(Credit: Studio Roosegaarde & Heijmans)

The Dutch design lab Studio Roosegaarde invents weird things. And now, the brains behind clothing that becomes transparent while the wearer is getting, ahem, intimate and a room that contracts and expands based on how hard you dance in it would like to redesign Europe’s entire system of highways and roads.

So they did.

According to Studio Roosegaarde the highways of the future are safer, cleaner and more environmentally sound. The lab has developed solar powered glow-in-the-dark roads that charge during the day to illuminate your evening drive, dynamic asphalt paint that transforms in response to road conditions like ice and sleet, and car lanes that double as electric car chargers by using magnetic fields under the asphalt.

These ideas might seem far out, but they’re already being implemented in Holland. If all goes well during the piloting program, there are talks of implementing these upgrades across Europe.

The bike transport renaissance, so far, has been a big-city phenomenon. We have watched exceptionally large cities like New York, Paris and London have Copenhagen-style cycle tracks built, while the small regional cities that actually typify the way humans make settlements, have merrily focused on parking (more and more of the garbage) and racier and racier car lanes. And still small cities somehow dodge the plight of congestion!  Large cities were crippled by jams almost as soon as cars were affordable.

No one was bothered by cars clogging the streets of big cities while ever Manhattan and central London were places only a reprobate would call home, and genteel folk escaped at 5pm every day to the suburbs. It was only when the middle classes wanted to actually live in the hearts of big cities, that they started lobbying to have city streets made safe for trips on foot or by bike—school trips, work trips, and trips home from the disco with a skin-full of booze. This new breed of inner city constituent, elected mayors like Bertrand Delanoë (Paris), Michael Bloomberg (New York) and Boris Johnson (London), all with a mandate to throttle car flows coming from the suburbs to city centres, and build barrier protected cycle tracks modelled on those used by mothers and children in Holland. Consistent with the aim of those big cities to get everyone riding, all have provided cheap public hire bikes in pick-up and deposit bays spread all across town.

But Paris, New York and London are not typical cities. For one, everyone knows them. A typical city is as unknown to the rest of the world as its inhabitants. And with populations measured in tens or hundreds of thousands, not millions, typical cities still manage to function with cars. The result may not be pretty, equitable, healthy or safe, but people can live in the suburbs and drive to the CBD in reasonable time in small cities. That means the time-poor are under no pressure to live in apartments in town, or elect mayors who will make town centres more liveable. They can live in the burbs, and let CBDs be abandoned surface parking lots of an evening.

According to this report by Suncorp Bank, Launceston Tasmania is the most family friendly city in Australia, and Australia, according to Economist Magazine, is the luckiest country (after Switzerland) in which any child could now be born. If I am to believe economists, there could not be a better place in the whole world to be raising my family.

Economists don’t look at obesity (20% in Australia), Diabetes (1,000,000 Australians), or bicycling death rates (quadruple per kilometre cycled in Australia, verses the Netherlands). Economists don’t count the cost to the planet of driving. Economists don’t take into account the deep frustrations of people who would like to choose healthy and/or green transportation, but are forced to use cars because their cities are designed to make anything else dangerous and slow.

Follow these blog posts and see if you think the principle of bicycle oriented development, can make a difference in happy-town Launceston, a city of just 70,000. I started today by riding around, mapping existing and potential off-road bike paths. I found the official city bike map includes, among other inaccuracies, a plannedpedestrian bridge—hey, that will save them reprinting if ever they build it. The green lines represent some of this city’s off-road routes, suitable for children, women and seniors, or even men with the sense to avoid risk. That not every safe route has been properly represented tells me bike planning is a low priority for this city council. It gets the occasional boost from an officer who sees the importance, but without much backing from elected members of council.

As for the red lines on council’s bike map: they don’t mean much to me as a father. They are red, and red stands for death, which could come to my son if I allowed him to cycle to school in a bike lane marked in the door zone. I’m only interested in bike routes worthy of 5 star ratings for safety, and mapping them is where this story begins.

This article was edited by Alive2green

Article Source: http://cycle-space.com/?p=12677

But in terms of emissions, that is where we’ve been scratching our heads, because, although motorbikes and scooters do get more miles to the gallon than a car, they don’t have such strict emission controls. Technology such as particulate filters and catalytic converters are usually absent from scooters and still from a fair few motorbikes, although forthcoming legislation could change that. While CO2 emissions are typically half that of your average car, emissions of particulates, NOx and carbon monoxide (CO) can be higher.

