Transport efficiency
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T noted with interest your I artiCle "Local Pressure" (M27 March) and indeed the discussion on transport and congestion which has appeared in Sound Off and readers letters.
You may be interested in the work the Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU) is doing as part of the DoE Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme (EEBPP) in the transport area. The EEBPP provides
support to industry on reducing its costs through increased fuel efficiency; and in the transport sector it also covers costs savings which can be made through more efficient use of vehicles and road space. I believe this will be of considerable interest to your readers.
Road traffic is set to double within 20 years, mostly through increases in the numbers and mileage of private cars. To keep pace with the increase in traffic growth would require the construction of nearly 2,000 miles of new or widened road each year. Clearly congestion will increase considerably over the next 20 years even if there is a massively increased road building programme. The costs this will impose on the economy and the environment will be minimised only if better use is made of existing infrastructure: transporting the same goods with fewer vehicle-miles, and improving the fuel economy
of each mile driven, We have recently published a guide for freight operators, "Freight Distribution and Logistics", which discusses the impact of logistical trends on fuel consumption. The HOPP has produced a number of other publications aimed at helping businesses which cover such issues as fuel management and driver training. These are available free of charge from EMU. Marcus Jones Energy E'fficiency Best Practice Programme, Harwell, Oxfordshire.