Wednesday, October 08, 2008

These boots are made for walking

1 comment:

I've been playing around with the what this website, http://www.walkit.com/, can provide. For example when I walk 1.4 miles to the Open University regional office in Portwall Lane (BS1 6ND) from home (BS4 2HX) to deliver a tutorial for work the website shows that I've avoided emitting 0.45kg of carbon dioxide car pollution (or 0.2 kg of bus pollution) - click picture to see all figures. Take a look and see how much carbon you could save or are saving by walking (the site is also useful for route planning, journey times, calories burnt!!).
The site's about section says: We think walking in and around town can often be a smart choice. No timetables to keep to, no journey delays, no overcrowding, healthy, green, free, direct, access to services (and sunlight!) en route.

We don’t in any way pretend that you can substitute walking for all the urban car/bus/taxi/tube trips you make. We do, however, want to at least help you make more informed decisions about whether you choose to walk for all, or part, of any given journey.

Light rail efficiency advantage

No comments:
Great to see some pressure for trams/light rail in Bristol (see here). Some of the ensuing online debate mentioned only the disadvantages of trams/light rail but all technologies have both pros and cons to be weighed up. Trams and light rail have some significant factors in their favour and should be deployed where they are viable - they are up to twice as energy efficient as buses and therefore use much less fuel and produce much less carbon pollution. This could prove to be a major cost advantage in times of high fuel prices. The key is to use this technology in the best locations, after full and proper assessment - I dont think this has this has been done in Bristol.