Good day my good friend.
Not much to say today, so I will keep this short. A day working in the garden will see to whatever energy you have left.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Should we waste a good crisis?
Many of you will have seen the International Energy Agency’s 10-Point Plan to cut oil use, including plenty of ideas that many sustainable transport advocates would love. With oil prices continuing to be high, I can’t help but think back to the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, where a question often asked was – should we let the crisis go to waste?
As documented in excellent online resources like COVID Mobility Works, we did a lot in a very short space of time. And learned a lot. Furthermore, we have the theoretical basis for something radical, as the always-excellent Phil Goodwin sets out in his latest article. But who is doing, and who is scaling it? Maybe, we could look back on the energy crisis of 2022 as the thing that started this sustainable future.
Electric vehicles have lower carbon impact over the course of their life, UK analysis shows.
The analysis shows that electric (xEV) powertrains used in UK road vehicles are expected to have significantly lower greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts across all vehicle types. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) consistently perform better than all other powertrains. Due to the UK’s very clean electricity mix, already in 2020 a typical battery electric car is estimated to save ~65% GHG emissions compared to an equivalent conventional petrol car.
Well, that is good news. Some new research by the UK Department for Transport shows that over the course of its life, electric vehicles are much better for the environment than petrol cars (not that other options for reducing carbon emissions aren’t better, of course). What amazed me more was the below figure, that appears to indicate that the majority of carbon savings from individual vehicles over the course of a vehicle lifecycle will be made purely by making electric cars.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope they do just that.
Three Months In Web3: What I Learned (Heisenberg Report)
The Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto (New York Times)
A drowning world: Kenya’s quiet slide underwater (The Guardian)
Farmers on the Brink (Doomberg)
War shakes Europe path to energy independence, climate goals (Associated Press)
Something interesting
Isn’t it just tempting to up sticks and move to Finland?
Things for a better world
This is a weekly collection of transport strategies, experiments, and cool projects looking to create a better world that you should find out more about. Not only that, you should think about adapting and doing yourself. It’s a bit thin on the ground this week, but here is what we have.
Strategies
Ending the sale of new, non-zero emission buses, coaches and minibuses – consultation (Department for Transport)
Building a Sustainable Land Transport Hub (Ministry of Transport – Singapore)
Experiments
Cool Projects
If you do nothing else, then do this
Read this report on Reimagining the Future of Transport across Asia and the Pacific. With a thank you to Benjie de la Peña for sharing this in his Makeshift Mobility newsletter.
Mobility Matters 