Mobility – aiming to go away less
If our climate is a beast of burden that we have overloaded with baggage, then the poor creature owes about half his load to our mobility.
We travel long distances on an almost daily basis as a matter of course. We go shopping in another city, spend a week-end in the Alps or undertake an excursion to a Euro-park. It’s all made possible by modern transport. But hardly anyone thinks about how their flights, car or rail journeys affect the climate.
Most CO2 is caused by leisure traffic, followed by commuting and thirdly by shopping and commercial traffic. In many cases, modern life demands this kind of mobility. We often have good reasons for taking our trips and have no wish to renounce them. So how can we take the pressure off the climate?
1 Aiming to go away less
Not all trips are really necessary. Do without one once in a while – by careful planning and reflecting on whether a trip is really necessary. This is the first step.
2 Choice of transport medium
If you really do have to go away, then your choice of transport medium is of great importance. The most efficient mode of transport as regards climate (and one’s own health) is our own muscle power, followed by train and bus. The least efficient is the car, that convenient mode of transport into which we simply step and drive away.
Unfortunately, cars are also extremely inefficient vehicles. Out of a hundred litres of petrol that you tank, no more than 1.7 litres – less than 2 percent – is used to transport the passengers. The rest is lost.
That is why cars fare so poorly in the CO2 balance. A trip by car generates an average of about 200 g CO2 per kilometre; if its manufacture and processing of fuel is included, this rises to more than 300 g per kilometre. A train trip (in Switzerland) accounts for only 8 g CO2 per kilometre. A bicycle produces almost none at all.
What does all this mean? Circumstances may of course oblige us to go by car. Ultimately, however, you choose your mode of transport. How about trying out a new mode of transport, walking a short distance or using a bicycle? Or changing your mode of transport once, twice or several times by using a bicycle, then a bus and finally a train.
3 Not all cars are the same
There are situations in which we cannot do without a car, at least over the short term. But today’s cars differ greatly with regard to fuel consumption and undesired CO2 emissions. Anyone who drives a “top-ten” car or a hybrid car with energy recovery saves energy and CO2. And eco-driving courses teach us how to handle our vehicles in an energy-intelligent way.
Using a car only when we need one, such as in car-sharing, is an even better option. Mobility parking spaces are found throughout Switzerland, in 1200 locations in 450 towns and cities. Mobility counts about forty drivers for each vehicle – which is easy on the environment, because the manufacture of cars also generates a lot of CO2. Your personal advantage: you don’t need to worry about servicing your car or parking it at home. And you save money, on average some 4000 - 6000 Swiss francs for each replaced car and year.
4 Commuting
Not many people actually enjoy commuting. You lose time, and it involves effort. But it is a necessity for many people whose homes are far from their workplaces.
Car commuters have found ways to ease long journey times and traffic jams: listening to music, phoning and above all being patient every time they are stuck in traffic. Rail commuters sometimes spend longer periods travelling. But rail travel has its compensations. Many people relax on their return from work, by reading, learning or using the time to work on a laptop. Their journey to and from work then increases their working time.
Commuting by train reduces CO2 emissions by a factor of more than twenty. For a journey of 30 kilometres to work, the 2,600 kilograms of CO2 produced annually when commuting by car are reduced to 100 kilograms. As a rule, overall costs are significantly lower when taking the train.
It is up to each one of us to make use of the time at the start and end of our working days. We also have the choice as regards climate protection.
5 Business trips
Sometimes there’s no alternative to personally meeting a distant business partner or colleague. But there are situations in which we can spare ourselves time-zone differences, airports and impersonal hotels. In such cases, tele-, Internet or video-conferences, supported by modern software tools, can be a highly efficient alternative. You gain time, save money and CO2 and experience using future-oriented technologies. Perhaps it’s worth a try?
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