̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - low-carbon transport

'Lightning McGreen' and 'Sustainable Hulk' lead Cambridge E-bus revolution

plc32 — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 14:17:29 +0000

Alongside the two famed children's animation and comic book-inspired characters, the names 'Greenhopper', 'Net-Zero Hero', 'Pollution Solution', ' ̽��ֱ��Peregreen Falcon', 'Eco Eddie' and ' ̽��ֱ��Green Clean Machine', were also chosen for the fleet from a selection offered by students from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Primary School in a bus naming competition.

̽��ֱ��competition invited students from the school in the ̽��ֱ��-built neighbourhood of Eddington to unleash their imagination. Participants were encouraged to consider factors such as the sustainability benefits and innovative features of the new buses in their naming choices. This initiative aimed to engage young minds in a fun and educational way, while also contributing to the enhancement of public transport within the local community.

Over the past few weeks, the competition captured the attention and enthusiasm of a large number of Eddington school children, attracting well over 100 entries. Their creativity and thoughtfulness were truly remarkable, making the selection process a challenging yet enjoyable task for the judging panel.

̽��ֱ��final selection was made by a panel of representatives from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Whippet’s parent company, Ascendal Group. ̽��ֱ��panel carefully evaluated each entry and assessed the names based on originality, relevance, and the potential to resonate with the local community.

“We were overwhelmed by the incredible response from the young participants,” said Nicoletta Gennaro, Ascendal’s Group Head of Marketing. “ ̽��ֱ��names suggested by these talented children were not only impressive but also reflected their deep understanding of our community’s values and aspirations. We are thrilled to involve them in shaping the identity of our new electric buses.”

Winners of the competition received special recognition at a dedicated award ceremony at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Primary School, where they received prizes from representatives from Whippet and the ̽��ֱ��.

“We believe that involving the youth in important community projects like this fosters a sense of belonging and ownership,” added Mike Davies, Transport Manager at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. “Through their contribution, we hope to inspire future generations to actively participate in shaping the development of our city and how we move.”

Both Whippet and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge would like to extend their sincere gratitude to all the participating students and staff at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Primary School for their invaluable contributions to the competition. ̽��ֱ��event marks a significant milestone in promoting creativity, community engagement, and the importance of sustainable public transport.

'Lightning McGreen' and the ' ̽��ֱ��Sustainable Hulk' will lead a new fleet of nine electric buses plying routes travelled by students and staff across the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on the Universal bus route, scheduled to be put into service later this year by bus operator Whippet.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Study finds that social justice and health issues impact electric vehicle uptake

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:49:08 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers found that effective communication of social and health benefits of EV ownership can be a motivating factor for influencing higher EV uptake.

̽��ֱ��study, published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, analysed Facebook postings in the United States related to EVs, using machine learning based on a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) framework that examines the intersection of various words and phrases.

“Social media offers a treasure trove of information to better understand how the public views the energy transition from carbon-emitting internal combustion engine to EVs,” said study co-author David Reiner from Cambridge Judge Business School.

Reiner and his collaborators used machine learning and social network analysis to identify via Facebook posts what aspects people valued in electric vehicles, and found that social justice, clean air, better health and a shift toward EVs becoming a service industry emerged as key themes.

̽��ֱ��social justice theme was quite pervasive in the researchers’ findings. One important discourse that shaped EVs’ social justice and welfare dimensions was centred around the idea that ‘We all can benefit from more electric vehicles’, as this links to environmental benefits like cleaner air, less pollution, climate change mitigation, and better health for all. There was also broad agreement on the need for state support to make EVs more affordable.

“While governments around the world have launched aggressive targets for EVs, increasingly through regulatory measures rather than direct subsidies, there has been little academic research into the drivers of EV adoption,” said Reiner. “This new study helps fill that knowledge gap, and can be a useful tool for energy policymaking in this vital area.”

Breaking down the PESTLE framework, the study found that Facebook posts relating to Political aspects were most related to EV tax and subsidies; posts on the Economy focused on consumer fees and EV market expansion; the Social dimension centred on job creation, investment and clean air; Technology posts centred around charging and batteries; while Legal and Environmental posts looked mostly at climate change and EV-related sustainability discussion.

