www.care4air.org Care4Air eZine Spring 2009

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The ECO Stars Fleet RecognitionScheme, the first of its kindin the UK, has now launched!South Yorkshire is leading theway in improving air qualityby recognising fleet operatorswho are using lower pollutingvehicles and effectivefuel management. The Efficient and Cleaner Operations (ECO)Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme is free to joinand was set up by Care4Air to help LGV (LargeGoods Vehicle), HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle),bus and coach fleet operators gain recognitionfor their commitment to improving efficiency,reducing fuel consumption and reducingemissions - all helping to improve local airquality. The scheme hopes to drive out thecommon misconception that all buses andlorries are ‘dirty, smelly things’. It also aimsto encourage other organisations to considerinvesting in lower polluting vehicles.

Clipper Logistics Group, a leading independentlogistics company based in Yorkshire, were thefirst company to sign up to the scheme. Clipper

received four stars out of a possible five starrating for overall fleet performance. They havesince gone on to improve their performanceby following a ‘road map’ of advice given tothem and now have a maximum five star rating.

Tony Mannix, managing director of Clipper,said: “Clipper’s role as an ambassador for the scheme is an important one and we lookforward to many more organisations joining us.

The ECO Stars initiative is a great opportunityfor Yorkshire fleets to review their environmentalefficiency and improve their green credentialsas well as boosting their business performance.”

The second fleet to join the scheme wasHastings Freight, a company that has operatedacross South Yorkshire for over 25 years. They

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ECO STARS FLEET RECOGNITIONSCHEME LAUNCHES

Nominations for the 2009 Awardsare now open! Click here for more details

Contents1 Eco Stars Fleet

Recognition Schemelaunches

2 New website putsCare4Air on thecurriculum

3 Winning films fromReduction Festivallook at reducing ourenvironmental impact

3 Belfast takeinspiration from SouthYorkshire to Care4Air

4 Eco drive for a healthySheffield

4 Coming soon - stoprolling start strolling

4 Smart blog putprototype electric carto the test

5 Nominate your cleanair champions now!

5 Rotherham launchesnew map movies

Want to know moreabout what’s happeningwith the Care4Aircampaign?

Contact Mark Dalyon 0114 2 73 4655or emailmark.daly@sheffield.gov.uk

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received a four star rating for the 18 vehicles they signed up andare also working hard to reach the maximum five stars.

Each new organisation signing up to the scheme will have boththeir individual vehicles and their overall road transport operationassessed using the star rating criteria, to recognise levels ofoperational and environmental performance. Scheme benefitsinclude: windscreen decals and door stickers issued for eachvehicle to profile efficiency and environmental credentials; andbespoke ‘road map’ action plans to help them progress tohigher ratings levels.

Every year vehicles on UK roads produce 173.2 million tonnes ofcarbon dioxide emissions. HGVs, LGVs, buses and coaches areresponsible for 29% of this amount*. By implementing the keymeasures in the ECO Stars Scheme a typical HGV could reduce

its annual output of carbon dioxide by six tonnes and see fuelconsumption fall by a minimum of 5%, saving £2,750*.

Councillors from all four districts in South Yorkshire attended thelaunch. Councillor Collin France, Sheffield Cabinet Advisor forClimate Change and Environment, said: “The ECO Stars Schemeis unique in the UK because it includes vans and lorries as wellas buses and coaches. Hopefully more operators will take theirlead and get on board.”

Several other large fleets are currently signing up to becomemembers and the ECO Star rating of the first bus and coachoperator to join the scheme will be announced soon. To seeprofiles on all the ECO Stars members visithttp://www.care4air.org/eco_stars_scheme.html

* Statistics from Department for Transport figures.

If you are interested in finding out more about the scheme and its benefits and howto sign up, call the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme Team on 01543 416 416and quote ‘ECO Stars’. Alternatively, email ecostars@ttr-ltd.com

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NEW WEBSITE PUTSCARE4AIR ON THE CURRICULUM

The award winning Care4Air websiteis now being used to teach secondaryschool pupils across the UK after gainingapproval from the Twenty First CenturyScience GCSE project.

