Incentivizing Light/Small cars

I went back to Japan in June for a couple of weeks and was surprised to see how passenger vehicles keep becoming smaller and lighter. (I have been here in US for 4 years now, so the change was pretty striking) A lot of cars are not even under "compact" category....much smaller. They are also square to maximize their interior capacity. Now it sounds totally reasonable that Wagon R by Suzuki (not Prius!) is the top selling car in Japan for so many years.

There is a category called "light vehicle" in Japanese vehicle regulations; it enjoys less taxation and cheaper insurance. Also, the parkings are required to have lots dedicated to light vehicles (I guess much smaller than the lot for "compact" here in US). Wagon R is a light vehicle.

When Japan was a flourishing economy, driving light vehicle wasn't cool at all (besides being small, light vehicle has to carry different license plate to normal vehicles) ; people wanted more expensive, normal sized cars. But now, people are less interested in buying gorgeous cars. Or in buying cars at all. Cars are losing its value as status symbol as people's values and economic situation changes (downturn, obviously) and high gas prices (it's much higher than here in US). It's rather just a tool for transportation where efficiency gets priority.

Gas prices are getting high in US as well. There is surging interest in compact/small/energy efficient cars. If it comes with some tax/insurance relaxation, it will further stimulate the interest.

Definition of light-vehicle
Max length 3.4m (11")
Max width 1.48m (4.8")
Max height 2m (6.6")
Max displacement 660 cc
Max power 47kW

Benefits of walkable community

Learn from Atlanta study. Very interesting report about smart growth.

Neighborhood walkability and driving
! people in walkable neighborhoods drive less.
! people in closer-in, high-walkability neighborhoods take more trips by bicycling, walking or transit.
! less driving reduces a household’s expenses.

Neighborhood walkability and the environment
! neighborhood walkability is linked to fewer per capita air pollutants.
! neighborhood walkability is linked to fewer per capita greenhouse gases.

Neighborhood walkability, obesity and physical Activity
! neighborhood walkability is linked to more moderate physical activity.
! neighborhood walkability is linked to lower obesity levels.
! time spent driving is linked to obesity.

Compact city: Sustainable urban development

A lot of people must be considering alternative transportation because of high gas price.

Bikes, motor bikes or small electric cars can be available. But they aren't safe when the cars are passing by at 40 or 60 mph. Then how about reducing speed limits to 25 or 30 mph? It is essential to safely promote bikes and other vulnerable transportation means.

There is a way where we can reduce speed limits without compromising the time needed to travel: make cities compact! Assume your town is 20% more compact than what it is now. You can reduce driving speed from 60mph to 48mph, and you still can get to the same place with same amount of travel time. Or, if the key services are effectively aligned, you could reduce your travel time even more with slower speed.











Compact city is a relatively new idea for sustainable urban development that focuses on
1) Central area revitalization
2) High-density development
3) Mixed-use development
4) Services and facilities: hospitals, parks, schools, leisure and fun

There is much more about compact cities, here are some links.
I strongly believe that making motor vehicles eco-conscious can never happen on its own. It has to come hand in hand with community planning and development.

University of Reading, UK: Compact city
Developing a compact city and a network region: Sweden
The compact city and the environment: a review: Netherlands

photo from: http://www.transport.gov.za/projects/msa/msareport/msarpt_fig82.gif

Tridem bike - a bicycle for parents and two kids

Yes there is a safety issue, and it is huge. Currently it is not legal in Japan to have two kids on a bicycle.

But the police started to consider allowing tridem bike and ordered bicycle makers to develop safe model. The picture is one of those test models.

I think there is a need for this kind of transportation in order for a society to shift toward car-free society.

My take on Earth Day: Small can solve a lot

Electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles became regular faces in environmental events. But this year, this little guy was at our local Earth Day: ZENN.

Achieves the equivalent of 245mpg.

Moving 2 tons (or 5000 lbs) of metals requires a lot of energy. Typical pickup track weighs about that much. Do we really need to drag 2 tons of steel to transport one person from home to work or to the grocery store?

