Latest news with #Transport&Environment
The Star
6 days ago
- Automotive
- The Star
Lessons from big cities that cut back cars
CITIES around the world trying to limit driving have faced objections – namely that the measures would limit personal freedom, cost too much, destroy commerce or have negligible effects on air quality. Now the first data from these experiments in New York, London and Paris has trickled in. They offer some clues about whether cutting speed limits, charging traffic for entering a city centre and penalising drivers of the most polluting cars can reduce congestion and improve air quality, without causing too much disruption. These lessons are helpful because cities, where problems with traffic and poor air quality are frequently more severe than in less urban areas, are often moving more quickly in restricting vehicle emissions than countries or states. In Europe, cities are outpacing laws and national regulations to cut traffic pollution, according to the think tank Transport & Environment. As of April this year, 35 cities have committed to introducing 'zero emissions zones' – where diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles will be banned. Still, early results from some cities show reducing traffic is not enough. Take Oslo, which has pioneered lower speed limits, car-free zones and improvements to public transport, walking and cycling. Norway's widespread adoption of electric cars has also helped reduce smog. But the city still suffers from high levels of particulate pollution from tire wear, wood-burning stoves and dust from gravel and salting on icy roads. While restricting fossil-fuelled vehicles won't solve those problems, there is evidence that it helps clean the air and has other benefits too. Here's what policy makers and city dwellers can learn from other early adopters. > New York The city introduced a policy on Jan 5 charging cars up to US$9 (RM38) a day to enter certain parts of Manhattan. Travel time data from the first three months of the charging zone suggests commuting times are down on some of the busiest routes, in particular the bridges and tunnels that connect Manhattan with New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens. A site run by student brothers Joshua and Benjamin Moshes has been tracking travel times based on Google Maps traffic data on various routes affected by the New York congestion pricing since the policy was introduced in January. They found travel times have also dropped during weekends, while there's been little change on other routes going from one part of Manhattan to another. That suggests people are choosing to take public transport or cutting out less urgent travel, they say. In Boston and Chicago, which the Moshes use as a control, traffic levels have not changed significantly. > Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo introduced 50kph speed limits on the city's outer ring road in October 2024, despite opposition from France's transport minister and conservative opponents. A report from the city's urban planning department found that the new, lower speed limit, introduced on Oct 1 last year, has already had some positive effects. In the following five months, air quality improved by 12% and traffic accidents dropped by 17%, compared to the same period in the previous year. There are also signs that congestion is lower. Hidalgo, who has said she won't seek re-election next year, isn't finished with her plans to reduce car traffic and encourage walking and cycling in Paris. Her office also banned motorised through-traffic from the city centre in November. Local workers, residents and taxis are still able to drive into the zone, but anyone passing through to go somewhere else will be fined €135 (RM651) once enforcement begins. > London The city's ultra-low emission zone has been in place for over five years. The restrictions, which place a daily charge on driving old gasoline or diesel vehicles, initially covered a small area of the city centre. It was subsequently expanded to cover an almost 1,554km square area, making it the largest in the world. London has had a separate congestion charging zone, which means almost everyone who drives into the city's core must pay, since 2003. When London mayor Sadiq Khan announced the expansion in 2022, the decision was met with warnings that high street shops would wither away and small businesses would struggle to survive. ULEZ, as the area is known for short, became a contentious topic in local elections, and Khan's opponent, from the right-wing Conservative Party, made it a central part of her pitch to voters in the mayoral election last year. (Khan won). In March, the mayor's office released data suggesting that ULEZ had a positive impact on air quality, while causing little disruption to shops in the outskirts of London, an area which was only included in the zone in August 2023. In particular the change has cut emissions of nitrogen oxides, air pollutants linked to lung problems, asthma and inflammation, by between 33% and 39%, while footfall and spending in shops has not dropped, according to data from Mastercard Inc. Almost 97% of vehicles driven within the zone are now compliant with the emissions standards, the report said. Vans, which were much more likely to be caught up by the changes, have been slower to switch, but over 90% are now compliant, compared with just 12% in 2017, before the zone was introduced. 'Everyone in the capital is now breathing cleaner air because of ULEZ,' said Christina Calderato, Transport for London's director of strategy, commenting on the report. — Bloomberg News/TNS
