. When the rest of the country is carbon free with superb electronic transport, communities in eco-towns will still be polluting the environment and suffering limited mobility. “The busways simply enable the private bus companies to take even more tortuous routes to maximise the number of passengers they can pick up, and therefore revenue. If they made a single stop and went straight into town they would be very much faster and more people would use them. “Other factors with bus use also kick in, of course, such as the slowing down and acceleration of other traffic where they mix, with the consequential increases in emissions from other vehicles increasing system wide emissions.” |
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