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Goods news from the Goodwood Conference

7th June 1980, Page 49
7th June 1980
Page 49
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Page 49, 7th June 1980 — Goods news from the Goodwood Conference
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

LIVELY QUESTION and answer sessions followed the papers delivered at last week's Transport Energy Conservation Conference at Goodwood House, Goodwood, West Sussex, sponsored by CM and Scania.

The first speaker Mr John Moore MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Energy, outlined the Government's long-term aims in energy conservation.

Sir Peter Masefield started the ensuing question and answer session by asking Mr Moore about the indication he had given of a possible 60 million tons energy gap in the 1990's.

In replying Mr Moore emphasized that what he had said was that this might be the situation on the Government's necessarily conservative estimates of energy sources. However this gap might not appear if conservation measures taken were effective, nor did it take account of, as yet unkown, future discoveries of energy sources. Mr Len Payne of Sainsbury's referred to Mr Moore's comment that pricing of energy was the key cornerstone in energy conversion policy, pointing out that it was much less easy to conserve fuel in transport than in other areas.

Mr Moore said that his department endeavoured to pursue a policy of nondiscrimination. This was why, for example, recently the tax on diesel fuel had been put in line with that for petrol. He did not envisage a taxation charge, however, to favour diesel. It was up to market forces to establish a pattern, he said.

Dr A. Jebb of Imperial College, London, then asked Mr

Moore why he had not men tioned nuclear energy and Mr Moore replied that the Govern ment was committed to an ex pansion in nuclear energy use and this would divert quantities of other forms of energy such as oil to other uses including transport.

Questioned by Mr D Baker of Tesco about Government ac tion to increase goods vehicle weights as this was an obvious source of energy saving, Mr Moore responded by saying it was not within his area of responsibility to answer. It was a question which should properly be directed to the Minister of Transport.

The last question to Mr Moore came from Mr E V Molyneux of the National Coal Board. Referring to the increasing tendency of local au thorities to impose bans on commercial vehicles, so that they travelled longer distances and burned more fuel, he asked what sort of liaison took place on Government policies on issues of this kind, between local authorities and government departments.

Mr Moore in his reply said that he was aware of this kind of difficulty. He had recently, for example, got together with open cast contractors to hear about their problems with a view to seeing what could be done about them but in issues of this kind sight should not be lost of the fact that minority democratic rights were protected.

Following the paper by Dr Sverker Sjtistriirn of Scania, who spoke about the results of Scania's computer programme which simulated the operation of vehicles with different driveline permutations, Mr F T Richardson of Hertfordshire 'County Council, asked if Scania had carried out tests with automatic gearboxes and whether the company had conducted noise tests.

Whether automatic transmis sions' were an 'economic pro. position, said Dr SjOstrOm, depended on the nature of the operations. However, with the types of vehicle produced by Scania, their use was prohibitive.

As for the noise 'question, Scania's work had been extensive. In producing a low noise level bus, the enclosed noise insulated engines at the rear of the vehicle, it was not possible to hear the noise coming from the engine when the vehicle was in operation for the main noise emitted stemmed from the tyres.

Supplementing this answer on noise, Mr Harry Close of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Department of the US Department of Transportation, said that his organisation had pinpointed fan noise as the main source of engine noise emission, but, with variable fans which were out of service for 98 percent of the time, obviously a benefit accrued. The tendency to adopt lower engine speeds was also a relevant factor in reducing noise.

Mr N Lester of Transport 2000 then asked Mr Close, who .had reported on energy-saving progress made in road transport in the USA, whether the US. Federalincrease in weights from 33 to 36 tons in 1975 had an effect on fuel consumption.

In reply Mr Close explained: "As you increase weight you increase fuel consumption, but you also increase payload and carry goods more economically which means you have fewer• accidents and thus improve safety levels."

The after lunch speakers were, successively Mr Wilhelm, Dreskomfeld of the BDF, Germany's equivalent of our Road Haulage Association, and Mr R C Hutcheson of Shell Mex & BP Ltd. Mr Dreskornfeld spoke about the task of making road haulage conserve "even more energy" and Roger Hutcheson delved into automotive fuel resources and alternative fuels.

