Vehicle

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[2] mailto:tom.holland@scmp.com

The Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) was briefed today (March 26) on the Administration’s more comprehensive and vigorous approach in rationalising bus routes to better meet passenger demand, enhance bus operation efficiency, reduce pressure on fare increase, alleviate traffic congestion, and reduce roadside emissions, noting that this is a policy initiative announced in the Policy Address in January 2013.

“In view of the need for and benefits of rationalising bus services from both transport and environmental perspectives, the TAC supports the Government and franchised bus companies to pursue route rationalisation measures with greater vigour and determination. Members welcome the new “area approach” as well as the enhancement in interchange arrangements in rationalising bus services,” the TAC Chairman, Mr Larry Kwok said.

TAC Members were also briefed on the Government’s proposal to phase out heavily polluting diesel commercial vehicles by an incentive-cum-regulatory approach and to limit the service life of newly registered diesel commercial vehicles at 15 years as announced in the 2013 Policy Address, in order to improve roadside air quality and protect public health.

Members noted that there are about 86 000 pre-Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles in Hong Kong accounting for 66 per cent of the diesel commercial vehicle fleet. These vehicles together emit about 90 per cent of respirable suspended particulates and 63 per cent of nitrogen oxides from all diesel commercial vehicles.

“Members welcome the Government’s plan to phase out heavily polluting diesel commercial vehicles by an incentive-cum-regulatory approach,” Mr Kwok said.

Ends/Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:24

Submitted by admin on Jan 30th 2013, 12:00am

Comment›Insight & Opinion  30 Jan 2013

Christine Loh

Christine Loh sets out the priorities to clean up our dirty air, starting with taking the most polluting vehicles off our roads and retrofitting others to cut the harmful emissions that affect the health of thousands of people

Improving Hong Kong’s air quality is a top priority because pollution affects public health. Measures must be strong enough to make a difference.

Most of our daily exposure to air pollution occurs at the roadside. In Hong Kong’s dense urban areas, thousands of people are out and about every minute of every day. Many people work at the roadside or their place of business opens onto a busy road. And the windows of homes on the lower floors of a building open not far from these busy thoroughfares.

Moreover, our roads are relatively narrow, with tall buildings on either side. As a result, emissions from vehicle exhausts become trapped. The pollution in these “street canyons” cannot disperse easily, making it a daily health threat.

Hence, our near-term goal is to reduce roadside air pollution and our first targets are high-emission vehicles – diesel commercial vehicles (such as trucks, school buses and tourist coaches), franchised buses, LPG taxis and minibuses.

The most worrying roadside pollutant are the particulates – PM10 and PM2.5 (or particles that are 10 and 2.5 micrometres in diameter or less, respectively) – that arise from combustion in diesel engines. They can penetrate deeply into lung tissues, causing cardiopulmonary disease. The World Health Organisation recently confirmed that diesel particulates are also carcinogenic.

Our key solution deals with the 88,000 diesel vehicles in Hong Kong that do not meet the newer Euro IV emission standards. They make up about two-thirds of the total number of 128,000 diesel vehicles on our roads. Pre-Euro vehicles are now at least 18 years old, and emit 34 times more particulates than the Euro V models; even a Euro III vehicle emits five times more particulates.

The government has set aside HK$10 billion to provide subsidies to the owners of these outdated vehicles. They can either surrender their vehicle under a “cash for clunker” scheme or get a higher amount to replace their old vehicles with new ones. We offer the flexibility of a dual scheme because trade representatives say some owners may not wish to replace their vehicles – some may want to reduce the size of their fleet while others may wish to retire altogether.

The plan is to get these 88,000 polluting vehicles off our roads by a certain time – pre-Euro and Euro I vehicles by January 2016; Euro II vehicles by January 2017; and the rest by January 2019.

Some have said the subsidies were too generous, and that the phasing out would take too long. The truth is, the government is prepared to spend the money to improve public health, and it recognises that the trade needs time to replace such a large number of vehicles. For the plan to succeed, it needs to be feasible.

