The Department for
Transport has announced awards of the Green
Bus fund to enable local authorities to upgrade their local buses to have Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) in order to
cut emissions.
From the Department for Transport:
Hundreds
of cleaner buses for England’s towns and city centres
Nearly
450 buses in England will be fitted with green technology to cut harmful
emissions by up to 90%, after the successful bids for around £7 million of
Department for Transport funding were announced today (Sunday 3 January 2015).
The
Clean Bus Technology Fund 2015 is being awarded to 18 local authorities across
England to retrofit 439 buses with technology to
reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in pollution hotspots. Due to their high
mileage and long operational life, introducing greener buses can significantly
help air quality in town and city centres. The buses upgraded from this fund
will complete more than a million journeys a year.
Transport Minister
Andrew Jones said:
“Greener
buses mean cleaner town and city centres and a healthier environment for
everyone. The upgraded buses that will soon hit the roads in England continue
our commitment to better air quality by investing in greener transport. By
targeting pollution hotspots and backing the low-emission technology of the
future, we are making the right long-term decisions to improve people’s lives.”
To
win awards, local authorities had to show evidence that the technology would
reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by at least 50%. The buses will be fitted with
exhaust gas treatment systems called selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and
will be back on the roads after their upgrade. As part of the award, councils
must continue to monitor the schemes and provide evidence of their
effectiveness.
This
new fund adds to the £20 million invested by the government in retrofit schemes
and is in addition to significant match funding by local authorities and
support from bus operators to improve air quality since 2011. This has ensured
over 2,000 buses have already been upgraded across England to cut emissions.
This
part is interesting;
The
Clean Bus Technology Fund is a core part of the government’s commitment to
green transport which has seen £2 billion worth of measures introduced since
2011. Upgrading existing transport is in addition to the government’s £600
million investment in low-emission technology over the next five years, which aims to help make almost every car and van zero emission by 2050.
With
the world's climate changing and signs that it's only going to get worse, I do
think it’s time that the government invested more in the technology to produce zero-emission vehicles which can be hydrogen or
battery electric. I'm guessing that 'big oil' won't like this move as green
technology must hurt their profits. However, they will need to adapt to
changing circumstances like everyone else and accept that cities benefit from
having zero-emission vehicles, along with the public. We'll have to wait and see what happens,
plus, we are also waiting for the Ultra Low Emission zone to come into effect in
Central London by 2020.
Regarding
the Green Bus Fund awards, here is the list of the councils and public
transport governing bodies that won the Green Bus grants.
So
overall, TFL has secured £500,000 to
retrofit 50 London Buses with Selective Catalytic Reduction system,
compared to the rest of the councils listed which show that they convert fewer
buses than TFL are doing.
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