April 4, 2011
The whole "Alternative Fuel Vehicles Industry" could be much better, considering that many alternative fuels are already available. Who is really at fault for the many polluting vehicles that come off of the assembly line every day? Is it the companies making those cars or is it the consumers who purchase them?
How can you and I bring about this much needed change?According to Plunkett Research, as of December 2010 more than 42.8 million alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles have been sold worldwide, compared to around 900 million cars and light trucks in use in the world in 2010. This indicates that consumers are willing to buy environmentally-friendly vehicles, if they are available and affordable.
The European Commission has propose an "ambitious plan to increase mobility and reduce emissions." It propose a roadmap for different types of journey within cities, between cities, and long distance. In the document "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area" (PDF), it calls for a gradual reduction of gasoline vehicles in favor of electric vehicles and improvement of rail transport. The Commission wants to "halve the use of conventionally-fueled cars in urban transport by 2030" before getting rid of them entirely by 2050. It sees gasoline and diesel-driven cars banned from cities across the continent by 2050. The main goals will include:
- No more conventionally-fuelled cars in cities.
- 40% use of sustainable low carbon fuels in aviation; at least 40% cut in shipping emissions.
- A 50% shift of medium distance intercity passenger and freight journeys from road to rail and waterborne transport.
- All of which will contribute to a 60% cut in transport emissions by the middle of the century.
The outsiders of Europe, UK opposed this proposal. Norman Baker, the transport minister said on BBC "We will not be banning cars from city centers any more than we will be having rectangular bananas."
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