Sustainability and Waste – Out and About: Travel and Transport

What I can do about my transport energy use – direct fuel savings

With personal mobility being a particular feature of our modern lifestyle, transport use seems to provide fewer options for savings than measures we can take in our homes. But we can still consider our own individual situation, and make a personal plan for improvement! For the average person, 30% of private travel is social/recreational, and about 12% is for shopping. Every saving you can make in fossil fuel use, will make a direct contribution towards mitigating the problem of climate change. Write up your transport economy plan - it might look something like this:

1. For immediate action:

• Commit drivers to 'best' driving practices
• Ensure regular fleet vehicle maintenance.
• Lead from the top with modest, energy-efficient vehicles for staff
• Plan delivery routes carefully

• Avoid use of air-con (it can add 10% to fuel use) unless necessary.
• Plan ahead and bike, walk, or use public transport when possible.
• Use school bus, or walking school bus, rather than driving kids to school.

2. Short term goals:

• Consider flexible working hours to avoid rush-hours, or working at home one day a week?
• Try planned car-pooling with a friend or neighbour, on a regular, if not daily basis.
• If a two-car family, plan for using your larger vehicle for long-distance, multi-occupant  travel, and make that second car a small, efficient vehicle for local trips and occasions when there is only the driver and no passengers.
• When buying a new vehicle, consider carefully its fuel efficiency, and its function in relation to your real needs. Purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle is becoming increasingly possible, and use of these vehicles can readily reduce fuel consumption by 40-50% or more. For some commuters, purchasing an electric scooter may prove to be a great option!
• Check your vehicle fleet utilisation for maximum efficiency; sometimes it might be better to travel by taxi
• Check suppliers delivery and transport charges carefully – is that courier delivery necessary? Is it efficient? Is it possible now to use rail freight?

3. Medium to long-term goals:

• Plan your business travel with carbon emissions in mind. If regularly travelling overseas on business is essential, consider adopting a carbon-zero plan, and making a contribution towards tree planting or similar to off-set your GHG emissions. ( See comments below.)
• Plan your holiday travel with carbon emissions in mind. If holidaying overseas is your habit, consider planning for a balance of holidays between at home and abroad.

Your plan will need to be tailored to your budget, but the 'immediate action plan' above will cost you nothing, will in fact save you money, and will be an excellent first step on your journey. Go to the following site for an excellent guide for more ideas on what you can do:  www.carbonzero.co.nz/reduce_emissions.asp

or  www.niwascience.co.nz/ncces/co2calc.

What I can do about my transport energy use – indirect fuel savings

As well as our personal transport needs, our society has a huge investment in the Transport Industry. By supporting efficiencies in this area, we are also helping ourselves. Some of the considerations include the following:

• We can support measures for better public transportation. When it is reasonably priced, convenient and reliable, people are happy to use it. It takes people off the road, and when well-patronised, is much more fuel efficient.
• Time and cost considerations are vital, but bear in mind that land and sea travel are better than 3 times more fuel efficient than air travel,
• Consider your current lifestyle requirements in relation to your place of work. Are you travelling huge distances simply to commute? Maybe it would be better to live closer to work, or even work from home!
• Carbon offsets. There are many schemes promoted to travellers whereby you donate money for tree-planting, in order to off-set your carbon use. But calculation of your carbon foot-print for air travel can be confused by the fact that the emission of CO2 at great heights (like 36,000 feet), creates 2.7 times the warming-effect as the same discharge at ground level. So - (very roughly), each 1 tonne of jet-fuel creates 3.5 tonnes of CO2 at 36,000 feet; like discharging 9.5 tonnes CO2 at sea level! These 'save your soul' schemes are great, but remember that the tree will have to grow for 30-40 years before it has absorbed that carbon, let alone stored it for ever – it may be just as effective to install a low-energy light bulb in your home. But planting trees has always been a good thing, so you could try:www.treesfortravellers.co.nz
• Food miles. This is another complex issue. Any product that is flown around the world to its market, be it an i-Pod (Toy miles), carpet (Magic Carpet miles?), or out-of-season fruit, will make a greater impact than shipping the same goods by sea. But remember that the vast majority of New Zealand's healthy, pasture-fed meat and dairy products are produced with low energy inputs compared with European and North American products, and even when shipping costs (and emissions) are taken into consideration, their environmental footprint is still much smaller.

A few facts:

In the regular petrol/diesel vehicle that most of us drive, 80% of the energy consumed is converted to heat. About 19% is required to overcome the inertia and wind resistance of a one tonne pile of steel, and 1% is required to move you! It is just so much more energy-efficient to walk!

In the 2006 AA Energywise Rally, the Supreme Award went to a Honda Civic hybrid, which, in the Auckland to Wellington rally, attained fuel consumption of some 21.18kms/litre!

For many more facts and information, go to: www.carbonzero.co.nz