Article: Energy-efficient cars, fuels not so easy for outer Brisbane

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail click here!

Energy-efficient cars, fuels not so easy for outer Brisbane

Energy-efficient cars, fuels not so easy for outer Brisbane

    * by Craig Johnstone
    * From: The Courier-Mail
    * March 15, 2010 12:00AM

BRISBANE is likely to strike problems encouraging the use of more efficient cars and fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because of the high number of older, larger cars in outer suburbs, according to a major investigation into the city's private car fleet.

The inquiry found high rates of six-cylinder car ownership in suburbs more than 10km from the centre of Brisbane, while ownership of large cars in the city's inner-west and inner-south was low.

Cars on Brisbane's outskirts also tended to be older, making them less fuel-efficient than cars in inner suburbs, the study by a group of Griffith University urban affairs experts found.

Senior research fellow at Griffith's Urban Research Program, Jago Dodson, said the study had profound implications for the effectiveness of the push for more fuel-efficient cars as a means of cutting emissions.

"It certainly casts doubt on the appropriateness of policies predicated on more efficient fuel systems to solve future climate and energy challenges of cities," he said.

Dr Dodson, who will speak at The Courier-Mail's final Our Future, Your Say public forum on population growth in Brisbane tonight, used Queensland Transport's vehicle registration database to compile the study.

A report on the investigation describes proposals for the "mass conversion" of private cars in urban areas to hybrid or fully electric models as "futuristic excitement".

"In general, inner urban areas immediately surrounding the Brisbane CBD and extending to the west and east of the CBD have very low relative proportions of old large cars per household," the report said.

But suburbs in the south and southwest, as well as Brisbane's northern outskirts, had a much higher proportion of older larger cars.

Dr Dodson has also written a report showing how residents in outer suburbs of cities tend be most economically vulnerable to high fuel prices.

[johnnigh]

The trouble with outer suburbs is the ill-considered trade-off between the cost of housing and the cost of everything else for residents.

As Jago and his colleagues have long pointed out, what appears to be cheap housing - low priced land and building - is not really so cheap because you are far away from employment and services and your suburb is barely served by public transport as Bob points out regularly in press releases.

Further rises in petrol prices will hit these suburbs worst, as households buy cheap old cars and keep them on the road far too long. They don't have the cash for new cars, they don't have the public transport so they don't need so many cars and the suburbs are so poorly designed that walking and cycling are even less attractive than in the inner suburbs.

Brisbane, Queensland and Australia in general are way behind the civilised world in planning for accessibility for all households, not merely the privileged.

[Jon Bryant]

Further, even if those living in the outer suburbs can afford to buy more efficient cars and pay for fuel (they always seems to be a way to) it does nothing to solve the bigger problem of congestion.  The soloution is not to have more efficent cars sitting in worse congestion.  This however does seem to be our Governments at all level current thinking.