Special Delivery. Internet shopping and the question of #CO2.

Home shopping is meant to offer us a more efficient way to shop, and it has become so popular that the last-minute “Christmas rush” is now just as much in the depots and sorting offices as it is on the High Street.

Unfortunately, this increase in home deliveries isn’t matched by an increased likelihood of us shoppers being at home when the goodies arrive.

So we all know the frustration of that little red card, instructing us to head to the sorting office to pick up that latest delivery from Amazon.

So the trip you thought you saved, you haven’t.  And the parcel has been driven to your home and back for no reason.

The alternatives to the red card aren’t that great: leaving parcels out in the rain, chucking them over the garden fence, bothering your neighbours with them, or dumping them in your wheelie bin.

The collection points aren’t ideal either: user-unfriendly opening hours or a location chosen for the benefit of lorries and logistics rather than consumers, or both.  My (so-called) local Parcelforce office is a 40 mile round trip drive and isn’t well connected to public transport at the hour I’m likely to visit.

There has to be a more efficient way to do this. At least that is what researchers at the University of Southampton believe. According to the study team (see here and here), in 2010, the typical UK online shopper spent £1765 on home shopping, up from £572 in 2005, meaning that – even all the way back in 2010 – there were 1.3 billion home shopping deliveries a year.

With this large and growing volume of transactions, the case for improving the cat-and-mouse game of parcel delivery is ever more compelling.  They suggest secure, 24-hour accessible lockers at local places we’d be likely to visit anyway: railway stations, supermarkets, etc.  At the moment, these are more common a sight in countries like Germany and Australia.  You get an access code and you pick up your parcel at a time convenient to you, and at a place much easier to get to.  This could make home delivery both more environmentally efficient and less frustrating.

Read Full Post »

Painting a greener picture. The fall in new car #CO2 emissions over a decade shown in relative and absolute terms.

We might not be there yet but the two charts below illustrate how the greening of the car fleet is happening. Even over the relatively short period of a decade the fall in average CO2 emissions is marked (the numbers come from the DfT’s vehicle licensing stats table VEH0206). The first graph looks at emissions in relative terms…

New car sales by CO2 emissions (in relative terms)

And now in absolute terms…

New car sale by CO2 emissions in absolute terms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Buses: the green way to travel? It depends. CO2 emissions from buses going up not down @greenerjourneys

So buses are the green way to travel are they? Well it clearly depends on how you measure their environmental credentials. The latest figures from the DfT show that fleet average CO2 emissions for buses have risen by about 25% over the past decade (the figures are plotted below alongside similar data for rigid and articulated HGVs). The numbers tell you what is happening but not why. Perhaps buses are getting bigger and heavier because they can carry more people.

Of course what is more important here is the average load factor per bus and the subsequent CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre – rather than vehicle kilometre. Even so it would be interesting to hear what the ‘official’ reason is for the steady increase in bus emissions compared with the steady decline in those for cars.

Read Full Post »

How green are government cars? Higher than average CO2 emitting Toyotas and Jaguars dominate list

Chris Huhne MP may no longer be Secretary of State at DECC but clearly he retains his interest in a low-carbon world, as this question to the Department for Transport shows. Worth noting that average new car carbon emissions in 2011 stood at 138 gCO2/km.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) make, (b) model, (c) year of manufacture and (d) carbon emissions in grammes per kilometre is of each vehicle provided by the Government Car Service to each Government department. [129563]

Stephen Hammond: The following table lists the main departmental pool cars provided to each Department through service level agreements.

Department	Make	Model	Year of manufacture	CO 2 g/km
Cabinet Office	Jaguar	XJ	2011	189
	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Business Innovation and Skills	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Communities and Local Government	Land Rover	Discovery	2012	230
	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Environment and Climate Change	Toyota	Prius—Plug in hybrid	2010	59
Environment Food and Rural Affairs	Land Rover	Discovery	2012	230
Education	Jaguar	XJ	2011	189
Transport	Land Rover	Discovery	2012	230
	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Health	Jaguar	XJ	2012	189
HM Treasury	Land Rover	Discovery	2012	230
	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Home Office	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Attorney-General’s Office	Jaguar	XJ	2011	189
Ministry of Justice	Jaguar	XJ	2011	189
Northern Ireland Office	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165
Wales Office	Jaguar	XJ	2011	189
Culture, Media and Sport	Toyota	Avensis	2012	165

Read Full Post »

Latest entry list for tomorrow’s #RACFCC. No one there to scare us…

Just off to Brighton for tomorrow’s RAC Future Car Challenge, having taken a look at the opposition. There is clearly there is a low carbon car for everyone: the range of energy types on display demonstrates the different approaches to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. Our entry is a Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid.

