http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_IYcApQDj_0

Amory Lovins, advocate of Natural Capitalism – an idea which has many critics–  talks on this video about the advantages of switching car manufacture from heavy steel to lightweight carbon fibre, radically increasing energy efficiency and making it easier to run cars on electricity instead of fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, for those of us who rely on public transport, we’re going nowhere fast – what with cuts to rural bus services in Somerset and the crap bus service between Hebden Bridge and villages on the tops.

Perhaps we need investment in carbon fibre buses as well as cars.

In the 1990s, the Metro in Houston, Texas used a German-made, carbon fibre bus that ran on a smaller diesel engine. That led to immediate savings, with further savings likely from reduced brake and tyre wear and better mileage. John Franks, Senior Director of Bus Maintenance at the Houston, Texas Metro  says, “Lightweight buses pay for themselves.” Yorkshire Metro, are you up to speed?

Green bus manufacturing in Leeds

On our doorstep, the bus manufacturing company Optare is producing Optare Eco Drive buses. These are lighter than conventional buses and run on Lithium batteries.

Optare bus_ photo from Automotive Council website