The newly launched sub-site ‘Learn to Care4Air’has been recommended as a learning resource forGCSE students. Over 900 schools in England andWales are using Twenty First Century Scienceresources to teach pupils.

‘Learn to Care4Air’ contains comprehensiveinformation about:• air pollutants: fine particles, nitrogen dioxide,

sulphur dioxide and ozone• measuring air pollutants, including the use

of diffusion tubes• comparing and interpreting air quality data• greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect• calculating your carbon footprint

John Lazonby, Twenty First Century Scienceadvisor, said: “The ‘Learn to Care4Air’ websiteis really useful for young people. There is a lotof detailed information and it is all written inaccessible language. Young people will nowhave a better grasp of how air quality is beingmonitored and I am sure they will realise thatbecause organisations like Care4Air are activelyand regularly doing this work, what they arestudying is important.”

To learn more for yourself visitwww.care4air.org/yp_home.html

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WINNING FILMS FROM REDUCTIONFESTIVAL LOOK AT REDUCINGOUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

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BELFAST TAKE INSPIRATIONFROM SOUTH YORKSHIRE TO CARE4AIR

Air Quality Officers inNorthern Ireland have set upa community diffusion tubemonitoring scheme afterhearing an inspiringpresentation by Care4AirCoordinator, Mark Daly.Belfast City Council started their schemeas a direct result of hearing about thesuccessful Care4Air and East End Qualityof Life Initiative in Sheffield from MarkDaly, who was a guest speaker at arecent air quality forum meeting. The newscheme is now operating across an AirQuality Management Area (AQMA) inWest Belfast.

Arlene Jamieson, Air Quality Officer forBelfast City Council said: “After hearingabout the scheme run by communitygroups and schools in Sheffield wedecided it would be a good idea to startour own community monitoring schemehere. We are working with a localcommunity centre in an area of Belfastwhere there is an AQMA and theycurrently have diffusion five tubes in place.

“Every month they post their tubes backto us and we send them a quarterlybulletin with the results. Running the

scheme has been really interesting and ithas been great to engage the communityand make them more aware of air qualityissues.”

Following from the success of thisscheme in Belfast, another communitygroup will soon be launching a secondmonitoring scheme. The next set ofdiffusion tubes will be placed near BelfastCity Airport by a local group who haveconcerns about the impact of the airporton their air quality.

The East End Quality of Life Initiativeworks with Care4Air and SheffieldPrimary Care Trust to measure airpollution in Tinsley in partnership with thelocal community. Every month on a setday decided by the communityvolunteers, they change the diffusiontubes. The tube details (batch number,tube number, site, date and time ofchange over) are written on a log sheetand sent with the exposed tubes to thelaboratory for analysis.

Neil Parry, East End Project Coordinator,said: “Community organisations are wellplaced to know the locations in theirneighbourhoods where residents areconcerned about air pollution. Themonitoring scheme we run in Tinsley hasbrought the issue of air pollution down

to the local level and empowered thecommunity to better articulate theirconcerns about poor air quality, trafficand its effects on the community’s healthand quality of life. Tinsley residents sufferhigher than the Sheffield average formany health conditions that can beaffected by poor air quality. We haverecently used the data we have collectedfrom diffusion tubes to lobby FirstTransport about putting new, loweremission buses on the routes in the area.

“We are very proud that Belfastcommunities have set up their ownmonitoring scheme after hearing moreabout our work and we hope that ourexample of good practise will continueto be adopted by other communitygroups across the UK.”

The Care4Air film created as part ofYorkshire’s first ever eco-friendly filmfestival is now available to be viewed online. Care4Air was recently one of the proud sponsors ofSheffield’s innovative Reduction Film Festival, which wasdedicated to short film and video content. Organisers calledfor sponsors to come forward and back the campaign in itsdebut year, which aimed to help tackle the complexenvironmental concerns that people have.

