On this page: The future of the
car, Sustainable Transport, Flying
Also: Cycling in West
Somerset
If climate chaos is to be avoided we will need to reduce our carbon
emissions from transport by four per cent every year from now through to
2030. Most carbon emissions from using transport come from cars and
planes.
The future of the car 
For cars, electric or biofuels look to be the most promising
technologies for reducing emissions. Battery technology for electric
cars is improving and there is likely to be an affordable model with a
reasonable range available within a few years. While pollution from the
exhaust disappears the issue then becomes how the electricity is
produced in the first place - if by fossil fuels then carbon
emissions are just as high. Electricity from renewable sources would be
the solution, but we have problems at present producing enough of that
for other electricity needs. Perhaps in the 2020s electric cars will be
a big part of the answer.
Biodiesel from processed vegetable oil after catering use is already
available and can make a useful contribution. Bioethanol is more of a
problem, because growing crops to produce it is already driving up food
costs and causing loss of rainforests.
The most effective solution must therefore be to reduce the use of
cars. Car clubs help with this, as they allow people to use a car
when they really need one without actually owning one.
Sustainable transport
The really sustainable transport options are buses, trains, coaches,
walking and cycling. The Minehead-Taunton bus service has increased to
half hourly recently, and more passengers would allow higher frequency.
The new Slinky Bus, a pre-booked bus-taxi hybrid that calls at your door
in rural areas, is an interesting innovation. We encourage drivers to
give buses a try - they could be pleasantly surprised.
Apart from our wonderful steam heritage railway, train travel for
local people means the national network. The long awaited Taunton link
from Minehead deserves support following its revival in 2007. A full
trial, hopefully leading to a commuter service into Taunton within a few
years, could do much to reduce traffic on the A39.
Cycling and walking are the zero carbon options that also offer great
health benefits. Many people leave their bikes unused through worry
about risk from vehicles. Forum 21 sees a solution, at least in the
Minehead-Williton coastal strip, as the creation of a network of mostly
off-road safe cycle routes. The Cycle West Somerset project (now called
the Steam Coast Trail), should provide an
attractive boost for local tourism as well as a great way to help local
people to get back on their bikes.
Electric bikes are already here, and, using only a tenth of the
energy of cars, can help cyclists get up our hills.
Flying
Carbon emissions from flying have been much in the news recently with
the protests over a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Planes have the
highest emissions per passenger mile of any form of transport, made
worse by the altitude of the pollution. The rapid rise in the number of
flights each year makes plane travel completely in conflict with the
need to cut carbon emissions.
Frequent flyers could think about a personal goal of reducing air
miles by a proportion each year, and set themselves a target date for
stopping flying altogether. The West Somerset economy can only benefit
from a shift of habits back to UK holidays.
The future of low carbon transport therefore looks like being a
mixture - walking, cycling and
bus for short to medium
journeys, coach and train mainly for longer journeys. Cars, probably
through the community car club and biofuel or electric driven, will only
be used where journeys can't be done in any other way. We believe that,
with these solutions, West Somerset would become an even more pleasant
place to live. The change will be challenging, but surely better than
climate chaos.
Transport and climate
change: article which
appeared in the September 2007 issue of
News
Trader