In the meantime, there are still many green transport eco-credentials we must recognise in on the old two-wheeler; they take up less road capacity, reducing congestion and reducing emissions through smoother traffic flow, they require a lot less raw materials to make and reduce wastage in terms of wasted passenger capacity, they also use a fraction of the fuel of a typical car and are less harmful to other road users and wildlife.

Current European “Whole Vehicle Type Approval” requirements which establish the standards for motorcycles and scooters, on a range of areas including emissions and noise levels are set until January 2016.

Thereafter the EU has agreed to set new standards which will include tighter regulations on safety and environmental performance from 2016. Could that mean that the case for two wheels over four becomes even stronger for the eco-minded commuter? We expect so.

And while a scooter or bike is notthe ideal solution for family trips, as most of us commute solo, it could be the ideal second vehicle even for those with kids to fetch and carry.

Of course, it is not just fossil-fuel drinkers you could consider these days; there are also a whole range of electric bicycles (ebikes), electric scooters and electric motorbikes. Brands such as Zero Motorcycles, Vectrix, Econogo and ecitywheels are well-known players in the field.

Four wheel non-cars too

If the thought of two wheels still doesn’t appeal then there are four-wheeled quadricycles, like the Renault Twizy, G-Wiz and Tazzari to consider. While as quadricycles, they aren’t expected to meet the same safety standards as cars, they offer most road-stability and are more sheltered than a two wheel option.

Compromising safety to get more miles to the gallon might sound like a raw deal to some, but within the industry, we know that the increasing weight of cars is something that has to change. So far, greater safety standards have invariably meant weight gain for our vehicles. But one of the greatest challenges for the motor industry over the next fifty years will be to reduce weight, boosting economy in the process yet maintain/improve safety.

The use of lighter materials including aluminium, carbon composites and someday, who knows, maybe super-material graphene, will help our cars shift the weight with becoming flimsy.

Concept models such as the hydrogen-fuelled Riversimple quadricycle (pictured, left) made from carbon fibre already show the kind of steps forward in design we can make.

It is something that the industry has only just begun to tackle but standards will only get higher over the years; again swinging the argument for two wheels and quadricycles.

I’ve tested an electric scooter in the past, and while it obviously feels more exposed than being shelled up inside a car, compared to a bicycle, you definitely feel reassured by having an electric boost of acceleration, to get out of a tricky situation. You also feel more able to claim your share of the road and keep up with traffic flow, ditching that feeling you have on a bicycle, where you feel shunted to the side of the road, while the traffic scraps past your leg.

Of course, whether you choose to scoot or not to scoot, is really up to individual choice and personal situation. There is no clear-cut environmental case to say which works out cleaner. All we’d say is that, with fuel and motoring costs in general on the rise, and with our increasingly crowded cities calling out the smaller forms of transport; you can bet your nelly that the two-wheeler is going to grow in popularity, and enjoy a revival of the heydays of the 60s and 70s.

This article was edited by Alive2green

Article Source: http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2013/01/22/to-really-green-up-transport-should-we-switch-to-two-wheels-the-green-piece/

European countries are ramping up biofuel use in an effort to meet their obligations under EU objectives to decarbonise energy in the transport sector. But green transport targets for 2020 in the renewable energy directive (RED) and fuel quality directive (FQD) have largely served to incentivise damaging technologies, in particular unsustainable “land-based biofuels” [1].The RED requires EU countries to replace 10 percent of the energy used for road and rail transport from renewables, while the FQD requires fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of fuel by 6 percent by 2020. Greenpeace, Transport & Environment, the European Environmental Bureau and BirdLife Europe have commissioned environmental research institute CE Delft to examine genuinely sustainable green transport solutions for the decarbonisation of Europe’s transport energy sector. The report [2] examines a range of scenarios to meet the RED and FQD targets without or with significantly less land-based biofuels than currently in use, including conservative estimates of the potential of sustainable biofuels.The report shows how EU transport energy policy could reduce its reliance on damaging biofuels. This alternative vision for the green transport sector in 2020 would cut CO2 by 205 million tonnes, compared to just over 60 million tonnes under a recent proposal [3] from the European Commission to adjust existing policy [4]. It would allow EU countries to meet their targets while avoiding the displacement of food production to new land, increased carbon emissions and continued habitat destruction caused by land-based biofuels.

