Category: Transportation

Amsterdam Wants to be Known for Sustainable Transportation

Like a town in Sweden, Amsterdam wants to be known for it’s greenness. The city council has decided to show the uniqueness of their beautiful city by being the exemplar of sustainable transportation.

The Netherlands – Amsterdam, the world’s number one cycling city with some 60% of all trips in the city centre made by bicycle, wants to turn into the world’s centre of expertise on sustainable mobility. A program to reach that goal was launched on Tuesday.

Amsterdam City Council and various Amsterdam businesses and organizations have joined together in a platform for sustainable mobility: Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability. A declaration of intent was signed on Tuesday 1st April by Councillor Tjeerd Herrema and the initiators Jos Louwman of MacBike and Pascal van den Noort from Vélo Mondial. Prominent Amsterdam businesses and organizations such as the RAI association, JCDecaux, the Amsterdam Innovation Motor, the Fietsfabriek and Mister Green, also signed the declaration of intent.

Sustainable mobility will ensure that Amsterdam maintains its accessibility and quality of life. Amsterdam is on the right path. Bicycles are widely used in the city and there are all sorts of positive initiatives in the field of sustainable mobility. There is, however, a lot still to be done which is why the Amsterdam City Council and various Amsterdam businesses and organizations are working together to promote sustainable mobility in Amsterdam.

Paris Airport to be Powered by Water

Orly Airport, outside of Paris, will be using geothermal energy to lower their carbon footprint. They’ll drive two 1.7km long pipes into hot water that is below the surface of the airport.

“We have the unprecedented luck of having hot water below our feet that can heat a large part of Orly without CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions. We are the first airport in Europe to do this,” Pierre Graff, who is chairman and managing director of Aeroports de Paris (ADP), said on Wednesday.

The project, launched after a technical and financial feasibility study, will cost 11 million euros (17.27 million dollars). The Orly-Ouest terminal, part of Orly-South, the airport’s Hilton Hotel, and two business districts will be hooked up to the system from 2011.

Cars Being Used Less in Toronto

Some more information form the 2006 Canadian census has been released and it paints a green future for transportation in Toronto. The census asked how people get to work (car, walk, public transit, bike, etc.). In the city the younger one is, the more likely it is that one is taking a more green approach to getting to work.

Workers under the age of 25 in the Toronto region use public transit 30.8 per cent of the time, walk 9.5 per cent of the time and cycle 1.5 per cent of the time.

That’s a considerably higher reliance on environmentally friendly means of getting to work than the average commuter in the Toronto region, who commutes by public transit 22.2 per cent of the time, by foot 4.8 per cent of the time and by bike 1.0 per cent of the time.

Reliance on the car in the Toronto region seems to increase with the age of the commuter.

Commuters younger than 25 used a vehicle to get to work — either as a driver or a passenger — 57.2 per cent of the time. Those age 25-34 commuted by car 66.1 per cent of the time, and those 35 and over drove or were driven 75.8 per cent of the time.

What really stood out to me was that the desire to own a car is shrinking!

Owning a car used to be a rite of passage for young people, but environmental awareness in that generation has made gas guzzlers uncool, says Dan McDermott, director of Ontario’s chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada. The high cost of gasoline is another factor for those with limited incomes.

“The desire to own a car is diminishing for a number of reasons — environmental consciousness being high on that list,” said McDermott.

I’ve never understood why people want to own cars even if they don’t need one.

Beijing Closing Gas Stations

Beijing is admitting that it is a dirty place and is trying to clean itself up. Because they are hosting the olympics this year, they’re trying to improve their image. To reduce the amount of air pollution in the city officials are closing gas stations and retrofitting others. I have no idea why they didn’t do this earlier, but better late than never.

By the end of May, 144 will shut because they are not expected to meet higher environmental standards, according to state media.

The remainder are to be fitted with devices to reduce the level of fumes which escape when vehicles fill up.

London Continues Eradication of Cars

Treehugger has a neat post up about London and how they are at the forefront of Western cities deterring car usage.

London is now announcing that it plans “to create a new network of quick, simple, and safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians that represents the largest investment in walking and cycling in the city’s history.”

This is not some token initiative, either. London is committed to spending US$975 million over the next ten years to implement five new programs “with the aim of having one in ten round trips in London each day made by bike, and saving some 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year .”

From Treehugger

The photo above of the bike ambulance makes me super-happy!