We have begun discussions with the trade on the details of the scheme. We will also legislate for a maximum life of 15 years for new diesel vehicles, as many other jurisdictions have done.

Another problem we face is the unusually high levels of nitrogen dioxide at our roadsides. There are two main causes – franchised buses and LPG vehicles.

While older franchised buses had particulate filters fitted to them some years ago, their nitrogen dioxide levels need to be lowered if we are to reduce the overall pollution. Fitting a selective catalytic reduction device on Euro II and III buses would enable them to perform like Euro IV and V models. Bus fleets in Europe have done similar retrofits successfully.

The Hong Kong government is proposing to fund the capital cost of these devices and for the franchisees to absorb the operating and maintenance costs. This scheme is estimated to cost HK$550 million and will take about two years to complete.

LPG vehicles are cleaner than diesel vehicles but a large amount of nitrogen dioxide can be emitted if their catalytic converters are defective. This is precisely the problem in Hong Kong. Local studies have shown that many owners of taxis and minibuses are not replacing the devices when they should. An agreement has been reached for the government to cover the cost of new devices on a one-off basis but for the trade to pay for future replacements.

There are currently about 18,000 taxis and 4,350 minibuses, 66 per cent of which are powered by LPG. For vehicles such as these, which cover a high mileage, the catalytic converter needs to be replaced about every 18 months. This scheme will cost HK$150 million and should be completed by 2014.

The above three schemes are end-of-pipe solutions. Other solutions are also needed. For example, the chief executive’s policy address called for bus routes to be rationalised. A successful reorganisation of bus numbers, routes and networks should result in shorter travel time, easy interchanges and good service, which will also improve roadside air quality.

The policy address also called for adjustments to cross-harbour tunnel fees, which will improve usage efficiency and relieve congestion.

Yet other solutions require planning changes, such as creating low-emission and pedestrian-only zones. We also have a series of measures to reduce shipping emissions. Hong Kong is a busy port for large oceangoing vessels, river trade vessels as well as local craft, such as ferries and hydrofoils.

Together, their emissions of the three major air pollutants – that is, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and respirable suspended particulates – now exceed those of our power plants.

The policy address proposed mandating a fuel switch at berth for oceangoing vessels, and for onshore power equipment to be built at the new Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. Indeed, our longer-term focus is to work with the mainland so that emissions can be controlled in all the waters of the Pearl River Delta. It’s clear from research that significant public health benefits would be reaped from such a move.

To further reduce air pollution, we will explore further reducing local coal-fired electricity generation by about 2020, as well as deepening collaboration with Guangdong, particularly on how to deal with the thorny challenge of regional smog.

We accept that much more needs to be done, and will continue to strive to reduce the public health risk.

Christine Loh Kung-wai is undersecretary for the environment. This is based on her speech yesterday at a joint chamber luncheon with French, Canadian, German, Italian, Singapore and Swedish chambers of commerce members. The event was hosted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

Topics:

Environment

Air Pollution

Vehicle

Published on South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com)

Home > Old trucks face scrapheap to curb air pollution

Submitted by admin on Jan 17th 2013, 12:00am

News›Hong Kong

POLICY ADDRESS

Cheung Chi-fai and Keith Wallis

Cash incentives to take worst-polluting vehicles out of use; law to make ships burn cleaner fuel

Lau Wai-kei spends his days driving a blue dump truck – the very colour everyone wants Hong Kong’s sky to be. It is the first and only truck Lau has bought and has helped fund his wedding, home and feed his two children.

But the truck, registered in 1995, is deemed to be among the city’s most polluting vehicles, emitting 34 times as many particles as the latest model. The continued use of trucks like Lau’s could even threaten lives.

That is why Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday pledged to introduce a HK$10 billion package to remove tens of thousands of the dirtiest vehicles from the streets in phases between now and 2019. It is the largest and most expensive measure ever to clean up the city’s air.

As well as offering larger cash incentives for owners to scrap their vehicles than previous, unsuccessful schemes, the vehicle replacement plan will also limit the lifespan of newly registered trucks to a maximum of 15 years.

