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EDMONTON The city is backing away from a proposal to spend $82 million on energy-efficient vehicles and other changes to reduce the fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent within a decade.
Staff are instead recommending an extra $4.5 million over the next eight years to buy hybrids or other green cars and trucks once vehicles need replacement, along with$2.5 million on a fuel monitoring system, corporate services general manager David Edey said Wednesday.
While the city’s sustainable fleet management plan had aimed to meet the city’s goal of reducing greenhouse gases from its 4,250 vehicles 20 per cent by 2017, that target is now uncertain, he said.
Most of the scheme’s budget was aimed at eventually having hybrids make up 40 per cent of Edmonton’s buses, but officials don’t think this is necessary because the main environmental benefit from transit is luring commuters out of private vehicles, Edey said.
“For transit, we’re saying the gain isn’t getting the buses more efficient,” he said. “The gain is getting people on the bus.”
They’re working on other improvements, such as increased use of ethanol, programs to teach employees to increase fuel efficiency and “right sizing” to buy the smallest vehicles that can do the job required, Edey said.
Coun. Don Iveson said one reason for the new approach is cost, especially with no funding commitments from the federal and provincial governments.
“There isn’t enough money put into it right now to change the fleet overnight, but it’s really a long-term project,” he said. “I think the technology is still emerging in this area, so it’s good not to rush in headlong. Over time, hopefully, we can achieve some reductions.”
While international talks are trying to determine the amount that greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, need to be cut in the next 40 years, it could be as high as 80 per cent, Iveson said.
He’d like to measure overall Edmonton emissions, which come mainly from buildings and vehicles.
“It’s all up in the air … I would say our targets probably need to be stronger rather than weaker, but right now we’re not even moving strongly toward the weak targets.”
The city never came close to its previous target of cutting emissions 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008, seeing them rise about 17 per cent instead.
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