Yes, we are putting our wee weight behind this petition to the UK government. David Webber’s position is the following:

“LPG and other green (fuel) powered vehicles emit significantly lower emissions when compared with a petrol powered vehicle. The current Road Tax system allows for newer green cars to be Road Tax exempt but older LPG converted cars are not included in this scheme. If the government really is interested in decreasing emisions from transportation then it should encourage the public to spend the money on the LPG conversion for thier car and as a reward make them Road Tax exempt.”

We urge you to support this petition by signing up here.

The BBC has reported today that climate Change is affecting the global economy. This is the first report issued on Climate Change by an economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, rather than Environmental Scientists.

Global warming and climate change have recently been highlighted by Al Gore in his movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘. This report supports the stance that climate change will affect us in our lifetime. Our Global Economy has the potential to crash by 20% unless action is taken now, and the rich western countries, UK included, need to take positive action to prevent sea levels rising, water shortages, wildlife extinction and millions of people becoming refugees in their own homes (BBC).

This is all very worrying; so what is the Government urging us to do to prevent these catastrophic outcomes from happening. Well, by 2010 the Government would like to see 5% of all vehicles running on biofuels. Currently only 0.5% of all vehicles are running on LPG in the UK. Targets to reduce European emissions by 30% by 2020 have also been set. You can easily calculate your cars emissions and compare your reductions if running on LPG. Further actions will focus on establishing trade links with Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica to ensure sustainable forestry and working on clean coal technologies in partnership with China.

The following chart was taken from the Stern Review highlighting the part that transport is playing towards emissions. Transport accounts for 14% of our Global emissions.

Sir Nicholas Stern, the author of the report, stated that “We have the time and knowledge to act but only if we act internationally, strongly and urgently “. But that wasn’t the only statement that made an impact. Most notably Mr Blair admitted that “This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime,” and he continued to say that “For every £1 invested now we can save £5, or possibly more, by acting now.
We can’t wait the five years it took to negotiate Kyoto - we simply don’t have the time. We accept we have to go further (than Kyoto).”

Perhaps if there is a financial gain involved, people might be more inclined to take action now rather than later. There must be an immediate growth down-scaling if we’re expecting to have growth in the future. We can no longer wait and see, we must act here and now.
Read a summary of the 700-page report here or contact Fuelture for more information on how to cut your emissions.

Last week’s hot topic on the news was the Liberal Democrats change to Richmond’s Resident Parking Policy. Fuelture is currently investigating to find out if LPG cars will benefit from this change to parking policy in Richmond.

The yearly cost of residents parking is currently £200, Richmond is now basing the parking fee on a cars emissions, with the greenest cars parking for free and high emission cars paying up to £750. Also, having more than one car per household will cost an extra 50% for the second permit. Click here to find out how much your emissions would cost you to park in Richmond.

The Lib Dem’s are approaching the Cabinet next Monday to seek approval for the scheme and believe that this will be an incentive for more people to opt for greener cars and have a positive impact on reducing the effects of climate change. Watch this space for an update on what this means for LPG cars.

The Australian Government has spent more than $2.6million encouraging Aussie’s to convert to LPG. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this figure is the fact that no advertising expenditure has gone on T.V. ads; LPG promotions have been purely print and radio driven.

Fuelture has kept an active watch on the Australian LPG market since the introduction of the $2,000 subsidy in August this year. With the demand for LPG conversions resulting in a two month waiting list, and over 10,000 enquiries into LPG conversions. Perhaps the large advertising budget can be justified by the success of the scheme.

Once again we see manufacturers like Hyundai are pushing LPG cars in other markets, while the UK seems to be missing out. Hyundai just announced that they will be partnering with the Itochu Group to push LPG cars in Japan. Together, they plan to initially target taxi and rental companies. Japan has some 300,000 LPG cars on the road supported by an infrastructure of 1,900 LPG stations, so Hyundai’s efforts seem to be targeted at more mature automotive LPG markets.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could rent LPG cars over here in the UK?

Seoul City, Korea is the next large city to crack down with congestion charging. Air pollution caused by car exhaust fumes is an issue for most cities in the world now and Korea have introduced an innovative driving scheme aiming to reduce the air pollution levels. Drivers will receive a 50% CC discount for taking part in the scheme known as “No Driving Day“. Motorists are expected to abandon their cars for one day each week and are rewarded with this CC discount. The scheme sounds great in theory, however as the No driving cars are only marked with a paper sticker; it is proving difficult to track whether or not motorists are sticking to the No Driving Day promise.

Alternative fuel vehicles, including Electric, hybrid, solar and fuel-cell cars are fully exempt from the CC in Korea. LPG and Diesel Oxidation Catalyst cars receive 50% discount regardless of whether they take part in the No Driving Day scheme.

More and more cities are introducing CC and other methods to encourage motorists to switch to greener driving habits. With London looking to expand the CC zone further, is it time for you to consider you motoring options?

The East Bolton Local Link is piloting a new LPG public transport system. The LPG Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Minibus ferries people between the Royal Bolton Hospital and local areas. Nigal Palmer, Divisional Manager for Facilities at the the hospital is extremely pleased with the move towards a greener transport service for patients, visitors and hospital staff:

At Fuelture we are constantly telling our customers that LPG will NOT affect the performance of their car. Don’t take our word for it, see for yourself…

LPG Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 0-100km in 6 seconds

LPG Audi S8 - 0-100km in 5.04 seconds

I have already mentioned in last weeks Blog the growing demand for LPG Conversions in Australia. The Australian Government warn people to stay away from unsafe LPG Conversions. In order to clear the backlog of cars waiting to be converted to LPG the Government are introducing a A$1.2million skills package to train more engineers in LPG Conversions. All I can say is Australia is certainly leading the way with LPG and we should be following more closely in their footsteps!

Proud to have an alternative fuel car? Treehugger highlighted AutoblogGreen’s entry on Biodiesel stickers for your car. Running your car on an alternative fuel is becoming increasingly trendy with celebrities, individuals and organisations alike so why show people what your fuel of choice is. Check out the Biodiesel stickers or if you are an LPG fanatic (like Fuelture) why not email us and we will send you an LPG Sticker for your car.