As part of the Reduction Festival film makers were seta seven day challenge which saw them randomly pairedwith an environmental issue suggested by the different sponsors and sent away to make a film. Care4Air was paired with local film maker Rachael Field and chosethe theme of ‘Why should we care for our air?’.

Rachael quickly set offto interpret the title andproduce a piece of film.Her film and 16 otherswere judged by the Reduction panel and an overallwinner was selected at a special premiere at Sheffield’sShowroom cinema.

Richard Keenan, Reduction Film Festival organiser, said:“The debut year of the Reduction Festival was a greatsuccess. The Care4Air film is a modern, fun and off the wallanimation with important underlying messages about howair quality affects us in everyday life.”

You can watch the Rachael Field’s Care4Air filmonline at http://www.care4air.org/c4atv.html

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ECO DRIVE FOR A HEALTHY SHEFFIELD

An exhibition was recentlyheld in Sheffield to celebratethe fact that the city is oneof the few areas in thecountry to be reducinghealth inequalities.

The Healthy Sheffield ShowcaseEvent demonstrated all the goodwork being done across Sheffieldand Care4Air were invited to displaywork and present.

Care4Air coordinator Mark Dalyspoke about the challenges we face

in the future with the quality of ourair. The speech focused on ecodriving techniques that reduceexhaust emissions whilst savingmoney. Air pollution is still a majorhealth issue in the UK, causing24,000 deaths per year. Traffic is thebiggest source of that air pollution.

Other exhibitors included ActiveSheffield, Sustainable Housing &Affordable Warmth Team, SheffieldRoad Safety Team, Sheffield StopSmoking Service and SheffieldFirst Partnership.

COMING SOONSTOP ROLLINGSTART STROLLING

Care4Air islaunching a newcampaign toencourage peopleto walk instead ofusing their carthroughout 2009.

With springtimeweather approachingyou can help yourselfand the environmentstay healthy byputting your best foot forward andwalking when you are only taking a short journey.

50% of car journeys are under 2 miles* and walkingthat distance only takes an average of 30 minutes. Bywalking you will decrease the amount of harmful vehicleemissions in the air, reduce your carbon footprint andkeep fit too!

Look out for a series of events to promote walkingacross South Yorkshire in the coming months. We’ll bestarting things off by stretching our legs during Walkingto Work week from 27 April and 1st May to raiseawareness of the benefits of walking.

Remember, if you’re not going far, don’t use your car!

Statistic fromhttp://www.travelwiseni.co.uk/index/commuters.html

SMART BLOG PUT PROTOTYPEELECTRIC CAR TO THE TESTOver 800 people recentlyfollowed the journeys ofa leading council officialas he put an electricprototype car to the teston Sheffield’s roads.Gary McGrogan,Sheffield City Council’sDirector of Environmentand Regulatory Services,kept a blog for 18 daysabout his experiences.

The Smart Electric Vehicle (Smart EV) was on trial with Sheffield CityCouncil’s fleet and was put through its paces in real world conditionsup and around the city’s hills.

Makers Mercedes-Benz claimed that the electric car offered nippy in townperformance and Gary McGrogan was not disappointed as he managedto reach a top speed of 63mph going downhill on the Dronfield Bypass!

Gary McGrogan said: “I was very interested to see how far the Smart EVcould go between charges and how much it would cost to charge up.An empty battery took 12.7kwh to fully charge, which equates to 60pon Economy 7 charging or £1.63 on normal day rate. The car travelledbetween 50-70 miles on this battery. That makes for very cheap motoringand of course there is the bonus of zero emissions from the vehicle.

“I was very pleased with the numbers of people who followed the blog.Perhaps if the interest and demand for electric vehicles increases thentechnology will move faster and electric cars will become affordablefor everyone.”

The Smart EV is one of the first of just 200 cars electric cars on trial inthe UK. The car is powered by a 30kW electric motor and is exempt fromboth road tax and congestion charges as it does not produce any harmfulemissions that damage the atmosphere. Street parking around Sheffield isalso free because the car is an environmentally friendly vehicle.