A pathway to greener transport includes:

• Energy savings in the green transport sector of 15 percent by 2020, through measures such as improved vehicle efficiency and a shift of sustainable transport from road to rail. Reducing energy demand will also lower the amount of renewable energy required to fulfil the renewable transport target.

• The immediate accounting of indirect land use change emissions from biofuels under the EU’s renewable energy directive and fuel quality directive.

• A robust cap limiting the use of land-based biofuels to current levels and a pathway towards near zero usage by 2020.

• An increase in the use of renewable electricity in road and rail transport to over 1 percent (152 petajoules) of overall demand by 2020.

• The consumption of about 3 percent of non-land-based, sustainable biofuels from waste and residues in 2020 (350 petajoules), consisting mainly of biomethane from agricultural waste and biodiesel from waste fats.

• In the production of oil-based transport fuels, a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas flaring and venting.

Alternative Scenarios

An energy scenario for the EU road and rail transport sector with close to zero land-based biofuels is possible and can contribute to a significant decarbonisation of the transport system in the EU. It includes an increase in energy efficiency, the speeding up of the electrification of the vehicle fleet and environmental safeguards are put in place for biofuels from waste and residues. This is the only scenario which completely avoids both direct and indirect land use changes from biofuels, and their negative environmental and social effects.

Renewable energy mix to meet the 10 percent RED
target by 2020

Assuming an ambitious, but achievable 15 percent reduction of energy use in the road and rail transport sectors, the report explores the renewable energy mix options to meet the 10 percent RED target by 2020 and assesses the feasibility of these options. It compares three scenarios using the amount of landbased biofuels as a variable: i) no land-based biofuels, ii) 2008 consumption level of land-based biofuels, iii) 2010 consumption level of land-based biofuels. In line with the existing policy framework, biofuels from waste and residues are counted twice towards the RED target, and renewable electricity in road is counted two and a half times. The two and a half multiplication factor for renewable electricity in road is extended to non-road modes, such as rail, to ensure equal treatment.

What this means in terms of actual volumes of renewable energy and energy reduction needed

Contribution of the renewable energy mix towards the 6 percent FQD target

The contribution of the renewable energy options proposed in the report would reduce fuel carbon intensity by 3.1-4.3 percent. The remaining 1.7-2.9 percent, required to achieve the FQD target of 6 percent, would be delivered by other measures in the fossil fuel supply chain, such as reduced emissions from flaring and venting during oil production.

On the wrong track

The European Commission has acknowledged that unsustainable land-based biofuels often deliver only limited carbon savings and in some cases have an even higher carbon footprint compared to conventional fuels like petrol and diesel (see chart below). This is because the production of these biofuels requires vast amounts of agricultural land, thereby displacing food production. The process also contributes to habitat destruction such as deforestation and peatland clearance, resulting in increased carbon emissions. These negative impacts, known as indirect land use change (ILUC), have been confirmed by multiple studies commissioned by the Commission and several scientific institutions [5]. Large scale land conversion for biofuel production (both direct and indirect) also has a significant impact on biodiversity. A recent study by the EU’s Joint Research Centre [6] estimated that land use change due to biofuel demand created by EU biofuels policy will reduce biodiversity (animal and plant species) in converted areas by an average of about 85 percent. Other social impacts include land-grabbing, food price volatility and food insecurity in developing countries [7].

The European Commission’s proposal to revise EU biofuel policy

In October 2012, the European Commission published its long-awaited proposal to address the ILUC impacts of biofuels. The proposal does not require governments or fuel suppliers to account for indirect emissions from biofuels but instead proposes a five percent “cap” on the amount of biofuels made from agricultural crops. However, this “cap” does not limit the consumption of biofuels in Europe, but merely limits the quantity that member states can count towards the RED transport target.

This means that in 2020, more than 5 percent of energy consumption in the road and rail transport system could come from unsustainable land-based biofuels without any guarantee that they actually reduce carbon emissions. Another key element of the proposal is the quadruple counting of non-land-based biofuels (from waste and residues) towards the 10 percent RED target, meaning that one unit of biofuels from waste and residues will be counted four times towards the target instead of twice under the current system. This will increase carbon emission savings on paper only.