̽��ֱ��36,000 Facebook public posts on EVs that were analysed, all posted in 2020, generated a text corpus of 600,000 words or terms that formed the data for the study’s topic modeling.

As car manufacturers consider the potential for EVs as a subscription-based service, the study also underlines the importance of understanding how EVs are now being adopted at a community level as this will influence the future design of subscription-based and shared ownership schemes.

EV sales exceeded 2.1 million globally in 2019, with 90% of sales in China, Europe and the U.S., the study observes, with sales of all-electric light-duty vehicles in the U.S. growing from zero in 2010 to 242,000 in 2019.

Reference:
Ramit Debnath et al. ‘Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental dimensions of electric vehicle adoption in the United States: A social-media interaction analysis.’ Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111707

Adapted from a story on the Cambridge Judge Business School website.

A new study led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and based on public attitudes expressed in 36,000 Facebook posts, has found that consumer uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) can be boosted by promoting the social justice and health aspects of the technology.

Chuttersnap via Unsplash

Electric car

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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On yer bike!

sj387 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 09:58:33 +0000

Motorised transport is the fastest-rising cause of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and there’s a strong imperative to address this by moving towards a low-carbon transport system. Moreover, as Woodcock, from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research, explained: “It’s possible to benefit public health at the same time.”

But which approaches to achieving a low-carbon transport system would provide the biggest health benefits?

“We can think about the problem in two ways,” he said. “We can evaluate the impacts of an intervention such as new cycling infrastructure, or we can develop scenarios around what a healthy, low-carbon future transport system would look like, and then we think about how to achieve major changes in how people travel. We often see quite small effects from the interventions happening now, whereas potentially large things are possible.”

“Cycling could have a big role to play,” he said. “But to achieve this you’d have to start thinking about changes in land use to reduce trip distances, and cultural and infrastructural changes to make cycling an everyday mass activity for short- and medium-length trips.”

Woodcock has led the development of an Integrated Transport and Health Impact Modelling (ITHIM) tool, which models the health impacts of travel behaviours on both population health and greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re seeing different effects in different populations,” said Woodcock. “In health terms, switching from driving to cycling consistently shows a net benefit, and the greatest benefit comes from getting older people more active. However, a complicated web of other problems arises. In some contexts, such as inner London, cyclists seem to face notably higher injury risk than users of other travel modes,” he said. “They also breathe harder so are inhaling more air pollution, which is bad for health.But on the other hand, they are not in a car putting other road users at injury risk or producing pollution for everyone else. We need this model to tell us which is the more important effect.”

There are also rebound effects to consider. “If I sell my car and buy a bike, I’ll have money left over, and where do I then spend that money?” he asked. “I may end up causing greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else, and it’s complicated to account for these second-order factors.”

ITHIM has now been taken up in California to evaluate transport plans in the San Francisco Bay area. It showed that a shift from driving to walking and cycling on short trips reduced the burden of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by 14% and reduced emissions by around 14%. By contrast, low-carbon driving reduced emissions by 33.5% but cardiorespiratory disease burden by less than 1%.

̽��ֱ��results are feeding into new policy in which a combination of active transport and low-carbon driving could meet legislative emissions mandates. Meanwhile, working with the Greater London Authority, Woodcock is also evaluating the impact of achieving the Mayor’s cycling targets and has also separately modelled the impacts of the Barclay’s Cycle Hire Scheme.

With funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, Woodcock is leading two additional projects to address the problem of how to achieve the necessary behaviour change. By focusing on the development of cycling cultures through social learning and social influence, and by understanding the unintended outcomes that policies might bring about, these projects are attempting a different approach from those used in traditional transport modelling.

“Our research brings out a potential good news story,” he added. “Health benefits link transport and environment problems, and we need to be sure of the best route to achieving the biggest benefits.”

CEDAR is a partnership between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the ̽��ֱ�� of East Anglia and Medical Research Council Units in Cambridge. Visit www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk for more information.

With governments around the world under increasing pressure to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, transport systems are under scrutiny. Dr James Woodcock has introduced another factor into the equation: population health.

Health benefits link transport and environment problems, and we need to be sure of the best route to achieving the biggest benefits

James Woodcock

Amir Kuckovic

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