Laser technology spells end of the road for worst polluters
Apr 27, 2017 05:13:40 #
Laser technology spells end of the road for worst polluters.
The worst-polluting vehicles will be detected by roadside lasers linked to cameras, using technology that will begin road trials in Oxford next week.
The system could catch drivers with the dirtiest exhausts and make them pay a charge or fine in clean-air zones planned for dozens of towns and cities.
The government is required under a High Court deadline to publish a new air quality plan by Monday afternoon to address illegal levels of air pollution.
Roadside pollution traps would enable local authorities to target vehicles according to their actual pollution rather than, as planned in central London, penalising all vehicles of a certain age and fuel type.
The traps are to be tested by Ricardo, an environmental consultancy which has been commissioned by Oxford city council and Oxford County Council to investigate options for a zero-emission zone planned for 2020.
The system links a number plate recognition camera to a roadside laser, which analyses a vehicle's exhaust plume to detect levels of pollutants.
David Nimmo-Smith, the county council's cabinet member for environment and a Tory councillor, said that the system would make it possible to target the vehicles which contribute most to the problem.
"Anything that gives you more information and allows you to make a more balanced judgement has to be good", he said. Such systems made it possible "to target those who are the worst polluters". This was fairer than bans on diesel vehicles or banning them according to their age, he added.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, plans to charge pre-2016 diesel cars £12.50 a day in central London from April 2019. From 2021, the charging zone will increase tenfold and include the north and south circular roads.
Mr Nimmo-Smith described the London scheme as a "blunt instrument" which would penalise diesel drivers with effective controls.
A scrappage scheme for buses rather than cars would cut pollution more cheaply, a study for the transport campaign group Greener Journeys has found. Subsidies to replace older diesel buses would cost £16 per kg of nitrogen oxides saved, against £175 per kg for a diesel car scheme.
Modern diesel cars produce 10 times more emissions than modern buses per passenger.
Ben Webster, Environment Editor,
The Times newspaper,
22 April 2017.
The worst-polluting vehicles will be detected by roadside lasers linked to cameras, using technology that will begin road trials in Oxford next week.
The system could catch drivers with the dirtiest exhausts and make them pay a charge or fine in clean-air zones planned for dozens of towns and cities.
The government is required under a High Court deadline to publish a new air quality plan by Monday afternoon to address illegal levels of air pollution.
Roadside pollution traps would enable local authorities to target vehicles according to their actual pollution rather than, as planned in central London, penalising all vehicles of a certain age and fuel type.
The traps are to be tested by Ricardo, an environmental consultancy which has been commissioned by Oxford city council and Oxford County Council to investigate options for a zero-emission zone planned for 2020.
The system links a number plate recognition camera to a roadside laser, which analyses a vehicle's exhaust plume to detect levels of pollutants.
David Nimmo-Smith, the county council's cabinet member for environment and a Tory councillor, said that the system would make it possible to target the vehicles which contribute most to the problem.
"Anything that gives you more information and allows you to make a more balanced judgement has to be good", he said. Such systems made it possible "to target those who are the worst polluters". This was fairer than bans on diesel vehicles or banning them according to their age, he added.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, plans to charge pre-2016 diesel cars £12.50 a day in central London from April 2019. From 2021, the charging zone will increase tenfold and include the north and south circular roads.
Mr Nimmo-Smith described the London scheme as a "blunt instrument" which would penalise diesel drivers with effective controls.
A scrappage scheme for buses rather than cars would cut pollution more cheaply, a study for the transport campaign group Greener Journeys has found. Subsidies to replace older diesel buses would cost £16 per kg of nitrogen oxides saved, against £175 per kg for a diesel car scheme.
Modern diesel cars produce 10 times more emissions than modern buses per passenger.
Ben Webster, Environment Editor,
The Times newspaper,
22 April 2017.
Apr 28, 2017 12:58:14 #
Leicaflex wrote:
Laser technology spells end of the road for worst ... (show quote)
I don't know what, if any, auto pollution solutions London has in place, but I'd be hard pressed to think of a more stupid response to a 'pollution problem', if one truly exists, and is really attributable to cars prior to 2016, 1960 maybe. What does the socialistic mayor plan to do for the thousands of people who just don't have the money to replace their older cars with something 2016 or newer but need them to get to work? Condemn the cars and make them all walk, or maybe force them all to quit working altogether, and put their families on the government dole?
Apr 28, 2017 15:10:23 #
breck
Loc: Derbyshire UK
so much for me purchasing a volvo 2 litre diesel due to its pollution being so low I do not pay road tax or congestion charging in London
Apr 28, 2017 15:47:44 #
Leicaflex wrote:
Laser technology spells end of the road for worst ... (show quote)
So glad I'm not (as of yet officially anyways) under the jurisdiction of the New World Order.
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