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Future flights could be powered by thin air — but there are big hurdles
Imagine boarding a flight from Seattle to London, but instead of burning fossil fuel, your plane's engine runs on fuel created — quite literally — from thin air. It sounds like science fiction, but research labs are already working on making it happen. So far it's on a very small scale. A new class of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) pulls carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and turns it into jet fuel, offering a glimpse into a future where aviation could be virtually emissions-free. The catch? The price tag for these e-fuels is still sky-high. Sustainable aviation fuel prices vary depending on how they're made, and none of these fuels are widely used yet. There are two main types: bio-based SAF, made from organic materials like used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and e-SAF (also known as electrofuels, e-kerosene and e-fuels), made with renewable hydrogen and CO₂ captured from the air. E-fuels are the most expensive option, largely due to the high cost of carbon capture and electrolysis. But they hold immense promise: they could be genuinely carbon-neutral. 'Among all alternatives to fossil jet fuel, e-kerosene offers the most promising path to decarbonize the aviation sector,' says Camille Mutrelle, aviation policy officer at Transport & Environment, a European nonprofit focused on sustainable transport. 'Unlike bio-based SAF, which is limited by feedstock availability and land use concerns, e-kerosene can be sustainably scaled up to meet aviation fuel demand without competing with food production.' Lifecycle emissions for e-SAF can approach zero — especially when it's made using CO₂ captured directly from the air and powered by renewable electricity, Mutrelle adds. Though the market is still nascent, the first commercial flights using e-fuels, at least in part, are expected by 2030, Mutrelle says. More than 30 industrial-scale projects are already underway across Europe, and major airlines including United Airlines and IAG are beginning to invest. 'We expect broader deployment in the 2030s as production ramps up and costs fall,' Mutrelle adds. According to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, e-fuels currently average 7,695 euros (about $8,720) per ton. Bio-based SAF is cheaper, at 2,085 euros (about $2,365) per ton, but still far more expensive than conventional jet fuel, which averages 734 euros (about $830) per ton. This massive price gap explains why SAF adoption — especially e-fuels — has been slow. So what's the science that could power a 280-ton Dreamliner across the Atlantic — using nothing but air, water and renewable energy? Carbon capture fuels avoid the environmental pitfalls of traditional biofuels, which often rely on monoculture crops like sugarcane that can damage biodiversity and compete with food production. Instead, e-fuels use CO₂ from the atmosphere (or industrial emissions), plus hydrogen extracted from water via electrolysis using renewable electricity. The result is a synthetic jet fuel that can be used in existing aircraft engines, recycling carbon instead of adding more to the atmosphere. Among the companies pioneering this approach is Twelve, a California-based startup developing low-temperature CO₂ electrolysis. It's an energy-efficient method of turning CO₂ and water into syngas, the foundation of fuel that's synthetic, or simply made of something other than natural fossil resources. 'Our way is the electrochemistry way, where we're doing CO₂ electrolysis at the front end — and we're doing it at low temperatures,' says Ashwin Jadhav, Twelve's vice president of business development. 