Switzerland's new hybrid cargo and train maneuvering locomotives: cheaper to maintain, more energy-efficient
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – A 4,000 ton annual reduction in CO2 and a significant improvement in maintenance costs: Swiss cargo trains will have 30 hybrid locomotives starting in 2013, the CFF rail company has announced.
The new engines are made by Stadler Winterthur, whose director, Hartmut Dietrich, calls them “the most modern and most innovative on the market”.
The locomotives were presented by the two companies 14 October in Winterthur.
The CFF’s traction energy consumption has remained relatively stable for the past four years, between 1,827 and 1,879 GWh.
The new engines are based on an existing model, entirely electric, used by the CFF for maneuvers with passenger trains, the Ee 922.
The new model’s (E 923) electric traction power is twice as great, but it also has a diesel motor for rail lines that have no electric contact points, which gives it far greater flexibility.
The new locomotives have a higher speed, up to 120kph, which will allow them to free the rail lines more quickly for other trains, resulting in sharply lower operating costs, says the CFF.
CFF is paying CHF88 million for the E 923 engines, some of which will be delivered in 2012, but it notes that it will lose the high maintenance cost of older locomotives, such as the Bm 4/4s, which are being retired.
Electric scooters soon for the Swiss post - Photo La Poste Suisse
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post buildings and vehicles are about to shift firmly into ecology gear, with the group’s announcement that all of its letter delivery scooters will soon be electric and 20 of its premises will see photovoltaic systems installed on their rooftops.
The group has until now relied on hydroelectric and wind power.
The national postal system said Thursday 22 September that the moves are part of its “pro clima” programme effort to reduce CO2 emissions by 15,000 tons by 2013, compared to 2010, and to explore “other avenues” for energy sources without sacrificing economic viability.
The fleet of 7,500 scooters used for mail delivery will be replaced with electric models as each one wears out, so that by 2016 at the latest the entire fleet will be electric, using renewable energy sources.
The photovoltaic systems on its business premises will produce 6,000MWh a year, enough to cover 4 percent of Swiss Post’s electricity needs. The installation cost is CHF39 million, with the first system at Zurich-Muelligan, spanning 26,000m2, in an “advanced stage”.
Swiss Post’s CO2 reduction programme includes several other measures:
- Drivers of large delivery vehicles will be trained to use the Eco-drive method, already in use by PostBus drivers who have reduced their energy consumption by 3 percent.
- 140 gas-powered delivery and business vehicles are being converted to 100 percent biogas.
- Swiss Post is buying another 10 hybrid buses, which use 20-30 percent less energy than traditional buses.
- The group is setting up a number of sharing stations for employees, with electric cars and e-bikes.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Climate Action Network (Can) Europe shows Switzerland in 13th place in the 2011 Climate Change Performance Index, with a two-place drop for its change in CO2 emissions. CAN presented the new index at the climate conference in Cancun Mexico Monday 6 December. It measures “climate protection performance” of 57 countries that are responsible for more than 90 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. The index gives a weight of 80 percent to “objective indicators of emissions trend and emissions level. Twenty percent results from national and international climate policy assessments by 190 experts from the respective countries.”
WWF, a partner of Can, says Switzerland’s showing would be worse except that the new rankings do not take into account 2009, a year when emissions in many countries fell significantly due to the economic crisis. The drop in Switzerland was only 2 percent.
Switzerland’s relatively good showing is accounted for more by the low CO2 emissions of hydroelectricity production than by its climate policies, argues WWF. The country is a heavy consumer of imported goods, and the countries that produce them are penalized, rather than Switzerland, for emission rates.
Brazil tops the list, Norway up, Australia bottoms out
US President Barack Obama has thrown his weight behind reforming the US healthcare system and commiting the country to passing significant climate change legislation before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to replace the Kyoto agreement on CO2 emission. It now appears that lawmakers may not have the time or energy to deal with climate change laws that will increase consumers’ energy costs, with the fight to reform health care becoming bogged down. Obama will address Congress Wednesday 9 September in what is increasingly being portrayed as a key speech to get the health debate back on the rails. NPR, Reuters
Solar Impulse computer model in flight (image: EPFL)
Duebendorf, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – “Yesterday, it was a dream. Today, it is an airplane – tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energies”, Bertrand Piccard told journalists gathered Friday 26 June for the unveiling of his futuristic fuel-free airplane Solar Impulse.
Piccard is the head of a project to build and fly a plane that uses only the sun’s energy to fly non-stop around the world.