The way forward: change of policy strategy and focus It is essential that the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers amend the Commission ILUC proposal and reject harmful land-based biofuels. Emissions from ILUC should be accounted for under both the RED and FQD and strict sustainability safeguards should be established for biofuels from waste and residues.

The fossil fuel values are taken from Article 7a of the fuel quality directive; the direct emission values are taken from Annex V of the renewable energy directive; the ILUC values are taken from: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Assessing the land use change consequences of European biofuel policies, October 2011

The CE Delft report clearly illustrates that the RED and FQD targets will not be met sustainably without new and revised policies that will increase energy efficiency and speed up the uptake of renewable electricity and the development of sustainable fuel alternatives such as biofuels produced from waste and residues. In addition significant reduction of GHG emissions from oil and gas flaring and venting should be pursued. Of all the measures, energy efficiency is the most important way to decarbonise transport swiftly, which is why it should be prioritised and pursued diligently. Meanwhile, the EU and its member states should phaseout direct and indirect support for land-based biofuels and adopt a trajectory from current consumption levels towards near-zero use in order to prevent further environmental and social damage. The transport sections of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans for each EU country should be redrafted to focus on genuinely sustainable solutions for the decarbonisation of their transport energy sector.

Notes to editors:
[1] Land-based biofuels are produced from crops or fruits that are grown on agricultural or silvicultural land, as opposed to biofuels produced from waste and residues.
[2] CE Delft, December 2012. Sustainable Alternatives for Landbased Biofuels in the European Union: Assessment of options and development of a policy strategy. Authors: Bettina Kampman, Anouk van Grinsven and Harry Croezen. Report commissioned by Greenpeace, Transport & Environment, BirdLife Europe and European Environmental Bureau. Available at http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2013/CE-Delft-Report/, press release available at http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2013/CE-Delft-PR/ .
[3] http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/biofuels/doc/biofuels/com_2012_0595_en.pdf
[4] CE Delft, “A brief assessment of the proposed methodological changes for the RED and FQD”, November 2012, available at www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/CE-Delft-additional-memo
[5] Available at http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/studies/land_use_change_en.htm
[6] JRC Technical Notes, Estimate of GHG emissions from global land use change scenarios, Appendix II, pages 31-32, http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/scientific_publications/2011/t.pdf
[7] FAO, IFAD and WFP (Joint statement 4 September 2012) Tackling the root causes of high food prices and hunger, http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/155472/icode/

This article was edited by Alive2green

Article Source: http://www.transportenvironment.org/

The simple beauty of integrated sustainable transport is captured here by RAFAA’s concept for a revamped bikeshare system in Copenhagen. Photo courtesy of RAFAA.

This system design is just plain cool: each bike will be equipped with Wi-Fi and GPS, made interactive with a monitor betwixt the handlebars, providing seamless navigation.

A RAFFA concept bike. Photo courtesy of RAFAA

Rafael Schmidt of RAFAA crafted this bike sharing system that sports futuristic looking bikes, whose stations will avoid cumbersome docks and either meld into the ground, scale up walls, or sink beneath the street surface. The elegantly designed bikes feature chainless pedals and a pay system built into the bike itself, rather than at a station hub. As it stands now, the ByCyklen bikeshare system is widely spread and technically free, with a deposit of 20 Danish kroner (about US$3.50).

Bikes being “driven” up the wall. Photo courtesy of RAFAA.

According to the design team, if Copenhagen is to reach “50 percent of all trips [made by bike] by 2015, approximately 25,000 bicycles have to be integrated into the urban fabric…need[ing] 20,000 square meters of storage space.” RAFAA’s bikeshare would be ceaselessly cool and allow for that space by integrating these waifs of bikes into, above and below the urbanscape.

Article Source: http://thecityfix.com/blog/friday-fun-fusing-bikes-into-copenhagens-landscape/

Announcing the proposal in his 2013 Policy Address today, the move will subsidise the owners of more than 80,000 pre-Euro and Euro I to III diesel vehicles to phase them out to meet the 2015 and 2020 emission-reduction targets.

He said the scheme will significantly reduce overall particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80% and 30%. He also suggested setting a service-life limit for newly registered diesel commercial vehicles at 15 years.