'There's not many folks out there focused on that.' This low-temp process uses less energy than traditional high-heat methods and integrates easily with wind and solar, making e-fuel production more efficient and scalable. These 'air-based fuels' can reduce emissions by up to 90% compared to fossil jet fuel, without the drilling, refining, and transport pollution of oil, according to representatives at Twelve. Twelve's first production plant, called AirPlant One, is opening this year in Washington state and the company plans to make 50,000 gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually. United Airlines is one of the major supporters helping to make this first round of mass-scale production possible. Twelve has also signed a major deal to supply 260 million gallons of SAF over 14 years to Europe's International Airlines Group (which owns Vueling, Iberia, Aer Lingus and British Airways). And while Twelve's fuel hasn't yet powered a commercial flight, the company aims to supply e-fuel for flights within the next year. Microsoft is part of a three-way partnership with Alaska Airlines and Twelve, whereby Microsoft will offset business travel emissions resulting from employees flying on Alaska Airlines. For now, the expectation is to blend e-SAF with fossil fuels until production of e-SAF is scaled up to fill tanks. Under Europe's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, flights within Europe must use 2% SAF by 2025 and 70% by 2050 — with specific targets for e-fuel adoption along the way. While the technology for green skies already exists, shifting from fossil fuels to truly sustainable aviation is a long, complicated journey. Existing, longstanding investments in oil, political considerations and the pace of regulation all play a role in how quickly the transition takes flight. 'Economies of scale are needed to lower prices, but the high upfront costs discourage airlines from adopting SAF widely,' says Marina Efthymiou, a professor of aviation management at Dublin City University. 'Without strong policy interventions — such as subsidies, tax credits, and mandates — the financial gap is simply too large to overcome.' She notes that e-fuels have the highest emissions-reduction potential of any SAF — but also the steepest startup costs. So far, most SAF usage by airlines has involved bio-based fuels, especially HEFA-SPK (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids), which are more commercially available. In November 2023, Virgin Atlantic flew the first transatlantic flight powered entirely by sustainable fuels — made from waste fats and plant sugars. No fossil fuel. No e-fuels either. It showed that clean aviation is possible, though next-generation options like e-fuels are still too expensive and difficult to scale. Airlines including Emirates, Cebu Pacific, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have all flown using SAF, though details are often vague. 'Airlines aren't always transparent about how much SAF they're using, the blend percentage, or which type of SAF they rely on,' Efthymiou says. Across the energy, technology, and aviation sectors, a growing number of companies are investing in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Airlines like United, Delta, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, and Air France-KLM have committed to scaling up SAF usage, while energy giants like Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies are funding SAF production facilities. Tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have pledged SAF purchases to offset business travel emissions. However, investment in electrofuels (eSAF) — produced by combining captured CO₂ and renewable electricity — is still far more limited. Early adopters like United Airlines, Lufthansa Group, IAG (British Airways' parent company), and Japan Airlines have signed partnerships with companies like Twelve, Infinium, and Synhelion. Because eSAF is significantly more expensive and energy-intensive to produce than bio-based SAF, corporate investment remains cautious, and large-scale deployment will depend heavily on regulatory support and technological breakthroughs. E-fuels are hard to make and even harder to scale. The required infrastructure — carbon capture units, electrolysis systems, fuel synthesis plants — is costly to build. Production also demands huge amounts of renewable energy. Electrolysis, which entails using electricity to isolate hydrogen in water, alone requires large-scale green hydrogen generation, which is still developing in most regions. 'E-fuels have the potential to be the most sustainable form of SAF because they can be produced without land use, agricultural input, or waste feedstocks,' says Efthymiou. 'But that depends on the source of electricity and CO₂. The sustainability promise only holds if the inputs are truly renewable.' In short, e-fuels will only be as clean as the grid that powers them. Still, a major upside is that e-fuels work with existing aircraft. 'Most estimates suggest e-fuels could become more cost-competitive by the mid-2030s,' Efthymiou says, 'depending on renewable electricity prices, carbon pricing and technological improvements.' Small-scale demo plants are already running — like Ineratec and Atmosfair in Germany, and Infinium and Twelve in the US. But volumes remain tiny, and costs are high. 'Without a solid regulatory push, airlines just aren't motivated to switch,' says Mutrelle. Still, with continued investment, policy support, and technological advancements, experts believe that the idea of flying on fuel made from air could become a reality. Though pragmatic about the challenges faced, many experts are optimistic. Jonathon Counsell, head of sustainability at International Airlines Group, is one. 