by Dongying Wang
LONDON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- As Britain is pressing ahead toward a low-carbon society, environment-friendly driving has become increasingly important in the country, in parallel with technological innovation needed for making greener vehicles.
To achieve its burning ambition of reducing CO2 emissions by 80percent by 2050 from 1990 levels, Britain has to target many polluting sectors.
Britain's domestic transport, covering road, rail, aviation and shipping, demands urgent transformation as its emissions accounted for nearly a quarter of the country's total CO2 emissions in 2007.
Coming to the top of the agenda is a need to reduce the emissions from road transport, which accounts for 22 percent of the emissions from all sources.
With the number of cars on the road on the rise, Britain is putting the importance of consumer education on a par with technological innovations to ensure a future of low-carbon transport.
TARGETING NEW AND YOUNG DRIVERS
Britain requires a great awareness of the environment for those who wish to drive in the country. As such, it has considered introducing eco-driving into the practical driving test.
Over the past few years, those who sit a theory test for their driving licences in Britain have been required to answer questions, some of which demand an understanding of environment-friendly driving.
Bad driving, hard braking and harsh acceleration all add to high fuel consumption, and the suggestion of walking instead of driving, which is said to help reduce pollution and traffic congestion, has been added to the pool of questions for temporary drivers.
Technical issues, such as fitting catalytic converters into new petrol-engine cars to reduce harmful exhaust emissions, are also among those which drivers are required to learn.
"The reason why there's a lot of pollution is because people are aggressive with their driving," Michael Auger, a driving instructor, told Xinhua.
"They're accelerating too fast and braking too late. This also puts a lot of wear and tear on a car as well as using more fuel."
"Modern cars are designed to drive more economically now anyway, so it is just giving people more advice and help them understand that we can all play our part by driving more economically," he said.
So far, the eco-driving test has not yet been introduced to Britain. Part of such a test requires drivers to slow down the car when approaching a junction by coming off the gas instead of touching the brakes first.
Auger thinks that young people, as the next generation, are the main target for a green driving test.
"Things don't happen overnight, but people do need to be aware that we need to look after the planet," he said.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
Today in Britain, local bus transport is still the most frequently used mode of public transport. At the same time, cars have become an integral part of British society.
"Through technological innovation and consumer education, manufacturers have made genuine progress toward meeting tough environmental targets," said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in a 2009 new car CO2 report.
"We've cut the average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of the 2 million cars bought each year and the introduction of the voluntary color-coded new car CO2 labels has resulted in an increase in diesel registrations and a 76 percent rise in alternative fuelled cars," he said.
The amount of fuel consumed by cars fell by 1.5 percent in 2007from a year earlier, and 6.3 percent from 10 years ago, according to the SMMT.
Average new car CO2 emissions have fallen every year since the SMMT collated the statistics as from 1997.
In 2008, the annual rate of decline was the steepest on record, at 4.2 percent, to 158g/km. This was more than 2.5 times the rate of improvement averaged over the previous 11 years.
"However, the biggest challenges still lie ahead. The adoption of the EU new car CO2 regulation in December 2008 set strict pan-European targets of 130g/km by 2015," said Everitt. "An annual improvement of 2.5 percent is needed in Britain to meet the European target, although the decline in fleet renewal brought on by the global economic crisis is likely to slow the rate of improvement."
The government must create an environment in which low-carbon automotive manufacturing can prosper, securing employment and prosperity for years to come, he added.
FUTURE UNCERTAIN
The motor industry in Britain has sustained a severe blow in the current economic downturn, and new car registrations fell 30.5percent in March to just over 310,000 units.
The European Investment bank's recent approval of funding has brought hope for the battered British car industry. It has pinned its hopes of recovery on market incentives set out in the national 2009/2010 budget, which will be announced next week.
Even so, the industry is still unsure of how deep the impact of the downturn would be on market structure and trends, vehicle output, consumers' green choices, as well as car makers' affordability in developing alternative fuel and low-emitting technology.