“Diesel commercial vehicles are a major source of roadside air pollution. The World Health Organisation warned that diesel engine exhaust fumes are carcinogenic.

“In view of the lukewarm response to the voluntary incentive schemes introduced by the Government over the past few years, we must phase out old diesel commercial vehicles with greater financial incentives while putting in place more stringent regulatory measures.

“Our target is to broadly achieve the new air-quality objectives by 2020. Over the past six months, we have made substantial progress, including setting the emission-reduction targets with Guangdong for 2015 and 2020, and enacting legislation to further tighten the emission caps for power plants for the years beyond 2017. Our next priority will be improving roadside air quality.”

The Government will help franchised bus, taxi and minibus companies reduce emissions through the retrofitting or replacing of catalytic converters in the coming two to three years.

It will also use more zero-emission electric vehicles, and encourage public bodies and leading enterprises to do the same.

“The Government has set aside funding for franchised bus companies to try electric buses. The Pilot Green Transport Fund is also subsidising the testing of electric taxis, coaches, and goods vehicles. I hope that green transport can be widely used in Hong Kong.”

New railways are being developed, and the Government will review other land transport services and rationalise public transport modes’ functions and roles.

“Some bus routes overlap or are under-utilised. Our review will proceed on the basis that bus services are a complementary means of public transport. We will explore ways to rationalise bus routing, enhance feeder services, and improve interchange arrangements to reduce roadside pollution.”

This article has been edited by Alive2green

Article Source: http://www.news.gov.hk/en/categories/environment/html/2013/01/20130116_091313.shtml

“For the well-being of future generations, the Government and the community must commit to improving the environment with sustainable transport. To tackle key issues such as waste management and air quality requires us to make choices. The community and the Government must both take responsibility for making the decisions. To this end, we will engage the public in our discussion and foster co-operation among policy bureaux in introducing various environmental protection initiatives step by step,” Leung said.

The chief executive of Hong Kong, C Y Leung

Leung stressed the importance of improving air quality through both roadside and ocean shipping. “The emissions of ocean-going vessels at berth accounted for about 40% of their total emissions within Hong Kong waters,” Leung warns.

Leung revealed that the government is considering bringing in new legislation to enforce the requirement of fuel switching at berth. “We plan to submit our proposal to this Council in the next legislative session following the completion of consultation with the maritime sector. Meanwhile, we are stepping up our efforts with the Guangdong Provincial Government in exploring the feasibility of requiring ocean-going vessels to switch to low-sulphur diesel while berthing in Pearl River Delta ports.”

Speaking of Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, which will be commissioned in the middle of this year, Leung said the government now plans to install on-shore power supply facilities for use by cruise vessels with such capability and enable cruise vessels to switch to electric power while berthing and hence minimize their impact on air quality.

Leung also proposes injecting HK$5bn into the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) so that investment returns of the fund can provide long-term and sustained support for green actions.

This article was edited by Alive2green 

Article Source: http://sinoshipnews.com/news_content.php?fid=3w3c863

Hybrid and electric cars are significantly quieter than their gas-guzzling counterparts, which could be dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, the DOT claims.

“I have experienced going alongside them and not realizing that there was one there.,” said cyclist George Abbott.

Eddie George, who sells hybrid cars at a dealership in Maryland, admits that the cars are definitely hard to hear.

“The car is very quiet, you cannot hear anything so you have some people when they come in test drive the cars, [they ask] ‘Is the car on?’”

To fix the problem, the DOT says the new cars will have to emit some sort of sound to alert nearby pedestrians.

Each company will decide what sound they want their cars to make.

Opened in October 2012, the first phase two mile stretch is part of the Blue Island/Cermak Sustainable Streetscape project in Pilsen, which was introduced in 2009 with the aim of reducing overall energy usage by 42 percent.

The $US14 million initial project’s full range of data and sustainable transport will not be available until the street canopy fills in and cooling technologies are activated in the summer. The project will eventually extend along Cermak and Blue Island all the way to Western in Chicago and is not only green, but is also cheap: the current 14 blocks cost 21 percent less to build than similar projects Chicago City officials considered, and should be cheaper to maintain.

The location runs through an industrial zone which links the state and US highways, and whilst not eligible for green building certification because it is not a building, the project will record quantifiable results through a set of equally aggressive sustainability goals charting eight performance areas such as storm water management, material reuse, energy reduction, and place making.

