Buy a ZEV instead of a SUV
If Europe or the US wants to become sustainable it is indisputable they need to limit their natural resource consumption substantially. The European Union has taken the leading role by its determination to reduce greenhouse gases by 20% in 2020. However a 20% improvement in energy efficiency - even when reached in short term - might not be enough, if we want to share the available natural resources equally over all the people on this planet. Before setting goals like this we should investigate first how much energy and resources need to saved to be sustainable and how we can reach that level of efficiency without waiting too long for technical innovations.
According to the Ecological Footprint (EF) model the current level of sustainability equals a footprint of 1.8 ha., which is available for every world citizen based on the current world population without exhausting natural resources. For instance, the Dutch currently have an average ecological footprint of 4.7 ha, which means that they need to bring down their consumption level about 62%. However, US citizens have an average footprint of 9.5 ha and therefore they have to bring down their footprint with 81%. So, to become sustainable we might need to reduce our resource and energy consumption with 70% instead of 20%.
To achieve such ambitious goals we need to rethink and redesign our transportation and residential concepts and find alternatives for some of our daily routines, which only require a fraction of the actual energy and resource consumption.
Does this mean we have to save energy by staying at home, set the heater a few degrees lower, stop flushing the toilets and use videoconferencing to avoid traveling? Not necessarily. There are smart solutions available that can save our resource and energy consumption up to 90% by merely increasing the resource and energy efficiency.
Take for instance our water consumption. On average we use 180 litres of tap water daily of which only 3 litres are used for drinking water. Most of the drinkable tap water is used for flushing the toilets.
By storing rainwater run-off from your roof, rainwater tanks can provide a valuable water source for flushing toilets, in washing machines, watering gardens and washing cars.
Another famous example are conventional light bulbs, which only convert a few percent of the consumed energy into light, more than 95% is turned into warmth. By using LED lamps one can save 95% of energy used for lighting.
Sustainability also requires complete different thinking about transportation.
Let's analyse the concept of a modern car from a energy efficiency point of view. Seen from this perspective it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to use a machine of 2000 kg to move a human being of only 75 kg. This is even less logical if you take into account that a substantial part of the weight of a human being consist of muscles designed to move the body.
By using a ultralight electric vehicle that is partly (pedal) powered by human muscles, it is easily possible to save 90% of the energy that is currently used by conventional cars.
Does this sound like the long term future? Yes, and no, because such a vehicle, called the TWIKE has already been designed more than 20 years ago. About 900 Twikes have been produced and sold in the past years, most of them operating in the streets of Switzerland and Germany.
The Twike is a human-powered/electric hybrid Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) designed to carry two passengers and cargo.
It was developed for the 1986 World EXPO in Vancouver Canada by a group of Swiss students. It won the "Functionality Award" for the best ergonomic design in the Innovative Vehicle Design Competition (IVDC) and a first prize in the International Human Powered Vehicle Speed Championship . The first Twike was completely driven by human power.
Inspired by the success of this Twike, a group of enthusiasts began to develop the hybrid electric and pedal powered Twike as a vehicle for everyday road use. Until 1998 the Twikes were designed and produced in Switzerland. Since 1998 all new Twikes are built in a small factory in Rosenthal, Germany.
The Twike is controlled using a joystick and can speed up to 85 kilometers per hour (53 mph). Fully charged, the vehicle is able to reach between 50 and 90 kilometers (25–55 miles) per charge on NiCd batteries, depending on terrain, speed, driving style, weight of passengers and cargo, and of course the amount of pedaling by the driver and passenger.
The Twike uses 4-8 kWh to drive 100 km. This is 10 times less than a normal car (the energy value of 1 liter petrol equals 8.3 kWh). So driving a Twike instead of a normal car saves about 90% of the energy used for transportation.
Since 6 months I own a Twike. About four times per week I drive in my Twike to one or more of our offices in Limburg, the Netherlands. In total I have driven about 6000 kilometers in 6 months and I have enjoyed every single kilometer.
While driving I always pedal along, although a Twike can also be driven by only using the electric motor.
When I'm driving to the office in a suit I prefer to use less muscle power than when I'm driving home, because at home I can directly change clothing when I'm a bit warm and sweaty. Cycling is a perfect daily exercise for improving your health and saving energy at the same time.
In the summer the roof can be opened and driving a Twike will give you the special cabrio-feeling.
Probably the most enjoyable part of driving a Twike is seeing how people respond to it. Most of them are so surprised they start laughing, which obviously is a very funny sight. When I park the Twike people almost instantly gather around it and start asking questions like: Is this a car of is it a bike? A young child once asked me if I could fly away with the Twike.
I have never seen so many happy and curious people as in the past six months.
Until now I haven't found any real disadvantages in driving and commuting in a Twike. This has made me wonder why not more people use a Twike for commuting. The price is obviously a big hurdle to take, but the energy cost are less than 1 euro per 100 km. So the initial investment can be earned back by making a lot of kilometers.
One reason I can imagine is that people simply love big cars, because they offer the driver a status symbol and a sense of safety and invulnerability. And of course big cars are very practical when going on a holiday with the whole family.
A Twike cannot replace the family car in that respect, but it certainly makes a perfect second car for commuting and short distances.
Although the Twike in itself will definitely not save the planet, it clearly demonstrates how a different conceptual approach to our daily rituals can save up to 90% of energy consumption without compromising on the result. I'm convinced we can create a sustainable world, just by making different choices.
Buy a ZEV instead of a SUV
29-jul-2007