'Of course the ultimate goal is to take CO₂ directly from the atmosphere,' Counsell says. 'At first, we're capturing CO₂ from industrial plants to prevent it from entering the air. But the next step is direct air capture — sucking carbon out of the atmosphere itself. That's where we really want to get to.' He points out that SAF production has already grown from 100 tons to over a million tons in just a few years — evidence that scaling is possible. While carbon capture fuels remain a long-term solution rather than a present reality, if governments, airlines, and innovators align, the idea of flying on fuel made from air could take off sooner than we think.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Palm oil in disguise? Fake 'green' diesel allegedly sold in Europe
European drivers are being conned into buying a so-called renewable diesel found to contain a sludgy spin-off generated when palm oil is produced. Palm oil mill effluent "is being blended into European biofuels," according to Transport & Environment, which describes itself as "Europe's leading advocates [sic] for clean transport & energy." In other words, a type of diesel known as HVO, which is being marketed as green by big oil companies, is likely "fraudulent" due it being "palm oil in disguise." "Data indicate that more palm oil residues are being reported than is actually possible, suggesting a high likelihood of fraud," Transport & Environment warns in a report published on April 9. "After a decade of biofuel policies contributing to global deforestation, the EU began shifting toward waste-based alternatives like used cooking oil, animal fats, but also palm products, and residues," according to Transport & Environment, which warns that the shift to "so-called waste materials" has led to knock-on concern about what it calls "questionable imports." The findings follow attempts by some European countries and the European Commission to reduce imports of palm oil, said to be the world's most widely used and most versatile vegetable oil, due to it being grown on deforested land in Indonesia and Malaysia. An ingredient in a wide range of foods and cosmetics, palm oil is also made into a fuel and used in Asia for cooking. The EU's campaign to reduce palm oil use has led to tensions with Indonesia and Malaysia, source countries for most of the world's exported palm oil, who argue in turn that the land needed to produce palm oil is far less than what is needed to grow enough other crops to produce the same amount of alternative oils.
BBC News
08-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
UK investigating fraud claims around green fuel HVO diesel
The UK government is investigating a fast-growing "green fuel" called HVO diesel amid claims of significant fraud, the BBC has is increasingly popular as a transport fuel and for powering music festivals and its backers say it can curb carbon emissions by up to 90% as it can be made from waste materials like used cooking industry whistleblowers told the BBC they believe large amounts of these materials are not waste but instead are virgin palm oil, which is being fraudulently data analysed by the BBC and shared with the UK's Department for Transport casts further doubt on one of the key ingredients in HVO, a material called palm sludge waste. Europe used more of this waste in HVO and other biofuels in 2023 than it is thought possible for the world to response to the BBC's findings, the Department for Transport said they "take the concerns raised seriously and are working with stakeholders and international partners to gather further information".HVO, or hydrotreated vegetable oil, has been called something of a wonder-fuel in recent years as it can be used as 100% substitute for diesel reducing planet warming consumption rocketed from 8 million litres in 2019 to about 699 million litres in 2024, according to provisional government green credentials rely heavily on the assumption that it is made from waste sources, particularly used cooking oil or the waste sludge from palm oil industry whistle-blowers have told the BBC that they believe virgin palm oil and other non-waste materials are often being used would be bad news for the planet, as virgin palm oil is linked to increased tropical deforestation, which adds to climate change and threatening endangered species like palm oil "floods the market like cancer," one large European biofuel manufacturer told the BBC. They said that to stay in business they have to go along with the pretence that they are using waste whistle-blower, a former trader of these biofuels, also speaking anonymously, gave the BBC his account of one recent case dealing with supposedly waste products."I believe that what I bought was multiple cargos of virgin palm oil that has been wrongly classified as palm oil sludge," they said."I called one of the board members and told them about the situation, and