§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many registered vehicles run on hydrogen in the UK. [133704]
§ Mr. McNultyAt the present time there are only a small number of prototype/demonstration vehicles running on hydrogen, worldwide. Transport for London will shortly begin demonstration trials of hydrogen fuel cell buses on public bus routes, with financial support from the Government's New Vehicle Technology Fund, as part of a European-wide demonstration programme, Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE). Ford will be carrying out trials of hydrogen fuel cell and internal combustion cars next year.
§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many tonnes of(a) fine particulates and (b) ultrafine particulates were emitted into the atmosphere in the UK by the (i) diesel powered vehicle pare, (ii) petrol powered vehicle pare and (iii) road fuel gas vehicle pare in the latest year for which figures are available. [133705]
§ Mr. McNultyThe following table, based on data from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, presents emissions of particulate matter by fraction, in kilotonnes, from road transport in 2001.
Emissions of particulate matter by fraction(kilotonne) Vehicle type Particulate fraction Diesel Petrol Road fuel gas
Coarse PM10 26.9 3.17 0.02 Fine PM2.5 25.94 3.06 0.02 Ultrafine PM0.1 13.42 1.58 0.01 Vehicle kilometres covered (billion)
135.4 354.8 1.7 10includes all particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10m (likewise PM2.5 includes all particles smaller than 2.5m, and so on), thus the finer particle totals are a subset of the coarser particles.
573WFigures for PM2.5, PM1 and PM0.1are estimated from those for PM10 and the mass fractions in these size ranges available for different emission sources and fuel types. These figures assume the following:
100,000 LPG vehicles in pare, travelling the same distance per year as passenger cars (industry source);emissions from LPG vehicles assumed to be same as average PM factor for petrol vehicles (no PM emissions data available for LPG vehicles); and850 HDVs running on CNG (industry source), their emissions of PM being 90 per cent. lower than a Euro II HDV running on diesel.
§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he has in place to reduce the emissions of ultrafine particles from the UK vehicle pare. [133706]
§ Mr. McNultyThe Government place a high priority on reducing emissions of air pollutants from road transport. Emissions of particles (PM10) from road transport have reduced by some 50 per cent. over the last decade as a result of progressively tighter vehicle and fuel quality standards. Emissions of ultrafine particles from road transport are much harder to measure. The UK has been at the forefront of an international programme to develop appropriate ways of measuring emissions of these small particles. Once this has been completed, the Government will be in a position to take further steps, should the health evidence indicate that this is necessary.