Read Full Post »

A sustainable road? #SMMTCO2 report shows #greencar fleet is within our grasp.

Another year passes and with it comes another significant annual drop in the CO₂ emissions of the new cars sold in the UK.

According to the 2012 Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ New Car CO₂ Report, “emissions fell to a new low of 138.1 g/km in 2011, down 4.2% on 2010.”

The SMMT study shows emissions are down 27% on 2000 levels. 70% of that progress has come in the past four years.

The key point is that this improvement is not the result of alternative-powered vehicles swamping the roads – sales of new cars powered by electricity and hybrid technology are still only a tiny fraction of the total – but because of huge strides in the refinement of internal combustion engines.

The real debate is about where we should be going next. According to the SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt, “Considerable progress has to be made to deliver the challenging 2020 pan-EU CO₂ target of 95g/km.”

Yet others think this obstacle is too easily hurdled and the eco-performance of the new car fleet should be rather better. In a letter last month to EU Commission President José-Manuel Barroso, Greenpeace and the Transport and Environment Group pleaded for any assistance to the European car makers to be linked to “a tightening of legislative standards for fleet average emissions to 80 gCO₂/km by 2020 and the inclusion of a new target of 60 gCO₂/km by 2025.”

The technical evidence suggests these alternative goals could be achieved. The questions are whether it is imperative they are met and if so how?

If the answer to the first question is yes, then in theory you could simply legislate to reach the required goal. If targets became legal requirements and manufacturers were punitively sanctioned for breaching CO₂ levels then the chances are things would change despite the grumbling. Equally, if consumers were nudged – indeed shoved – towards buying low carbon cars through mouth-watering incentives then change would also result.

At the moment the subsidies available from government are all focused on ultra-low carbon cars, but what if buyers of the best-performing vehicles in their class all got a nice round £1,000 from ministers? The 2007 King Review of low-carbon cars concluded this measure alone could “reduce emissions by 10-25% over time.”

These matters of policy are all up for debate, but today’s report should offer us some reassurance. For all the negative environmental impacts associated with road transport, it is perhaps the one sector which is best placed to respond to the challenge. Indeed, it is already doing so.

Read Full Post »

#Cars by numbers

The latest vehicle licensing stats have been released by the DVLA and as usual they make for interesting reading for both the pub quiz trivia question setter and the transport expert.

Here is some of what has been revealed:

• At the end of 2011 there were 34.2 million vehicles licensed in Britain
• 28.5 million of these were cars (up from 21.2 million in 1994)
• Year on year the total number of vehicles rose by 0.3%
• During 2011 2.38 million vehicles were registered for the first time (down 36,000 on the previous year)
• At the end of 2011, the most common car in Great Britain was the Ford Focus (1.4 million) followed by the Ford Fiesta (1.3 million)
• In total Ford accounts for 15% of all cars on the roads
• The Ford Fiesta was the most popular new car registered during 2011
• The proportion of new diesel cars registered has risen above 50% for the first time
• Average emissions from all cars registered from 2001 onwards stands at 163gCO2/km down 1.5% on 2010
• The average new car emission rate was 138 gCO2/km
• Since 2001 average new car emissions have fallen by 21%

Most worryingly for the Treasury is the marked percentage increase in registrations of greener cars. In 2011 65% of cars fell into VED bands A to E (up to 140 gCO2/km). This is up from 55% in 2010, thus threatening the flow of money into the Exchequer’s coffers. No wonder the Chancellor made this announcement in the Budget:

“The Government will consider whether to reform VED over the medium term, to ensure that all motorists continue to make a fair contribution to the sustainability of the public finances, and to reflect continuing improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency.”

Mr Osborne also said he would be looking to introduce a monthly direct debit payment option for VED – clearly he is looking at ways to spread the pain which will inevitably follow.

Read Full Post »