Officials say a new law would be needed to impose the lifespan limit before they seek lawmakers’ approval for the funding.

Besides addressing the problem of what he called “carcinogenic” roadside pollution, Leung also pledged to introduce legislation next year to require all oceangoing vessels to use fuel with lower sulphur content when berthed in the city, a move think tank Civic Exchange called a “major breakthrough” that could reduce the sulphur emissions by up to a third.

Leung also plans to force all 15,000 vessels operating in local waters to use cleaner fuel.

Officials hope these policies can improve air quality, helping to extend the lives of the 3,000 people estimated to die prematurely each year due to air pollution and reduce annual economic losses of HK$39 billion attributed by experts to the pollution. But the measures are set to prompt a battle with the transport industry, which says the package goes too far, and green groups like Friends of the Earth and Clean Air Network which say the old vehicles are not being phased out quickly enough.

Under the plan, about 88,000 commercial diesel vehicles which pre-date the Euro IV emission standard introduced in the city in 2006 would be removed from the streets in phases. These vehicles account for about half of all nitrogen oxides emissions and 88 per cent of particles at the roadside.

From 2016, no new licences would be allowed for vehicles that pre-date the Euro and Euro I emissions standards. Pre-Euro II vehicles will not be licensed from 2017, pre-Euro III vehicles from 2019. By the deadlines, these vehicles would be at least 13 years old. Some would have been running for more than 18 years.

Ex-gratia payments based on the age of the vehicle and representing a percentage of the cost of replacement would be offered to affected owners. Those who scrap and replace old vehicles could receive between 18 per cent and 30 per cent of the cost of the replacement, up from 10 per cent to 12 per cent in past schemes.

Unlike previous schemes, owners who scrap their vehicle without replacement would also receive cash, at a rate of between 10 per cent and 18 per cent of a new vehicle’s cost.

But Lau, the truck owner, said a payment of just HK$200,000 would not be enough for him to buy a new truck, which would cost HK$1 million. “It is going to rob me of my living,” he said, adding he would drive his vehicle until the 2016 deadline.

Leung Kun-kuen, chairman of the Kowloon Trucks Merchants Association, said the package was far from satisfactory, adding: “Are [the officials] going to force the operators out of business and prompt them to take to the streets?”

Leung said the compensation for owners who did not buy a new vehicle remained unattractive, and questioned whether even a 30 per cent payment would be enough to encourage owners to scrap Euro III vehicles, as the sum would be similar to what they would receive for selling their used vehicle.

But Chow Yu-lung, 60, who has suffered from asthma for 23 years and avoids walking in urban areas, wants the plan introduced as soon as possible.

“If these vehicles are removed, I could hit the streets again, rather than hiding at home with an air purifier,” he said, adding that he sympathised with those who might lose their job because of the plan.

Professor Anthony Hedley of the University of Hong Kong’s community medicine department said there were limits to Leung’s plan, but it remained a “defining moment”.

“I certainly think the owners should accept responsibility for their vehicles,” he said. “We would not allow the driving of vehicles with no brakes or defective steering, and we shouldn’t allow vehicles with dirty emissions which are killing people.”

Tim Smith, chairman of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association said his group was “pleased to see the chief executive’s support in the policy address for action”.

Smith is also North Asia chief executive for Maersk Line, one of 18 shipping companies that signed the Fair Winds Charter, a voluntary programme in which the firms agreed to use low-sulphur fuel from January 2011 while urging government regulation.

Topics:

CY Leung policy address 2013

Air Pollution

Whereas for passenger cars, the standards are defined by vehicle driving distance, g/km, for lorries (trucks) they are defined by engine energy output, g/kWh, and are therefore in no way comparable. The following table contains a summary of the emission standards and their implementation dates. Dates in the tables refer to new type approvals; the dates for all type approvals are in most cases one year later (EU type approvals are valid longer than one year).

The official category name is heavy-duty diesel engines, which generally includes lorries and buses.

EU Emission Standards for HD Diesel Engines, g/kWh (smoke in m⁻¹)

Emission standards for Large Goods Vehicles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards