In 1970s, American director Stanley Kubrick began groundwork on a
film with a futuristic idea. At that point in time computers failed to produce
effective science fiction imagery. He shared his thoughts on the topic with
American science fiction director Stephen Spielberg and in 2001, Artificial
Intelligence was released. Sadly, Stanley Kubrick had passed away in 1999.
Another American story sharing resemblance took place on the north-eastern
coast. Beginning in 2003, urban designer William John
Mitchell developed an idea for urban mobility at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s MIT Media Lab. The idea was to create
“Mobility-on-Demand” service. This was also the year when crude oil prices took
off on a four year flight towards energy crisis. Planned as an all electric
urban mobility automobile, the CityCar was born as Hiriko in Spain translating
to ‘urban’, in 2010.
The 100% electric vehicle is partially a
robot. The wheels operate by individual motors making them turn 360 degrees.
This enables optimum utilization of road space while parking and has zero radiuses
turning circle. Once parked the car folds. The fold enables three such cars to
park in place of one midsized automobile. This is a first of its kind in the
smart car space. The vehicle is meant for intercity conveyance and has capacity
of 120 kilo meters on a single charge. On a trial basis the first 20 vehicles
are set for launch in 2013 within Basque. It would begin off similar to the
established bicycle sharing programme across Europe; later Hiriko would be sold
at mass level.
Hiriko Driving Mobility is a consortium of seven technology
companies in Basque, Spain. They have worked in creating the first prototype,
released at European Union headquarters in Brussels this January. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is where the initial idea took shape. Though, the
creator Mr. Mitchell passed away in June 2010.
His concept of Mobility-on-Demand originated from MIT Media Lab. It
fulfils point to point travel within a city. The execution from concept to
reality is aimed to benefit those individuals who cannot afford or chose not to
own a personal vehicle. Also, it acts as personal public transport for
passengers in the city and those who come from outside. The next question draws
attention towards supply side efficiency. Within two years from today is it
going to be possible to build infrastructure capable to support rising number
of electric vehicles? One such project is taking place in France. Mister
Vincent Bollore, an industrialist has worked on developing rechargeable
batteries for electric cars. The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanöe designed Autolib, a car sharing
scheme. The Bollore Group has won contract to run Autolib. The ‘Bluecar’ under
this programme was launched at Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011 and 3000
such initial launches are going to be supported by 1120 charging stations
within the city.
Keeping supporting funds, income
earned, retail price and cost of such projects aside its most note worthy to
realize that such developments are happening at this point in time. It is a
time where oil prices always seem to be auctioned. This has prompted countries
to act in a way to prevent energy insecurity. Countries around are the world
are playing their role in reducing impact of transport on environment. The
innovative means to reduce transport impact is creating new markets in the
process, new economics and unimagined heights of scientific progress. I am
curious to see what next.
Depending on the way you see, London Heathrow Airport breaks into the
top three slots under World’s busiest airport. With an average of 167,000
international flight travellers daily, the airport is now facing environmental
concerns. Due to heavy traffic in the airport, flights scheduled to land emit roughly
600 tonnes of carbon dioxide circulating air borne; this has been revealed by National
Air Traffic Services, also what about emissions on ground, while preparing to
take off? McLaren Applied Technologies the entity concerned with race
strategies for its team has been called upon to design a performance based grid
this would change structure of the airport in order to reduce emissions in air
and on the ground.
As seen on the track precession is most crucial. Efficiency in pit
stop recovery marks brownie points for a team. An entire army of engineers,
software scientists, mechanics and the drivers make the team successful in
their venture; this army could be on lines with the entire functioning of this
airport. The software called Marple developed by Geoff McGrath for McLaren is
the proposed system to be used. It simplifies the view of the object in
question. The new design produced is based on heavy data collection from NATS. Here,
the airport is transformed from its current geometrical shape into an efficient
and simplified rectangular design. Improvement in design structure is the name
of the game.
A reduction in taxing period, minimizes delays, improves overall
efficiency of the airport and as a result reduction of environmental impact of
such an airport proves as a model for upcoming international airports. Daily
emissions of around 1800 tonnes of carbon dioxide prove as a hazard to this
region of London. This model is set to be in complete application by airports
around the world in a year’s time. The largest benefits of this design aid are
going to be seen in Beijing, Daxing Airport which is projected to have capacity of 120
to 200 million passengers every year.
My
cell phone alarm went off and I switched on CNN, this was some day towards the
end of 2011. I had made a note to watch this sustainable transport programme
called ‘On the Move’. The most interesting revelation I came across on this
show, and it had been long since I had seen something so appealing in the field
of future transport, was the work of a London based design house.
Visionary
designer and director Paul Priestman of Priestmangoode
has proposed concept of ‘Moving Platforms’. It is the definition of next
generation rail transport. The creation of moveable docking station asks for
whole new model in transport economics. Such is the ideation of future rail
transport – no physical railway station, docking port on wheels and single mode
of intercity travel.
To define very clearly, ‘Moving Platforms’ works by having a
network of city wide trams. The trams act as the physical station where
passengers would board, in order to meet with the train of their destination.
