[sustran] Highlights from Car Lines newsletter

SUSTRAN Resource Centre sustran at po.jaring.my
Fri Jul 21 17:57:42 JST 2000


Below are a few short excerpts of items of special relevance to the 'South'
from the latest edition of Mike Walsh's newsletter, "Car Lines", Issue
2000-4, July 2000. Car Lines deals mostly with transport air pollution and
emissions issues. At 37 pages it is a whopper with much technical detail.
Invaluable for anyone with a detailed interest in emissions issues.

Back Issues of Car Lines, instructions on how to get future editions, and
other useful documents are available at http://walshcarlines.com


Winter Smog Chokes Chilean Capital

... Meanwhile, when pollution levels hit critical
levels recently, private cars were banned on
six major roads, causing mayhem on side
streets while leaving buses and taxis the run
of the road on the city's six main boulevards.
"The idea was to increase a 30-minute car
drive to 60 minutes and decrease a 40-minute
bus journey to 20 minutes," said Gianni
Lopez, head of the Santiago office of the
government's National Environment
Commission (Conama).

(President) Lopez hailed the ban as a success as 25
percent of car owners did not use their
vehicles that day. But experts say Lagos has
an uphill struggle to convince car owners to
flag down a bus or ride the subway, especially
without first upgrading the image and the
reality of public transport.
of the capital is reducing the number of lanes
on major roads to discourage car use, while
a neighboring district is building parking lots. ...



Diesel Seminar Takes Place in China

A Seminar on modern diesel engine
technology and environmental protection was
held recently by foreign auto and diesel engine
producers in Beijing. The companies
attending included Cummins, Bosch,
DaimlerChrysler, Volvo, Caterpillar, Dana and
Isuzu. The seminar was part of the Green 
Diesel initiative launched by the producers in
March. The initiative is designed to help China
realize its development and environmental
protection goals by introducing modern
diesels's advantages and advocating the
establishment of uniform performance-based
emission regulations in the country....


The Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Program of the Philippines

Key motor vehicle related elements of the Air
Quality Action Plan for the Philippines are
summarized...


South Korea Proposes To Tighten New Vehicle and Fuels Requirements

South Korea has proposed to significantly
tighten emissions standards for new vehicles
and to improve fuel quality. For gasoline
fueled cars, they intend to phase in the
California LEV standards beginning in 2002;
similar LEV standards will be introduced for
light trucks in 2003. A Cold Temperature CO
standard, 6.3 g/km, will also be introduced for
new cars starting in 2003. The Euro 3
standards, i.e., those which are introduced in
Europe this year, will be introduced in Korea
in 2003...


Hong Kong Decides To Stimulate Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel

After months of debate, Hong Kong has
announced its decision to accelerate the
introduction of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel
(ULSD) with a maximum sulfur content of 50
ppm. ... 


Hong Kong Stiffens Fines For Smoky Vehicles

Hong Kong lawmakers have passed a
resolution to raise fines on smoky vehicles in
a long-awaited move to crack down on
worsening air pollution.
The government motion raising the fixed
penalty on smoky vehicles to HK$1,000
(US$128) from HK$450 from December 2000
was passed by a large majority in the
60-member legislature.
However, an amendment by prominent
environmentalist and legislator Christine Loh
to stiffen the penalty further to HK$5,000 was
voted down. "If you consider the cost to
society...how can HK$1,000 be enough?" Loh
said. ...


Recent Developments in China

A. China Air Quality Standards
China recently modified its air quality
standards for nitrogen dioxide and eliminated
its standards for nitrogen oxides. Even the
relaxed nitrogen dioxide standard is more
stringent than the current US standard for this
pollutant....

B. New Clean Air Law
The new Clean Air Law has been adopted and
will go into effect on September 1, 2000. It
contains several provisions which are motor
vehicle related, most of which SEPA is
pleased with. ...


Progress on Lead Free Fuel in Indonesia?

In Indonesia, the largest remaining country in
the world without lead free gasoline, a
campaign is about to be launched. Funds
have been provided by the US EPA to carry
out a small study of the lead levels in the
blood of children in Jakarta which will
hopefully demonstrate the need for action. A
direct comparison will be made with lead
levels in the children in Bangkok where a
companion study has just been started and
where leaded gasoline was banned in 1996.
Indonesia's Mines and Energy Minister Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono subsequently
announced that the government planned to
boost the use of unleaded gasoline in an effort
to reduce pollution. ...
-----------------------------


Distributed for the purpose of education and research.

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
SUSTRAN Resource Centre
Information services for the Sustainable Transport Action Network
for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network)
sustran at po.jaring.my,  http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran



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