then I was told that they didn't want to do anything about it, because the evidence would be burned."As well as this testimony, data compiled by campaign group Transport & Environment and analysed by the BBC suggests that more palm sludge waste is being used for transport biofuels than the world is probably able to produce. The figures show that the UK and EU used about two million tonnes of palm sludge waste for HVO and other biofuels in 2023, based on Eurostat and UK Department for Transport imports of this sludge appear to have risen further in 2024, according to preliminary UN trade data, although the UK appears to have bucked this the data analysed by the BBC, which is based on well-established UN and industry statistics, suggests the world can only produce just over one million tonnes of palm sludge waste a mismatch further suggests non-waste fuels such as virgin palm oil are being used to meet Europe's rapid growth in biofuels, according to researchers and industry figures. "It's a very easy game," said Dr Christian Bickert, a German farmer and editor with experience in biofuels, who believes that much of the HVO made with these waste products is "fake"."Chemically, the sludge and the pure palm oil are absolutely the same because they come from the same plant, and also from the same production facility in Indonesia," he told BBC News."There's no paper which proves [the fraud], no paper at all, but the figures tell a clear story."Underpinning the sustainability claims of biofuels is an independent system of certification where producers have to show exactly where they get their raw materials is mainly administered by a company called ISCC, and in Europe it has a long-standing reputation for ensuring that waste materials turned into fuel really do come from waste, by working with national in Indonesia, Malaysia and China, three of the main sources of the raw ingredients claimed to be waste for HVO, supervision is much more difficult."ISCC is simply not allowed to send anybody to China," said Dr Christian Bickert."They have to rely on certification companies in China to check that everything is OK, but China doesn't allow any inspectors in from outside."This concern is echoed by several other groups contacted by the giant Balfour Beatty, for example, has a policy of not using the fuel, citing sustainability concerns."We just are not able to get any level of visibility over the supply chain of HVO that would give us that level of assurance that this is truly a sustainable product," Balfour Beatty's Jo Gilroy told BBC European Waste-based and Advanced Biofuels Association represents the major biofuel manufacturers in the EU and a statement they said "there is a major certification verification issue that needs to be addressed as a matter of priority", adding that the "ISCC should do much more to ensure that non-EU Biodiesel is really what it claims to be".In the light of growing fraud allegations, the Irish authorities have recently restricted incentives for fuels made from palm BBC also understands that the EU is about to propose a ban on ISCC certification of waste biofuels for two-and-a-half years, although it is expected to say it is not aware of direct breaches of renewable would then be up to individual member countries to decide whether to accept response, the ISCC said it was "more than surprised" by the EU's move, adding that it had been "a frontrunner in implementing the most strict and effective measures to ensure integrity and fraud prevention in the market for years"."The measure would be a severe blow to the entire market for waste-based biofuels," it said. Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Approving US-made cars would make UK roads less safe
New cars sold in Britain could become less safe if America gets its way in ongoing US-EU trade talks. Currently there's a chasm in safety standards between US-market vehicles and those approved for sale in Europe, which Britain is still aligned to for safety legislation. Although there's not currently much of an appetite for American-made cars in Britain, the US wants its vehicles to be declared 'equivalent' to ours in safety terms – despite them falling way short. Why is the safety of US-market cars an issue? Following President Donald Trump's directive that America should sell more cars abroad, the US and EU are currently in negotiations. The US believes the EU's stricter vehicle safety rules are simply a form of trade protectionism. US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland said: 'If we sell you a vegetable or a car or a product, if it's safe to use in the US it should be deemed safe to use in the EU.' Are US vehicles safe? 