Environment

Sustainability issues are critical for 21st century transport. Analysis, shown here in Figure 1 below, suggested that most forms of transport, public or private have similar levels of energy use and emissions output. Because ULTra is electrically powered there is zero emission in the city, but in any case overall energy and emissions are significantly reduced. The average system energy usage is 0.55 MJ per passenger km. This can be compared with figures between 1.2 and 2.4 shown for conventional forms of transport in Figure 1. The typical benefit compared with cars is over 70%. Importantly, in peak periods when cars (and buses) are restricted by congestion this benefit rises to nearly 90%.

This energy saving translates directly into reduced CO2 emissions. ULTra meets the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that CO2 emission should be reduced by at least 60%. The RCEP target is set for 2050. ULTra is able to exceed this target in the present decade - 35 years early.

Resource usage is also considerably reduced because of the small scale of the system. Each vehicle does the job of about forty cars. Infrastructure costs, and resource use are down by a factor of between six and ten compared either to roads or motorways, or to conventional light rail / APM systems.

Because the vehicles require considerably lower power than other forms of transport there is a significant reduction in noise. Initial measurements during vehicle drive-by at 6m/s give noise levels of around 35dBA at 10. These were indistinguishable against background noise. This compares with a car, which would make about 65dBA at the same distance during drive by.

Environmental figure 1: Comparative energy use MJ per passenger kilometre