Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). The percentage of luxury
cars in the Indian car market is expected to increase to 4 per cent by 2020 (IBEF,
2013). According to BP's
Energy Outlook 2030
(BP, 2012), the global fleet of com-
mercial and passenger vehicles will grow by 60 per cent from 1 billion in 2012 to
1.6 billion in 2030, with most of the growth occurring in non-OECD countries.
It is anticipated that vehicle density per 1,000 population will grow from around
50 to 140 in China (5.7 per cent growth per annum) and in India from 20 to 65
(6.7 per cent, per annum).
Around one million people die on the roads globally each year, the car is an
immense consumer of resources, including metal, rubber, land and oil, and although
the car is a symbol of freedom, progress and modernity in both the developed and
developing worlds, its effects on our quality of life are frequently negative - gridlock,
personal frustration, atmospheric pollution, expense, and so on. Although there has
been considerable research on fuel-efficient cars, the hypercar, the hybrid car and
increasing commercial development of such hybrids as the Toyota Prius and, more
recently, the electric car, the car remains both a problem and a major attraction. As
Kingsley Dennis and John Urry write (2009: 64), 'a post car system will need to be
at least as effective as the current car at meeting people's economic, aesthetic,
emotional, sensory and sociability requirements. This is a tall order'. This has not
deterred the likes of J.H. Crawford (2000) who has analysed the possibilities of car-
free cities, or rather cities where priority is afforded to other means of transportation,
and has sketched out the urban design requirements, public transit alternatives and
so on, that would facilitate the practical utopia of such an environment emerging.
In 1994, the city of Amsterdam organized the 'Car-free cities?' conference, the result
of which was the formation of the Car-Free Cities Club to promote policies that
discourage private car use. As Crawford (2000: 33) suggests, 'car-free cities can offer
rich human experience, great beauty and true peace. . . . Car-free cities are a practical
alternative, available now. They can be built using existing technology at a price we
can afford'. The Vauban district of the city of Freiburg in Germany is a primarily
car-free eco neighbourhood development, that could be a model for future
developments elsewhere.
Cities like Copenhagen, Denmark and Portland in Oregon, US, are developing a
clean economy of place. Portland has an efficient public transport system and has
encouraged its green business and construction sector with a system of green
investment grants. In Copenhagen 36 per cent of all commutes to work or to school
are by bicycle and 32 per cent of Copenhagen's citizens walk or use the public bus
or train systems. Cycling improves health and reduces the city healthcare bill by as
much as £236 million per year. The city's environmental business sector grew by
77 per cent between 2004 and 2009. As the European Green Capital of 2014,
following Stockholm in 2010, Hamburg in 2011, Vitoria-Gaseiz in 2013, Copenhagen
aims to be carbon neutral by 2025. The city has nurtured public support for wind
turbines by encouraging community ownership, sophisticated technological innovation
and the development of local green skills and green jobs. By 2025 it is anticipated
that 50 per cent of the city's energy will come from wind and when its current popu-
lation of just over 534,000 will be over 600,000. A key issue that needed resolution
was improving the ability of the power grid to accept and balance increased levels
of intermittent energy from wind turbines, but this has now been achieved. Following
initial investment, wind turbines have low running costs and collectively the Danish