Mr R G Crawford of West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive started the main question session by asking Mr SjOstriim whether Scania had looked at bus transport as well as goods vehicle. Mr SjOstrom suggested that the method used for CVs could well be used for buses for driveline selection, but' no particular work had been done on buses in this area.

Mr J Whitcombe of FMC commented on the emphasis put on the role of the driver in .contributing to fuel economy but what ideas are there to automate driving techniques? he asked.

Mr Close said he favoured motivation rather than automation and forecast that there would be greater speed regulation.

Mr Dreskornfeld felt it important to motivate the driver by hauliers recognising in some way the efforts made by drivers to improve performance not only in fuel economy but such things as safety.

Mr Eric Russell of the Road Haulage Association asked Mr Dreskornfeld to comment on whether he thought that the heaviest. vehicles contributed property to their track costs.

Mr Dreskornfeld said that he could not answer generally on this point because different taxation systems were applied in different customers. Always the question came back to a road v rail argument. It also came back to the AASHO tests which gave rise to confusion, An increase in axle loads would not increase road damage but would improve the fuel consumption situation, he said.

Mr J Fitchie, Transport and Road Research Laboratory asked about the testing methods used by Scania to arrive at the conclusion that a more powerful engine was more desirable in a maximum capacity vehicle tan a less powerful one. Were they just computer tests?

"We have done extensive: road tests as well as computer tests and have found an excellent level of agreement between these two Methods," said Dr .Sjostrom. Mr M Jacobson of the Automobile Association asked about destruction of the track using work done in the aircraft industry on landing strips.

Sir Peter Masefield pointed out that when an aircraft landed much of the weight was taken by the wings and the full weight was not imposed until the aircraft was taxi-ing. There were problems here, he said, through cracking of corners on concrete surfaces, which were expensive to repair.

Mr Molyneux asked Mr Hutcheson for his views dn emulsifiers.

Mr Hutcheson replied that Shell was interested and was appraising these, had no views at this stage but might have in six months time.

Mr Graham Simons of Simons & Co. Ltd., was shattered by the US figures showing that in the period from 1973 to 1979 radial tyres in use had moved from 3 per cent to 33 percent. Had comparative tests been conducted to show merits and disadvantages of the various types to show why this had occurred. Investigations had shown, Mr Close replied, that although radials had certain disadvantages such as excessive side wall damage on certain classes of work, by and large their merits far outweighed those of other types of tyre.

Mr Nigel Trotman, Arney Roadstone Corporation was puzzled as to what operators could do to achieve greater fuel economy. He felt it was a matter for the equipment supplier to make vehicles more fuel efficient. He felt that it should not be left to the driver. Directing a question to the Shell speaker he then asked whether there was a problem with diesel with a high sulphur content?

Mr Hutcheson categorically denied this. Sulphur content was controlled by British Standards and higher standards were going to be introduced later this year.

Sir Peter Masefield rounding off the conference said that it had to be remembered that 200 years ago there was no mechanical transport. Today's problem of energy conservation was a relatively recent one, but one thing was certain, one day natural resources would run out. There was a need for conservation, real efforts needed to be made. It was gratifying, however, that a real contribution was being made judging by the figures of savings quoted at the conference.

The Minister, said Sir Peter, had to be nudged into referring to nuclear energy and, he personally felt, this was the way to' future salvation for it meant diverting conventional fuels to other uses.

Sir Peter also highlighted a fact that arose from Mr Close's paper when the latter referred to the fact that investigations had. shown that 40 percent of fuel used in American vehicles was consumed in idling.

He thought those present should take heart from what they had heard because it was obvious that really worthwhile steps were being taken in the direction of energy saving.

The conference was presented with resolution by Eric Russell, RHA calling on the Ministers of Transport and Energy to take cognicence of a number of the points which had been raised. The chairman accepted that the conference had raised and discussed many topics which should be of interest at ministerial level. Sir Peter regreted, however, that since the resolution had not been discussed by conference it would be improper to present it as a resolution.

Arrangements are now in hand for the 1982 conference which will:take place once more at Goodwood House on the last Thursday in May 1982. Attendance is by invitation only but early applications for consideration will be accepted.


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