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Industry News
TfL: Transport for London (TfL) is carrying out a trial that will see 18 buses retrofitted with specialist equipment to tackle NOx air pollution. The trial is a UK-first and will evaluate a number of the latest available technologies, to see which provides the best results before extending it to more buses in the fleet.
TfL has taken considerable steps in the last 10 years to reduce the environmental impact of its bus fleet. All buses achieve Euro IV standard for particulate matter (PM) pollution and, as a result, emissions of particulate matter from the fleet have dropped from over 200 tonnes in 1997 to 14 tonnes in 2010.
The Mayor's Air Quality Strategy proposes that, subject to Government support, by 2015 all buses in London will meet the Euro IV standard for NOx. The majority of the 8,500 buses in the Capital's fleet should meet this but it is estimated that around 2,700 buses will need to be retrofitted or replaced in order to bring them in line with this standard.
OS: Digimap for Schools, the online mapping portal that brings digital Ordnance Survey mapping into the classroom, received a top honour at the Geographical Association’s awards on Thursday (14 April) evening. Launched in November last year, Digimap for Schools provides easy, online access to Ordnance Survey's most detailed digital mapping for the whole of Great Britain. It was awarded Gold Certification for the most innovative new educational resource available to teachers.
The service is designed to improve the teaching of geography in schools - reflecting changes in technology that mean children are increasingly used to working with maps online. It provides instant access to mapping at various scales that can then be printed for use outside the classroom.
PwC: PwC will pilot two 100% electric vehicles at the firm’s central London offices as part of a pioneering new scheme to lower the firm’s overall transport emissions, the first of its kind for a corporate fleet. The deal with Hertz, will encourage employees to swap taxi journeys of over 6 miles with booking the cars from the firm’s central London offices in Westminster or Southwark.
The 2 five-door, small hatch cars have a 90 mile range, are 100% electric, and provide a live member car care support line via the Connect by Hertz in car communications system, including statistics on emissions & usage. The cars will be charged at the two PwC offices or via Hertz's wider network, or Source London's network. Employees could also charge them overnight via a three pin socket.
