| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Air pollution in Putney | |
| Posted by: | Jonathan Callaway | |
| Date/Time: | 11/01/14 11:39:00 |
| I believe the monitoring equipment will stay for 2014 but after that it depends on funding. A survey was done by the Council in late 2011 and this established that buses were the main source of NO2 thanks to the inefficient diesel engines of the older ones. Most of these will be replaced during 2014, at least so we were promised by TfL, some by the new hybrids and some by retro-fitting new catalytic converters. But the diesel engine is used by far more than just buses and a growing concern is the amounts of NO2 coming not just from large diesel vehicles like HGVs but also smaller ones like vans and taxis - and increasingly by high performance diesel cars. So while we will gain from cleaner buses we will still have a big NO2 problem thanks to these other vehicles. In my view, the cleaner the buses get the clearer it becomes that the problem goes way beyond them. As for the 'improvements' over the last year, thanks in part to the new buses, I don't think they are that impressive if we are still breaking an annual limit 10 days into the new year. Last year it only took 3 or 4 days (partly due to the weather a year ago) but we are still going to suffer extremely high levels of NO2 for the foreseeable future. Solutions? The Council is working on changing delievery vehicle patterns, penalising engine idling (though I have not seen much action on that front yet), has planted a few trees, encourages switching from cars to bikes (Boris Bikes included), use of car clubs and other measures, so good work is being done. Encouraging though this is I feel the scale of the problem requires answers at national level - e.g. changes to the tax regime which currently encourages people to switch from petrol to diesel. Also, just getting people to drive less so there is less congestion on our roads. Easy to say, very hard to do. More political will might help, though, in my opinion! |