Can't a small guy like ZENN, the low-speed vehicle (max 25 mph), replace the job?



What about a Velocab?











Or Walk or bike whenever possible?



Definately.


But how can we make "whenever possible" really happen??? I think the infrastructure for alternative transportation is missing, and it's critical.

ZENN won't fit in many Californian cities. ZENN cannot go on highway, and 25mph is even slower than speed limit in residential area.

Likewise, Velocab cannot be as effective as it is hoping to be.

Foot are the most helpless.

When it comes to shifting a society toward alternative transportation, the communities turn out to be unnecessarily large, sparse and sprawl.

If a town is 20% denser, speed limit in residential area can be reduced from 35mph or 25mph, and it can make room for ZENN. And now that the town is denser, you will get the same convenience with less mileage traveled.

Velocab and foot will also find more use.

Re-designing the community is the key to promote alternative transportation.

Livintg in a bit smaller/denser community is not a compromise; it's just the way to make land use more efficient.

Reducing emissions from vehicles

It has nothing to do with technology to make a car.

It is about how you design the environment that surrounds cars.

http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/getting-people-out-of-cars?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter-a

Washington, D.C.'s new ball park does not have many parking lots. Instead, it provides a free bike valet, enhanced nearby subway station, and a ton of bus service. They also ran an advertising campaign asking people not to drive to the park.

On opening night, 21,492 baseball fans (out of a total of 25,000) took a train to the ball game!

This is exciting.

Small community with a belly button: Centre, centro, place, square, plaza

I lived in Paris for a short time.

I've always imagined that Paris must be a big big city with historic sites, boutiques, restaurants, apartments, River Seine, etc, etc.....

But it wasn't. I was very surprised and pleased to find that it was a very walkable city. Well, it's not really small, but considering the rich content that Paris boasts, it's remarkably small!

Paris hasn't been changed much since medieval era. It started to flourish from Ile de la Cite (and the Notre Dame) on the Seine and it is still the center of Paris. It is like a belly button of the city.

Paris has smaller belly buttons too; "place". Place de la Concorde, Place de la Bastille..... Those are the hubs of the streets that form radial system. Small places are connected each other with radial streets like a spider web and it was really nice to stroll around from Place to Place. I enjoyed walking following different scenes; fashion, art, cafe and bistros, marches, old, nice apartments and hotels, historic sites, different ethnic communities.....

Italy has Centro and Plaza. England has center and square. Same idea. Old cities developed centering some important buildings such as churchs and gradually expanded their radius. It's amazing to see the similarity; old cities with belly buttons and small hubs that connect them each other, forming a nice spider-web like circle.

All those cities were developed well before fossil fuel became available. In other words, those cities are inherently designed low-carbon and efficient.

There must be so many ideas and tips to design low-carbon community.

Who killed electric car? Part2

About a week ago, California Air Resources Board voted to lower the target for ZEV (zero emission vehicles) program. The target for hydrogen fuel cell and electric vehicle has been lowered from 25,000 (set in 2003) to 7,500...substantial setback.

It's hard to see from the pic, but there were many electric vehicles parked outside Cal/EAP building in Sacramento, CA (where CARB is located) to protest the decision....including fancy Tesla electric car.

This is not new. CARB did the same thing a few years back which is rememberd as famous "who killed electric car?" story. It seems that there will be no leap forward on this issue.....at least for coming years.

Well, that is sad and bad, because ZEV is better than conventional cars.

But No car is even better than ZEV. And a lot better.

However, if you are a Californian who don't live in San Francisco or Berkeley (pedestrian-friendly communities), you can't really scream "I want to be green and I want to live without a car!"

Things are build sparse, and public transportation is not very convenient. If I choose to live without a car, I'd be struggling to run errands. But if a community is re-designed in a way that everything is nicely concentrated, then you can walk, ride a bike or use trams to access many different places. And owing no car is far more affordable than purchaing a cutting-edge ZEV!

Investing in ZEV is one option for reducing emission from vehicles, but investing in public transportation and re-designing community is another way to do it. What should I do if I wanted to vote for the latter?