Better Place is a company specialized in solving problems such as battery life and charging times. This kind of troubles posed by electric mobility harasses the drivers, even those who are more supportive of zero-emissions mobility.

Better Place has opened in these days the first service station in Europe, where you can quickly replace the battery of an electric car with another one fully charged. The station is in Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen, and it’s the first of the 20 stations that will arise in the whole Country during the next nine months, in collaboration with DONG Energy and over 45 municipalities.

The station is completely automated: during the few minutes required to change the battery with a mechanical arm, the driver can remain inside his car. The first test was performed with a Renault car, the electric one that Renault will commercialize by next autumn. Better Place explains that this technology of rapid replacement will eliminate the problem of autonomy, because the electric car can travel greater distances than those allowed by a single charge: about 160 km for Renault models coming to the market.

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Many European cities are creating car-unfriendly environments, for instance by increasing the costs for driving. Another way to tilt the drivers towards more environmental-friendly transport means is that of hampering them to park. In fact, while there is always room for new shopping malls and apartment buildings in cities like Vienna, Barcelona and London, the number of parking spaces are being restricted, and the on-street parking is vanishing.

In the last few years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into “walkers’ paradises”. Pedestrians and trams are given priority treatment in Zurich: red lights have been added in close proximity on roads into town, and pedestrian underpasses have been removed. Operators in the city’s ever expanding tram system can turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach, forcing cars to halt.

Europe’s cities generally have stronger incentives to act: public transportation is better in Europe than in the United States, and gas often costs more, over 8 dollars a gallon. What’s more, the need for a cut in the emissions from transport is being seriously taken into consideration.

However, it is not easy to get people out of their cars. While the first step is that of providing efficient public transport, the strategy, which is proving to pay off, is that of making harder and more costly to park.

Urban transport planning in developing cities is nowadays a key political and technical issue, requiring alternative approaches and solutions aimed to effectively face the phenomena of rapid and often unplanned growth of urban areas with high concentration of motor vehicles. Congestion, energy consumption, air pollution, and traffic crashes strongly affect society and environment in such settings, thus lowering quality of life and urban productivity.

The course addresses in particular urban and transportation planners, decision-makers from local governments as well as representatives of service providers (national governments, private sector, NGOs) and international organizations involved in the transport sector worldwide.

It aims to enhance the capacity to formulate and implement appropriate policies that contribute to sustainability in urban transport in developing countries, dealing with issues such as transport demand management, improved public and non-motorized transport, environmental protection, road safety, and gender in transport. It also provides information on economic and financial instruments, institutional improvements, capacity building, regulation of markets and environmental standards.

The course is web-based and it consists of 6 modules. Learning materials will be distributed and all learning activities will be moderated by a high level transportation expert. Participation in collaborative activities for about 2 hours/week as well as a study time of about 3 hours/week are required. A certificate of successful completion will be issued to participants to the course that will achieve a minimum total score of 70% in the assessment activities. The others will receive a certificate of participation.

UNITAR offers reduced fees (US$ 400) for participants from least developed countries/low income economies, lower-middle-income economies, and upper-middle income economies. Full fees (US$ 800) apply to participants from high-income countries.

Further information is available in the web site.

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Freiburg im Breisgau, historic town in South-Western Germany, is known as an ecocity for its strong commitment to the environment. The city has nowadays reached high performances in cutting down the CO2 emissions, and today its solar, energy efficiency and transport programs are among the best in the world.

With reference to mobility policies, the municipality set long time ago consistent measures aiming at favouring means of transport other than cars, as making the old town centre car-free in 1973. Since 1991 there is a low cost “Environment ticket” for the regional bus service, and tramway lines were recently implemented. Pedestrians and cyclists have the primacy, car speeds is kept below 25 km/h and parking is possible away from the centres, or underground. There are over 500 km of bicycle paths and more than 5.000 bicycle parking spaces in the city, also at tram stops for commuters shifting from a means to another. As a consequence, motor vehicles’ use fell from 38% to 32% between 1982 and 1999, and around 30 – 35% of the residents have chosen to live without a car, while the trend in the other central European cities is opposite. Public transport use sees a 100% increase since 1980 and a third of all journeys are by bicycle.

Since the 80s Freiburg has developed a long-term and innovative vision on energy supply, seeking solutions to save energy, secure energy efficiency and develop renewable sources of energy. In particular following the resolution ‘Climate Protection Concept‘ passed in 1996, significative steps has been done to reduce CO2 emissions to 25% below the 1992 level by 2010.

Freiburg’s excellence is due to vanguard policy makers’ choices – a leading authority is Wulf Daseking, director of the city planning office who carried out relevant activities for the last twenty years – and also to a ‘bottom up’ approach, which involved the citizens’ participation through the large use of cooperatives in the design of communal spaces.

Other interesting initiatives in the field of energy include a Solar Institute, established in 1981, and a co-generation CHP steam and gas plant supplying almost 50% of the electricity. Concerning energy efficiency, since the 90s, municipal regulations request buildings to have a low energetic impact (in particular residential buildings are required to consume a third less than the standards set by German law). Housing is at relatively high densities, with mostly town houses & small shops, walkable neighbourhoods & high proportion of public space given over to nature.

As a result, over 10 years of CO2 emission have been reduced by more than 10% per capita. Furthermore, in 2003 34.1 million kWh p.a. of electricity from renewable sources replaced the same amount of climate-damaging electricity. Finally, with almost 700 people employed in the solar energy related activities, Freiburg is also at the forefront in shifting towards the ‘green economy’.

