Cleaner Vehicles & Fuels for Hong Kong RTHK viewpoint 30 September 2001 By: Lisa Hopkinson, Head of Research, Civic Exchange A beautiful Sunday morning. Throw open your window, lean out, and take a deep lungful of… smog.
While summer was here we could pretend we were winning the war against air pollution, but as humidity drops and winds start to blow from the north, it is apparent that we still have a long way to go. Throats are scratchy, eyes are runny, and whatever side of the harbour you’re on, chances are you can’t see much of the other side.
Despite some improvements in air quality this last year, Hong Kong is far from enjoying the clean air that befits a world class city. Vehicles, both diesel and petrol, are still the primary source of street level pollution in Hong Kong. The long-term prognosis is for worsening air quality simply due to the greater number of vehicles on the roads and pollution blowing in from the Mainland, adding to the already noxious soup our vehicles create.
You may be tempted to blame the owners and operators of vehicles for this situation, but they are as eager for change as everyone else. At a workshop on cleaner vehicles and fuels held this summer, Civic Exchange, a non profit thinktank and The Asia Foundation, a non profit philanthropy, brought together representatives from all sectors of the trans port industry.
Not just taxi drivers and bus companies, but vehicle suppliers,
technology providers, government departments, oil companies and utilities. Together we reviewed some of the technologies available and discussed the obstacles to progress.
Last year, Hong Kong adopted Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel, which is now the only kind of automotive diesel sold in Hong Kong. We were the first city in Asia to do so. More recently, government encourage the taxi fleet to change over to cleaner burning LPG. Both of these measures had positive effects on air quality and neither one cost jobs or
wreaked havoc on the economy. In fact, apart from the obvious health and amenity benefits of a city without debilitating vehicle pollution, cleaner vehicle technologies can provide investment opportunities, jobs and technology exports.
What are some of the promising technologies that may be applicable to Hong Kong? As well as the already mentioned solutions of cleaner diesel and LPG, other near to long term technologies include hybrid vehicles, natural gas and fuel cell vehicles.
Hybrid electric vehicles, as their name suggests, have both an electric motor and battery and an internal combustion engine. This combines the range and convenience of an internal combustion engine with the lower emissions and greater fuel economy of an electric vehicle. The New York Transit Authority has ordered 250 hybrid electric buses and hybrid passenger vehicles are selling like hotcakes in Japan.
Natural gas is another cleaner burning fuel which can be used directly in gas vehicles or used to generate hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. All major car, truck and bus manufacturers have built dedicated prototype natural gas vehicles, and around the region – in South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines - natural gas vehicles are in operation.
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices which convert hydrogen and oxygen directly into electricity without combustion. Remember your school chemistry class when you made hydrogen by running an electric current through water? – fuel cells are the reverse process. The only byproduct besides electricity is water so it is the ultimate clean fuel.
Harnessing hydrogen fuel cell energy to power automobiles is now a high priority of nearly every major automotive manufacturer around t he world. Although the technology is not yet commercial, about 40 prototype fuel cell vehicles are currently operating and about 5 billion US dollars in research and development capital is being invested annually. In Chicago, California and some European cities commuters can already ride on prototype fuel cell buses.
So why not Hong Kong?
As we discovered in the workshop, all of these new technologies have potential problems, uncertainties and obstacles. But with some help and leadership from government and the private sector these problems can be overcome.
The participants mapped out some initial ideas for overcoming the institutional and market barriers. One idea would be to base vehicle taxes and fees on their emission performance to encourage more people to own and drive cleaner vehicles. Having a single government department or commission which can help chart a long term energy strategy is also key. For more ideas and information on cleaner vehicle technologies please go to www.civic-exchange.org.
Civic Exchange is holding a follow up workshop on October 31 as part of the Business Environment Council’s Annual Conference. This will focus on what the private sector can do to help promote cleaner vehicles.
If some of these ideas get implemented, then perhaps , one day soon, you will be able to open your window, lean out and take a deep lungful of ‌ .fresh clean air.