Cars must be driven out of cities to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis, not just replaced with electric vehicles, according to the UK government’s top adviser. Prof Frank Kelly said that while electric vehicles emit no exhaust fumes, they still produce large amounts of tiny pollution particles from brake and tyre dust, for which the government already accepts there is no safe limit. Toxic air causes 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove, recently announced that the sale of new diesel and petrol cars will be banned from 2040, with only electric vehicles available after that. But faced with rising anger from some motorists, the plan made the use of charges to deter dirty diesel cars from polluted areas a measure of last resort only. Kelly’s intervention heightens the government’s dilemma between protecting public health and avoiding politically difficult charges or bans on urban motorists. “The government’s plan does not go nearly far enough,” said Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London and chair of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, official expert advisers to the government. “Our cities need fewer cars, not just cleaner cars.”
Guardian 4th Aug 2017 read more »
Letter Prof Susan Roaf: George Monbiot makes some useful points in his article bemoaning the influence of the lobbying power of the motor industry. He proposes a modal transport shift to more coach travel and investment in nuclear power plants to power our electric cars. He ignores completely, as usual, the solar option with smaller electric cars and electric bikes and charged by photovoltaics on homes, at work and in public places.
Guardian 4th Aug 2017 read more »
SCOTTISH motorists are turning in increasing numbers to all-electric and hybrid vehicles as uncertainty reigns over the future of petrol and diesel cars that are due to be banned from 2040. Latest official figures show a 64.9 per cent surge across the UK in new registrations of Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles (AFVs) to the end of last month – when the Government announced the policy – as drivers invest in the latest environmentally friendly technology.
Herald 5th Aug 2017 read more »