Related Links

• freiburg.de
• freiburg.de_GreenCity
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On 13 July 2010, the Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Mr. Douglas McGuire will give a speech at 12:45 on “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”, at FAO Headquarters in Rome. The speech will introduce the Joint Session of the Partners Meetings of two European projects, TRANSITECTS and AlpCheck2.

Both the projects address transport issues and aim to improve sustainability within mountain areas. They have been co-financed with European funds in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme.

Agenda of the Joint Session of the TRANSITECTS & AlpCheck 2 Projects

Rome – Tuesday, 13 July 2010 – FAO Headquarters, Nigeria & Ethiopia Room

For further information on the meeting send an email to: sara.maulo@fao.org.

The Land Glider concept vehicle was designed by the R&D Nissan department and was firstly presented in the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. The radical idea was to combine together the points of strength of both cars and motorcycles to give birth to a new way of conceiving private urban – but not only – mobility. The result was an ultra lightweight two-seats electric vehicle, which moves on four wheels but can be driven as a motorcycle, leaning in curves to a tilt of 17 degrees. Furthermore, Land Glider’s dimensions are ideal for urban mobility: 3,00 metres of length, 1,41 metres of height and only 1,1 metres of width.

What can actually be interesting under a SWOMM perspective is that Land Glider is completely electric. In fact, the vehicle is fuelled by two electric motors powered by lithium-ion batteries placed in the rear beneath the floor. Moreover, Nissan’s engineers invented a revolutionary wireless charging system, directly recharging batteries by electromagnetic induction and without need of any contact, while shopping at supermarket or stopping at a motorway service station.

With Land Glider, researchers offered a serious set of solutions to tackle the complex issue of the eco-friendly private urban mobility. In this case (as well as with regard to other new electric vehicles) the main variable to be considered is the price, and the concrete possibility to meet the customers’ demand and needs with this product. Market mechanisms will determine whether this zero-emission “half-a-car half-a-motorcycle” will be a viable future way of driving clean in this century busy cities.

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“Espansione”, the monthly magazine of the newspaper “Il Giornale” dedicated to the economy, has always been focusing on the issues of energy, waste and eco-sustainability. The forthcoming event, organized in cooperation with other relevant partners, addresses the media, opinion leaders and citizens’ attention on such themes as well as to ease networking among stakeholders.

The event schedule includes a conference, welcoming all the stakeholders from public institutions, utilities, research, manufacturers etc. Moreover an exhibition will take place aimed at increasing the awareness of citizens for eco-sustainability, disclosing newer electric vehicles which will be launched on the market in the upcoming months.

The participation in the event is free of charge but seats are limited and registration is compulsory. To register, click here.

Join the event and move a step in the world of sustainable mobility!

Related link

• newspapermilano.it
• ilgiornale.it/espansione_pdf
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Ralph Smith, senior transport campaigner in the Campaign to Protect Rural England, gave an affermative answer to the question.
On the occasion of the British government plans for building a high-speed rail network, he dealt with the issue of how to improve the sustainability of transports across England.

In fact the British transport secretary Andrew Adonis announced plans for a £30bn high-speed rail network to be completed by 2026. Lord Adonis promoted this network of trains as an alternative to the construction of new highways. The high-speed rail should be as well an alternative to domestic air travel throughout Britain.

With regard to the environmental impact of such plan, George Monbiot wrote on the guardian.co.uk that no clear evidence and data can prove that the greenhouse gases produced by high-speed rail would be cancelled out by people switching from planes to trains. On the contrary, he said, a report of 2007 concerning the modal shift from plane to rail between London and Manchester, demontrated that the savings would not compensate for the extra emissions caused by a new line.

Ralph Smith seemed to be much more positive towards the possible effects of high-speed railways for the environment preservation. In its article he pointed out that rail travel has already seen record growth in UK, even if passengers now face the highest fares in the world. It would further increase if measures as road-user charging and higher per-flight aviation duties were introduced, making travel by rail cheaper if compared with car or by air.

Nevertheless he explained that only if sustainable travels were taken really seriously and high-speed railways were included in a more coherent national transportation plan there would be effective environmental results in the modal shift to rail. That is the case, for instance, of the eco-city of Freiburg in Germany, where the surrounding local rail network has seen the number of passengers increase from 1.5 million in 1999 to 7.3 million last year.

Related articles

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/11/new-high-speed-rail-network
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• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/may/25/high-speed-rail-sustainability
• http://www.c40cities.org/bestpractices/transport/freiburg_ecocity.jsp

UN Headquarters, New York
EcoSoc Conference Room
12 May 2010 from 1:15 pm to 2:45 pm.

The 18th Commission of Sustainable Development of United Nations will host the SWOMM Side Event, “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”.

The event, to be held on 12th of May 2010 from 1.15 pm to 2.45 pm, is being organized by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (FAO), with the institutional support of UNEP.

The SWOMM Side Event at the CSD18 is gathering experts of the transport sector, coming from scientific institutions from the Alps, the Carpathian region and the Nepal. They will promote discussions on the theme of sustainable mobility and transport, with a specific view to the mountain areas, presenting innovative scientific research and successful experiences.

DRAFT AGENDA
Opening and welcome:
Paola Lucarelli – Vice Director of Cabinet, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea.
Douglas McGuire – Mountain Partnership Secretariat

Speakers:
Pier Carlo Sandei – UNEP/ Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention
Mattia Poretti – Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Margrethe Sagevik -International Union of Railways (UIC)
Filippo Dal Fiore – MIT Senseable Cities Lab
Luca Cetara – SWOMM Scientific Secretariat

Link to website
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/csd_csd18.shtml