The Smart EV will also feature in the new edition of Care4Air TV,which is due to launch at the end of the month. To find out morevisit the blog at http://care4air.blogspot.com.

To find out more about eco driving and how it can help you save money and contributetowards cleaner, healthier air visit http://www.care4air.org/eco_drive.html

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ROTHERHAM LAUNCHES NEW MAP MOVIES

Three new Map Movies have beenlaunched to promote sustainabletravel in Rawmarsh, Thrybergh andWickersley. The new map moviescome following the success of theground-breaking Rotherham Bus MapMovie which allowed internet usersto see a virtual representation of allmajor bus routes in Rotherham.

The movies are the first of their kindto promote sustainable travel byshowing bus, cycling and walkingroutes around the borough. They areparticularly useful for people withoutmuch local transport knowledge. Map

movies for Dinnington, Manvers andWaverley were launched last year toshow people how to get to major newemployment sites.

Steve Brown, Transport Planner atRotherham MBC, said: “These mapsare a way of focusing people’sthoughts on local travel by foot,bicycle and bus. If people are onlymaking a short journey they don’tneed to use their car. These mapsshow designated cycle routes, safecrossing points for walking to school,bus routes in the area and bus stopswith links to real time information.”

There have been over 17,000 hitson the map movies website since itslaunch. Care4Air has applauded themovies, for providing greaterencouragement for people to walk,cycle or use public transport, all ofwhich can have a positive impact onlocal air quality by reducingcongestion and single occupancyjourneys. To view all seven of the BusMap Movies visit:http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/EDSSurveys/BusMapMovies/rotherham.htmand follow the links to the area youare interested in.

Voting is now open forthe second annual Care4Air

Awards! If you think you arean air quality champion, or

you know of a business or anindividual who is going aboveand beyond to improve air qualityin the region, why not nominatethem for a Care4Air Award in 2009?

The innovative awards scheme from Care4Airrecognises individuals and organisations whohave made a significant contribution to improvingair quality. This could include:• setting up travel plans in local organisations

being more energy efficient by setting up arecycling scheme

• providing community travel schemes formembers of the public or for the school run

• setting up a school walking bus orcar-sharing scheme

• promoting cycling as an alternative to usingthe car

• making significant lifestyle changes to improveair quality (e.g. walking or cycling to workeveryday)

The categories that you can nominate under are‘Individual Award’, ‘Community Award’,‘Education Award’ and ‘Business Award’. Therewill be a winner for each category and then fromthese an overall winner will be chosen for their‘Outstanding Contribution to Improving Air Quality’.

The closing date for all entries is 11th May 2009,when Care4Air will narrow the nominees downbefore a selected panel of experts in the airquality field decide upon the winners. The finalistsare promised an exciting awards ceremony heldat a special venue with celebrity guest host ITVWeatherman, Jon Mitchell, on 11th June.

Mark Daly, Spokesperson for Care4Air, said:“Last year we had some fantastic awardsfinalists who had made great contributionstowards improving air quality. For 2009 we wantto hear from even more people who arecontributing to helping us to achieve our goalof improving air quality across South Yorkshire.”

People can now nominate themselves or anyonewho is doing that little bit extra to improve airquality by logging onto www.care4air.organd completing the online nomination form.

Could you or someone youknow win a Care4Air Award?Here’s who won in 2008:

Individual Award - Dr Jez McCole fromGleadless Medical Centre for cycling to andfrom work and also cycling when completinghis patient home visits.

Community Award - Kiveton Park and WalesVillage Hall for their community centre whichhas solar panels, thermal pumps for heating, awater harvesting system and sun tubes to avoidusing lighting power in the day-time.

Education Award - City School for reducingtheir carbon footprint installing energy savinginitiatives (computer power down devices,stickers next to lights); extensive recyclingschemes; and a wind turbine.

Business Award - First Transport for theintroduction of the new low emission X78bus service.

Outstanding Contribution to Improving AirQuality - Maurice Littlewood for his dedicationto monitoring nitrogen dioxide in Darnall andHandsworth by using diffusion tubes.

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