Archive for Urban Living
Could this be the future of urban driving?
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The T.25 combines efficiency and practical urban design
I always like to see where the automotive and transportation industry might be heading as the urgently needed transition toward vehicles that offer better fuel economy or run from renewable energy make more headway. While hybrid engines are making growing inroads into market share overall vehicles that are designed for urban living still remain somewhat of a novelty item. This in itself is a pity as the growing urbanization of our populations means that in the coming decades a personal vehicle designed with city living very much in mind will become much more of a necessity in addition to being more desirable. If you ever looked to park in London or New York, Paris or other large cities you know a smaller vehicle would have huge benefits in addition to practicalities as so many journeys need not be of very great distance. As urban car design takes on the changes I anticipate in the years ahead I think a common option may be very similar to something just released in the UK.
Gordon Murray Design have finally shared the design for something I originally read about a few years ago. The T.25 City Car made its debit at Oxford University in England during the Smith School’s World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment. This really might be the future of city driving and it would meet the bill in terms of reduced fuel consumption. The compact city design offers amazing fuel consumption of 74 mpg / 3.8 l / 100km while also offering extremely low emissions results. One element of design that will really turn heads is that the vehicle promises to have the power and acceleration of a standard 2.0 litre engine which would truly assist it in gaining a foothold in the market. It is certainly a very small car however, although it can seat up to 3 adults from nose to tail it measures just 8 feet with a width of only 4 feet. While the mileage offered is very encouraging the maker stresses that the size of the car would have huge impact to congestion and other concerns if this can become your typical city set of wheels. Consider these facts:
- Its compact size will allow ‘2’ T.25’s to travel in one UK motorway (highway) lane. Trebling the capacity and reducing congestion.
- ‘3’ T.25’s can easily fit into ‘1’ standard parallel parking space, trebling much needed urban parking, reducing pressures for inner cities as well as the disruption to traffic flow.
- Delays caused by congestion are prominent in urban areas and easing or eliminating existing congestion on the road network would be save billions annually in GDP
- The compact size of the T.25, being half the size of the average car,will still achieve the highest safety standards.
- T.25 will have a better power-to-weight ratio than the average 2 litre luxury saloon. Reversing the trend towards larger, heavier and more powerful cars.
- Accident repair costs are kept low by way of replaceable body panels.
Whether this car can reinvent city driving remains to be seen. At present the designer is seeking financial support to enable the car to be mass produced. The logic is strong though, especially where it concerns congestion reduction but I’ve a feeling the design would need to be sold to one of the existing giants to make it take off. Either way its exciting to see the next generation of concept cars become reality.
Learn much more about the T.25 City Car at the Gordon Murray Design website.
Model shows how the T.25 would reduce congestion
Electric vehicles roll ahead in China
Posted by: | CommentsLowering carbon emissions, improving air quality and moving away from fossil fuels is a global concern. The impacts of not accomplishing enough, rapidly enough, are well advertised and a shared concern no matter where we live. In the West some like to take the moral high ground that we are ‘leading the change’ and in many ways that is true. Through writing for this blog I’ve noticed different areas of environmental change take greater emphasis depending on the region of the world. Some general observations include the irony that wet and rainy Europe is leaping toward solar power at a speed of knots, while the United States lags far behind. Sustainable farming methods grow fairly rapidly in North America but remain at the concept levels elsewhere. Perhaps most surprisingly China seems to be chasing the move to electric vehicles with more vigour than North America or Europe. Why would that be?
Part of the answer lies in the evolution of the Chinese economy, especially when compared with our more established methods. At the centre of this is the fact that a generation ago few people in China owned a personal vehicle and in comparative terms that is still the case. While vehicles per 1,000 people in Europe and North America ranges from around 320 (Greece) to a high of about 760 (USA) in China however that ratio is about 130 per 1,000 people. However due to China’s population that is still a huge number of vehicles - some 168 million, compared with over 250 million in the USA. The reality is that within the next decade China will not only surpass the US for total vehicles on the road but the ratio of ownership will probably grow to the low end of European rates (near 300 per 1,000 people). As a side note this also projects China would become the largest customer for gasoline in the next decade. Or will it?
Traffic in Shanghai
There does exist a variable to that equation and that is the burgeoning efforts of the Chinese government to develop the market for electric vehicles. Yes they are in a different place as far as the auto market goes but that doesn’t detract from the potential of what they are looking to achieve. Moreover if China can speed this transition why can’t Europe and North America follow? Naturally enough China faces other major challenges with the incredible rate of industrialization that continues and a heavily taxed environmental system in terms of food production versus population. Indeed even with strict controls China’s population continued to grow by over 60 million in the last 8 years from 1.26 billion to 1.32 billion. However let’s look at the auto industry.
Central authorities in Beijing will soon be unrolling the first phase of what may become a massive commitment to greener transport. The initial program will be unveiled in five major cities and provides significant financial incentives to purchase an electric car. While in North America rebates are available the amount saved is far less and the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging remains a plan rather than a reality. actually be branched on a massive scale.
The unofficial reports cite that the eco-incentives or rebates will be in the region of $8,000-$8,500 US, certainly an amount that will hugely influence purchasing patterns. People will argue this is a state controlled leverage of the auto industry, but considering the US federal government recently bailed out the car makers and hold them to standards for increased fuel efficiency it would be a double standard. More to the point we keep moving the burden of making positive environmental changes to corporations but corporations don’t answer to the electorate - governments do and in environmental terms perhaps governments need to take the lead? Something has to change either way.
These moves are planned to be rolled out nationally and in a nation undergoing huge changes in urbanization and prosperity the improvement and differences would potentially be vast. Whether these plans will be mirrored elsewhere remains to be seen, I think ultimately they will have to be - and should be.