Although, as the tram is intra city mode of transport what we are really
looking at is a cross city travel plan, where the tram links with the train on
the border of a particular city before zipping back. The train being a high
speed train makes the exchange of passengers by levelling speeds with the tram
and proceeds with its journey. The concept works in the same way when the
transfer is from train to tram, in order to reach the final destination.
‘Dock’ as it is called, is the key word for the revolutionary transit
in rail technology. As the tram would act as platform there would not be a need
for a physical cement and tar railway platform. There would be immense saving
in city space. Infrastructure would be different. There is proposed use of
radio-frequency identification. Also there would be fewer crowds at current day
major stations.
On the other hand, this project acts as setting for making rail
primary mode of public transportation. In time, cabs, busses and rickshaws
would phase out. There would be reduction in consumption of oil. There would be
a shift in dependence on conventional sources of energy. In order to make this
concept into reality various machineries must integrate. World governments must
realize the potential in investing in such an idea. Masses must understand the
benefits of such change in transport technology. One such example is the
investment in HSR by China. They aim to have more high speed rail lines combining
all lines in the world by end of 2012.
The economics for such technology could work either way. In
conclusion we must realize the need to get off non renewable sources of energy
at the earliest. Such a vision might just work wonders.
As of New Year 2012, Europe has proposed three very wise initiatives in
the green transport spectrum –
a)Levy a charge
on foreign airline emissions flying to and fro the Union
b)Reduce overall
carbon intensity of the region by 6% by 2020
c)Aim to implement
total of 10% green fuel for transport sector by 2020 including hydrogen, electricity
and biofuels. Now, what is the reason for world governments and energy
companies to detest such foresight?
There is a thin link between the three goals. Air transport emissions
contribute to a total of 2-3% of global carbon emissions. In order to minimise
the scale of these emissions the European Union Emission Trading Scheme objectives
come into play. Hereby, following a cap and trade system, European transport
emissions can be minimized. Foreign airlines would be forced to buy carbon
credits. A charge on foreign airline emissions has been taken as an insult by
foreign governments. Also, airlines are required to reduce emissions by 3% by
2012 and 5% by 2013. The implementation and inclusion of aviation industry in
the ETS would cost the industry four billion Euros by 2020. This is a crucial
step as 21% of EU emissions are from the transport sector.
Another objective is reduction in carbon intensity by a
certain percentage, this is a little tricky. In order to reduce carbon
intensity in all industries there must be minimal dependence on petrol or diesel.
The alternative and most sensible choice available to Europe has been found in biofuels.
This for sure has made companies such as BP, Shell and the massive Canadian tar
sands upset. There has been investment by firms in biofuels. On the other hand, due to heavy dependence on tropical forests for
biofuels, Europe has found itself in a maze.
Biofuels are not as green as projected. Targetting 10% of fuels being renewable or sustainable in nature in the transport sector by
2020 remains a challenge. It would be interesting to see the planting of
policies in the years to come. European initiatives and results work as an eye
opener for the rest of the world.
In 2009, the capital of China alone squeezed in 4.7 million odd motor
vehicles, largely speaking of private owned automobiles. It is unfortunate that
this number will grow to seven million vehicles by end of this year. The high
rate of urbanization due to growing economy has resulted in household level
expansion. Here, I will list a number of measures the government is going to
implement in order to reduce impact of traffic congestion on health and well
being. It is interesting to note that in Beijing 70% of population has faced
traffic so bad at least one time that they were forced to return back home.
In 2010 alone the social cost of congestion to residents of Beijing
has been between 80 to 190 billion Yuan. The municipal government has targeted the
private car owner by making public transit system more attractive. The busses
remain the backbone of the city despite low speeds. This is being worked on by
introducing additional lanes, smart cards, improved busses, reduced fares, less
time consuming bus routes and specific bus lanes. A BRT system would bring
eight million additional daily passengers.
If this would not be enough, there would have to be parking fees
implemented. It’s only sensible to charge for parking in public space as the
owner would think twice before using his automobile. The other way to implement
is by making parking fees a law and reducing the number of parking spaces. This
would also increase the charges. In the 11th five year plan there
are plans to build 26 Park-and-Ride centres.
On a similar note is to probably implement usage based toll scheme.
The Olympic Games has imposed a car ban in its locality and it was
successful. Though it would be difficult impose something similar on a daily
basis. Thus since beginning of 2011 the government has introduced a limit on
car licenses to 20,000 permits a month. This was at a time when there were five
million eligible applications sent across. Shanghai is the only city to successfully
implement license plate auctioning. A possibility to devise a policy of one car
per family might prove beneficial. Also, non-Beijing residents must own an
apartment and get a parking permit before being allowed to buy a car.
All in all these policies are yet not highly successful with
growing incomes and private vehicle being sign of status symbol. In my opinion
there must be political initiative to make masses aware the ill effects of
vehicle congestion. Not only will it affect health but also the very standard
of living of the growing middle class. Beijing Municipal Administration and
Communications Cardor Yikatong is a means
to relax social mindset towards using public transport. It can be used for subway lines, public city buses, Beijing airport express
train and also long distance bus routes.
The Traffic Demand Management Policy work in time, for Beijing
toppled USA in becoming the world’s largest automobile market in 2009.
Hey, I am an easy going person. With a taste for creativity and open mindedness. I am currently a Master's student of Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science in Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Love to know more about clean wheels
Posts
