Italy falls short of European standards for sustainable mobility, but the last word has not yet been said. All the solutions that cities should adopt.
Getting around is unavoidable in our society. Every day we go to work, to school, we meet friends, go shopping or on day trips. To make our journeys comfortable and to keep the city we live in healthy, local government plays a fundamental role. The choice of using the most eco-friendly means of transport available is ours. Here is a guide for our everyday lives, on good practices for getting around and making a concrete difference for the environment.
When distances allow, the first suggestion is to save energy by moving around on foot. Walking, the simplest and most natural physical activity, has surprisingly beneficial effects. The Fondazione Umberto Veronesi explains how walking helps combat cholesterol and diabetes, control weight and have a positive effect on mood, by balancing the hormones that generate stress throughout the day. No more need for relaxing herbal teas to fight stress or polluting cars for short journeys: our legs are the most useful and sustainable means of transport in the world.
When distances start to increase, why not choose to use a bicycle? Our cities are not always well-equipped for cyclists — cycle lanes are often intermittent and roads too busy and dangerous. And yet it is precisely bikes that most support sustainable urban development. The two-wheeled vehicle par excellence, the bicycle, helps ease traffic congestion and allows people to breathe cleaner air in the city. To encourage bike use, technology has entered the arena — with electric bikes and pedal-assisted bikes — along with innovation, which has made it possible to computerise bike sharing systems, and finally local administrations. In Rome, the synergy between these three actors gave rise to the construction of Grab, the Grande raccordo anulare delle bici, the longest cycle path in the world.
The latest trend in sustainability is the electric scooter. The culture of healthy living has pushed researchers and entrepreneurs to retrace their steps — or rather their wheels — and provide the public with a modern version of an object from the past. The scooter is a blend of technology and design, an easy-to-use means of transport that takes on all manner of fun forms to make getting around the city comfortable.
© ChinaFotoPress/Getty ImagesScooter sharing is tourists' preferred system for visiting cities without getting caught up in traffic, but when it rains or you are a group of friends, the bus is the most practical and eco-friendly option. In older models, bus emissions are offset by the number of passengers, but municipalities have for some time now been looking to upgrade their fleets with electric vehicles to make city life increasingly sustainable. Shuttles, tourist coaches and buses are becoming greener by adopting new technologies, hydrogen being one of them. In Bolzano, where the first hydrogen production plant was inaugurated, an experimental route served by hydrogen-powered public transport vehicles was launched.
It is now common practice to use car sharing when you need to use a car. Renting a car — in some cases with prior booking — guarantees that vehicles in circulation are always in good condition, subject to maintenance and periodic checks that ensure road safety, the certainty of not polluting and reduced waiting times, as well as lower pollution from searching for parking. Less widespread but growing rapidly is car pooling, the shared car. A perfect solution for cutting travel costs and for raising the national average of passengers per car (fixed at 1.5), thereby encouraging social responsibility with regard to the effects of mobility on the environment.
Buying an eco-friendly car is the first step towards making our journeys more sustainable. When a car is necessary, let it have a low environmental impact. In order to meet the needs of our society while at the same time protecting the planet, scientists and engineers have developed hydrogen technology, which has no negative effect on the environment. Hydrogen technology, tested in its application to private vehicles by Japanese manufacturer Toyota, guarantees high driving performance, comfort and safety. The Toyota Mirai is the first hydrogen car to be put on sale in Europe from September 2015, revolutionising the field of sustainable mobility. During the event "La Repubblica delle idee", organised in Genoa from 4 to 7 June, the Mirai was officially presented to the Italian market. On that occasion, Andrea Carlucci, managing director of Toyota Italia, launched an appeal for the creation of "a hydrogen distribution network that crosses the country and makes it possible for citizens to drive fuel cell vehicles." A necessity "to ensure that the development and use of such an important energy resource becomes a reality," also thanks to the commitment and investment of institutions.
When our journeys are not short, the train is the right choice for the environmentally conscious traveller. With an energy saving of almost 90 per cent, the train beats the plane in the ranking of the most eco-friendly means of transport. Modern trains run predominantly on energy from renewable sources and emit no pollutants into the atmosphere. In the city of Linköping, in Sweden, some rail vehicles are powered by biogas produced from livestock slurry, the food industry and separate waste collection. Research by the Ente nazionale per l'aviazione civile (Enac) has shown that aeroplanes are the most polluting means of transport and have the highest rate of emissions. Only recently have some Scandinavian airlines adopted eco-friendly systems, such as solar panels, to power their aircraft, but this is not yet a technology applicable on a large scale.