The most anticipated data will be collected from the first commercial use of photocatalytic cement for the inside highway lanes. This “smog eating” cement contains nano particles of titanium dioxide and is designed to clean the surface of the road and remove nitrogen oxide (NOx) from the surrounding air through a catalytic reaction driven by UV light. In addition CDOT used 30 percent recycled content in the sidewalk concrete and installed roadways that include reclaimed asphalt pavement, slag, ground tire rubber and reclaimed asphalt shingles.

The project’s water management process for phase one sees the use of potable water for any landscape irrigation eliminated and diverts up to 80 percent of annual rainfall from the combined sewer through a combination of the bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavements, and stormwater features. This includes a pilot of 95 drought tolerant, native plant species in bioswales and infiltration planters to evaluate their effectiveness in roadside conditions.

Along with the photocatalytic cement, the project uses solar reflective or high albedo pavements. This combined with the 131 percent increase in landscape and canopy cover along the two-mile stretch is part of CDOT’s drive to reduce the urban heat island (UHI) effect. UHI is considered a contributor to elevated temperatures in urban areas, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that the heat island effect can elevate temperatures as much as 8 percent above those of adjacent suburban and rural areas. Each degree temperature increase can exacerbate smog formation which makes the increased landscape shading a good natural solution, in addition tree canopy cover can also vastly reduce the cost of stormwater storage.

The regeneration of Cermak road means improved pedestrian access, refuge islands for crossing the busy highway, increased permeable paved bike lanes and new sidewalks with permanent wind/solar powered pedestrian lights and the first LED pedestrian light poles in Chicago.

The project is spreading its message via education kiosks, a walking tour brochure, and a guide which discusses the projects virtues. These statistics include: the recycling of 60 percent of construction waste, 23 percent of new materials containing recycled content, 76 percent of materials constructed within 500 miles (805 km) of site and 23 percent of materials within 200 miles (322 km).

Phase one of the Blue Island/Cermak Sustainable Streetscape project should become the talking point for green urban infrastructure if the emerging data proves as positive as predicted. Should the data also demonstrate a positive return on investment it could become the blueprint to make even the most relentless developer take note. If an industrial zone of a major city like Chicago can use streets and walkways to turn around water runoff and reduce energy consumption, then the future is bright for urban centers everywhere.

This article was edited by Alive2green

Article Source: http://www.gizmag.com/chicago-cermak-road-greenest-street-america/25661/

The Sustainability Initiative is vested in three parts: the environment, people and the green economy. As far as the environment is concerned, this means that the University must be sensitive to the ecological footprint left on the environment by its activities and facilities. The electric cars are an excellent example of how a department supports the Sustainability Initiative and makes a practical difference.

The electric car with solar panel.

Facilities Management is currently using approximately 60 vehicles for, among others, transporting the many maintenance work teams between the workshops and the approximately 400 buildings on campus. In addition to the associated great financial challenges it also leaves a carbon footprint which is not in keeping with the SU’s commitment to a “green” environment.

“Thanks to the solution provided by electric cars, we will now be converting our transport system from an expensive, large fleet to a smaller, affordable and moreover ‘green’ vehicle fleet. We have already ordered 16 electric cars which are expected to arrive this month,” says Mr Munnik.

Earlier this year the South African Bureau for Standards (SABS) confirmed that the cars of Melex, a local company, comply with the strict standards for safe road transport in South Africa. The cars are imported from China and adapted by Melex to comply with roadworthy requirements and Facilities Management’s specific needs.

Different models are available for various purposes. The cars use rechargeable batteries which are recharged overnight by means of a 220 V power plug and during the day by means of solar panels on the roofs of the cars. All the cars are equipped with among others right-hand steering, safety belts, lights, waterproof foldable side panels, a roll bar and buzzers to make these quiet and small cars visible and safe for road use. The cars’ speed is regulated up to a maximum of 40 km/h.

Ten of the 16 electric cars will be specially adapted with storage and roof racks to enable them to transport the work team’s tools and ladders, while the other six will be equipped with solar panels on the roofs and used by the Facilities Management staff for general transport purposes on campus.

Article Source: https://blogs.sun.ac.za/news/2012/09/25/green-transport-on-campus/