Montreal announces ‘all-electric’ city bus fleet
Posted by: | CommentsWhile the news from Montreal that they are all set to become the first major North American City to convert their entire city bus fleet to electric vehicles is to be cheered and welcomed it does beg two important follow up questions. In an age of near fossil fuel extinction (not to mention environmental impacts) why aren’t all major and minor North American cities racing to beat Montreal? Not just in the spirit of competition but in the spirit of common sense. Public transport is an excellent and huge part of the solution to our outrageous carbon emissions and probably far more so than you even hoped. The other question this announcement forces is that while the news is good and the city of Montreal is to be applauded - the conversion deadline they have announced is 2025 - fifteen years from now, surely it makes for great logic to bring that date forward? Not just in Montreal but in all large urban areas a commitment to greener public transport should not be a token gesture but an all encompassing movement within the next decade.
Montreal is definitely on the right path however, by 2012 the city states that their entire fleet of some 1,300 buses will be either diesel or hybrid. This in itself is an accomplishment that would put many other cities to shame. Presently the first phase planned by the city is to replace about 400 of the oldest members of the city fleet with new diesel models as the city simultaneously is testing and seeking a source to start growing an electric fleet. The city also expects to begin testing buses that will run on overhead electric wires along some of the cities’ busiest routes later in 2011. We’ve come full circle as street-car make a reappearance in major North American cities, in the late 1940’s almost every city had a functioning and efficient network of electric street-cars. These fully operative public transport plans were gradually ripped up city by city over the following decade. Much of this modernization (destruction) of the existing public transport infrastructure was funded by none other than General Motors, which is another story for another blog.
The environmental benefits of using public transport are as numerous as they are vast. On a person by person basis nothing makes a bigger difference to our carbon footprints than the reduction or even the complete elimination of using a passenger car daily. While we shouldn’t ignore the benefits of purchasing a new energy efficient appliance, adjusting our thermostats or ensuring unused lights are switched off all of these gesture pale into insignificance compared with reducing your driving by 70% or more. One person switching to public transit can reduce daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds per day or more than 4,800 pounds in a year, I won’t depress you and compare that to changing your light bulbs as all gestures matter - but the gasoline powered car is the single biggest individual green debt we use daily.
I applaud the decision that has been announced by Montreal and hope it creates a domino effect in a city near you. Please write in to let us know about local green efforts with public transport wherever you may live.
The height of Eco-Friendly - World’s tallest buildings face new contender
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London's Post Office Tower
It all started with the church in the village where I grew up , it’s stone spire could be seen from a few miles away as it was the tallest building in our little town. As a youngster I was ridiculously impressed by tall and grand buildings, as a little kid when visiting London I was amazed at the twin spires of Westminster Abbey (69 M 225 FT) and the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral (112 M 366 FT), before then being transfixed by the tallest tower (at the time) in London - The Post Office Tower (now named the BT Tower standing at 188 M 617 FT). As a small boy that building seemed impossibly tall and so it remained until the first time I visited Paris on a school trip when I was about eight. It was there that I first saw the Eiffel Tower - not so much a building as a steel observation deck but certainly enough to thrill me and the tallest yet (not to mention very metric exactly 300.0M or 984 feet).
burj-khalifa in Dubai
My dad used to travel to the US and Canada on business a lot and when I was ten we were taken on a family trip which was really masquerading as a business trip but my tall building buzz saw new highs. We flew into JFK and I was lucky enough to visit and go to the top of the Empire State Building (381M) and The World Trade Centre (417M 1368 FT). At more than double the height of the Post Office Tower plus the incredible vastness of the building I remember just looking up in awe - and of course there were two of them! It seemed to my 10 year old brain that the trip was designed around my tall building hobby (it wasn’t) as we also visited Chicago which of course features the Sears Tower, the tallest in the world at the time (442M 1451 FT). My holy grail was visited and I had the photos to prove it.
As I grew older my interest in tall buildings waned, and although I ended up living in one and working in one for a short time I found other interests that replaced my early passion. I’ve paid marginal attention as the Sears Tower was trumped by new skyscrapers in Asia and wept (for reasons beyond the obvious) when the twin towers in New York came crashing down on that dark day in 2001. My interest was rekindled by the recent construction and opening of the new top tower in Dubai - the Burj Khalifa is a staggering height (828M 2717 FT). I can’t even conceive of a building being that tall and photographs and videos such as the one beneath make it seem computer generated against the desert background.
From an environmental perspective the newest buildings are also using more methods of green construction. Not just smaller buildings and homes are benefiting from new concepts of sustainable construction by skyscrapers around the world are also incorporating design ideas that consider more than height. There is now news of a potential tower being constructed later this decade in Miami, Florida that would not only been taller than the current pinnacle in Dubai but also potentially the one of the largest eco-friendly buildings ever built.
The proposed Miapolis
The proposed structure is the Miapolis, if it gets built the 975 meter high tower could potentially beat out Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest building if built. Designed by KOBI KARP, Miapolis would be more than just a building - it would be a vertical self-contained city. They utilize the most cutting-edge sustainable systems and practices within the design, it would be the largest LEED-certified structure at any rating level in the United States. The staggering 160-floor tower would contain entertainment and residential spaces within including an amusement park, observatory, restaurants, 2 million sq ft of shops, over 1000 apartments, 1 million sq ft of office space and a 792 room hotel. *(some elevators too I’m guessing)
Miapolis’ eco-credibility includes the use of 60% wind energy, a modular green roof, greenhouse gas management, water desalinization, storm and wastewater management, solid waste management and much more. Will it actually happen? There is a list of proposed super towers as long as my arm that never came to fruition - but to think that the tallest building in the world might also boast a very green core - that would be the height of eco-friendly.