EU announces transport research funding for the next decade

Posted on Feb , 21, 2012 by Ben Sampson

Details of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme were published earlier this month. Horizon 2020 describes the research and development areas into which the EU will be pouring €80 billion of money between 2014 and 2020.

€80 billion is a lot of money so it’s important that it is spent as effectively as possible. The EU sees R&D as one of the key ways to help lift Europe out of its economic doldrums.

So how does transport figure in the plans? In brief, Brussels wants its research money to “achieve a transport system that is resource-efficient, environmentally-friendly, safe and seamless for the benefit of citizens, the economy and society.”

Horizon 2020 places emphasis on transport in urban areas. According to the report, passenger kilometres travelled are expected to double over the next 40 years, and grow twice as fast as the passenger kilometres for air travel. CO2 emissions could grow to 35% by 2050. Congestion charging is predicted to increase by about 50%, and raise €200 billion a year across the whole of Europe.

The report also raises the issue of safety - 34,000 people die each year on European roads (around 43,000 per year die in the USA).

Research funded by Horizon 2020 will aim to change these numbers: reduce the number of road fatalities, cut CO2 and reduce traffic. The tagline is “greener, smarter and more integrated”. Who can argue with that?

More details on Horizon 2020 and the transport element of the research programme can be found here.

Selling the future of mobility

Posted on Feb , 20, 2012 by Ben Sampson

Although focussed on Europe, this blog does not close its eyes to the rest of the world, especially with regards to clever ideas about how the future of transport should look.

Wheelchange (a play on the words ‘real change’), challenges the perception that all Americans love large automobiles. Brainchild of transportation designer and social entrepreneur Dan Sturges, the project aims to change the way US consumers perceive what he calls “network transportation”, but what most Europeans would call public transport.

Wheelchange is slightly more than that and points to the fact that ICT has yet to be applied to transportation in a massive way. By joining together different modes of transport and making them accessible via ICT like apps and smartphones, different methods of transport become more accessible to the individual as they form a journey.

However, Sturges accepts that any changes to urban transport in the US needs substantial “buy-in” from the public and goes on to suggest the initial campaign to attempt to change public opinion.

His theme of “winning back” cities from the car is an attractive hook, and strikes a chord. The video by Sturges at the link below makes for fascinating viewing - summing up his approach, the changing face of transport in the US and how to solve the problems.

New Wheels for Joe from Dan Sturges on Vimeo.

Will biofuels cost the Earth?

Posted on Feb , 20, 2012 by Ben Sampson

A war of words has flared up between rival lobbying groups about the cost of biofuels.

Earlier this month, environmental NGOs Friends of the Earth and Action Aid released details of research they had commissioned on the cost of biofuels.

The research, which was conducted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, claims that by 2020 European motorists will have paid around €126 billion more than they had to for fuel because of European legislation which demands the use of biofuels in transport fuels. The press release can be found here.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, European biofuel industry association ePURE feels differently about the situation. According to a review of the study that ePURE has paid for, the projections are “extremely uncertain” and based on UK government figures which are “currently subject to revision”.

“Therefore the whole edifice of calculations comparing fossil and renewable fuels is on shaky ground,” it continues. “The whole comparison allows only one conclusion: that a final conclusion is not possible”.

ePURE also goes on the offensive with the argument about where carbon savings from vehicle fuels should come from in the future.

“Must we conclude from these studies that Friends of the Earth and Acton Aid would actually prefer tar sand over fuel ethanol?” said Mr.Vierhout, from ePURE.

Perhaps the main message from this argument is that most consumers and drivers at the moment don’t particularly care where their fuel comes from, they just don’t want to pay too much for it.