§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his estimate is of the number of passenger cars in the UK; and how many of these were powered by road fuel gases or were bi-fuel(a) in the first quarter of 1998, (b) in the first quarter of 1999 and (c) in the first quarter of 2000, and (d) at the latest date for which figures are available. [146632]
§ Mr. HillFigures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency show that the number of passenger cars in Great Britain registered as being powered by either road fuel gases or bi-fuel, and the total number of cars registered, are as set out in the table. The figures do not include vehicles in Northern Ireland for which quarterly data are not available.
Total cars registered Total road fuel gas and bi-fuels Q1 1998 22,984,336 7,326 Q1 1999 23,458,476 11,232 Q1 2000 24,167,000 15,096 Q3 2000 24,383,344 18,298
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what research he has(a) evaluated and (b) commissioned into the amount of energy required through the refining process to produce a standard measure of distance travelled in vehicles propelled by (i) LPG, (ii) ULSD and (iii) ULSP. [146630]
§ Mr. HillThe Government have not commissioned any specific research regarding the amount of energy required to refine ULSD and ULSP. We do, however, regularly commission and evaluate research on the overall CO2 emissions and energy consumption from the downstream oil refining sector. A joint DTI and DOT study, "Alternative Road Transport Fuels: a preliminary lifecycle study for the UK", published in 1996 provides estimates of the amount of energy used during the refining of petrol, diesel and LPG. A more recent research by DTI published last year, "Emission effects and cost of sulphur free petrol and diesel", considered the relative impact of the production of 10 ppm sulphur fuels could have on overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions from refineries. It should be noted, though, that the attribution of energy consumption during refining to particular petroleum products is often difficult, as oil refining is an integrated process and there are large variations in energy consumption from individual refineries.
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what research he has(a) evaluated and (b) commissioned regarding the comparative environmental qualities of LPG, ULSD and 736W ULSP in respect of (i) prevalence of particulates, (ii) noise, (iii) carbon dioxide emissions, (iv) oxides of nitrogen, (v) benzene and (vi) 1.3 butadiene. [146628]
§ Mr. HillInformation from a wide range of sources is used by my Department to evaluate the environmental impacts of different road fuels, including LPG, ULSD and ULSP. DETR itself has a large vehicle emission testing research programme; for instance we funded this year a major project with the SMMT and CONWARE which considered ultra fine particulate emissions from road vehicles using different fuel specifications. The final report from this project is due to be published shortly. Valuable emission data are also received often on a confidential basis from stakeholders, including vehicle operators, fuel companies and motor manufacturers, while Powershift—funded by DETR—regularly monitors the emissions performance of gas powered vehicles supported by Powershift grants.