'When it comes to protecting pedestrians and everyone else outside of vehicles, the gap between crash standards in the US and Europe is an ocean wide,' James Nix, vehicles policy manager for pressure group Transport & Environment (T&E) said. Dudley Curtis from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) added: 'One long-standing issue is the design of the front end of vehicles. In America you don't have a pedestrian protection requirement. We've had these since 2003.' What safety equipment do US cars lack? There's a host of safety equipment we take for granted that isn't compulsory on US-market cars. At the very basic level, seatbelt reminders have been compulsory in cars sold in Europe since 2019. In the US, they are only required for the driver's seat. The Biden administration wanted them all-round in 2026-27 but experts think that's now unlikely to happen. Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) has been hailed as the greatest safety advance since the seatbelt as it slows a car automatically if it detects an impending impact. Since 2022 it must be fitted to every new car sold in the EU (and the UK). The US was due to make it compulsory in 2029 but the ETSC says the Trump government has suspended that. Cars sold this side of the Atlantic since 2022 must also have intelligent speed adaptation. This uses cameras and GPS to encourage drivers to stick to speed limits. Again, it's not compulsory in the US. Neither is fatigue monitoring or emergency calling, which enables the car to automatically summon assistance if it detects a possible driver-incapacitating accident. Then there are the things we don't see. To get the top five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating, vehicles sold in the EU must pass stringent tests for the protection of occupants in frontal and side-impact collisions, whiplash prevention and safety assist features, as well as pedestrian safety. Equivalent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US isn't as rigorous. 'For example, they don't use the latest [more sophisticated] generation of crash test dummies,' the director-general of Europe for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), Laurianne Krid, pointed out. What is the problem with selling US-market vehicles here? As we've seen, simply saying a US car is as safe as a European one doesn't make it so. James Nix from T&E said: 'Particularly since the 2000s, Europe has made significant vehicle safety improvements that simply weren't mirrored in the US.' To maintain this improved safety standard, all manufacturers – whether from Europe, Korea, Japan, China or the US – must currently seek European type approval for their cars to sell them in large volumes here. There are concerns that giving in to the US would set a precedent for other countries. The ETSC's Curtis explained: 'We want to send a very clear message that this is a bad idea and will be a big mistake. We don't want to see the EU's world-leading vehicle safety standards undermined, because it's hard to see how that doesn't then undermine the whole system.' If the US gets its way, we might also see an influx of much larger vehicles. The FIA's Krid said: 'Most of the crash tests we do don't test the compatibility of smaller vehicles with much larger ones. Having larger vehicles coming to Europe isn't going to be great for road safety in general.' There's also the impact on infrastructure. Krid added: 'We do know the heavier the vehicles and the fewer the axles that weight is put on, the more damage there is to the infrastructure. So bringing in larger vehicles will have an impact on roads.' And the last thing we need is more potholes. Why aren't US vehicles as safe? Of course some US-made vehicles such as Teslas meet European type approval requirements, but they are the exception rather than the rule. The ETSC's Curtis explained: 'The US and Europe have two different regulatory systems. In the US, there's manufacturer self-certification before a car can be sold. Then there's a robust enforcement system run by [the] NHTSA. 'The European type approval system independently checks components, systems and the whole vehicle before it's allowed to be sold.' The result is that US roads are significantly less safe than Europe's. The ETSC says that since 2013, road deaths in the EU have decreased by 16 per cent. In the US over the same period, they have increased by 25 per cent. How likely is equivalency to happen? With the Trump government nothing is off the table. 'It's hard to second guess what the US strategy is,' said Curtis. The concern is it could be the thin end of a wedge that will see larger US vehicles coming in through a back door. Currently, if you want to fizz around Fulham in a monster Ford F-Series pick-up, you can buy one via the individual vehicle approval (IVA) loophole. Sales of giant Chevrolet Silverados sold in Europe through IVA went up by 513 per cent between 2022 and 2023. Safety experts want the IVA loophole closed. Krid warned: 'There is a genuine risk that some vehicles [deemed unsafe in Europe] might come through. That's what happens in negotiations. We want to limit the loopholes or whatever might arise from the trade agreement.' One thing is for sure, there are multiple reasons we should all be concerned about the prospect of car safety standards being diluted.
