Archive for the 'Recycling Green Issues' Category

Commuter Car Clubs are to receive increased benefits from the Government. The Transport minister Norman Baker announced on Friday a package to support commuter car club development in the UK.   Commuter Car clubs are set to receive an extra £40,000 of Government funding. However there seems little to support the Green Used Car Part Recycling Sector supported by companies like Car Engine Finder.

There are big environmental benefits from Commuter Car Club membership. They enable people to have access to low carbon vehicles for short periods of time.  This includes by the hour and on a pay as you go  In recent years, the clubs have seen a huge surge in membership; from 22,000 in 2007 to more than 127,114 today.   However this is minor compared to the vast environmental benefits of recycling used vehicle parts assisted by UK part locator companies such as Car Part Buyer.

The majority of commuter car club membership is based in London in the South East, where there are over 100,000 members.    However if you’re outside the London area, you will still largely be dependent on your own car.   The scheme offers nothing to those who still want to continue owning their own car.

Business manager and car owner, George Harrisons said:
“It’s a good thing for the environment but, I want my own car.  I want to be able to put my CDs on, go into my glove box and find my gloves, so to speak.   I view my car as a moving home.  If you share a vehicle with the rest of the population, then you can never make it feel like your own.  Who knows what people get up to in them, it doesn’t bare thinking about.”

The Government views such schemes as an effective way of tackling congestion, reducing the level of CO2 emissions and improving the quality of life of citizens and communities.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said:
“The Coalition Government, in its programme for government, has been clear in its commitment to sustainable travel initiatives such as commuter car clubs to help achieve a greener and more sustainable transport sector.

Research has shown that pay-as-you-go car clubs reduce car use and support other sustainable travel initiatives by plugging gaps in journeys and promoting a shift in long term behaviour. However recycling vehicle parts in known to keep millions of entirely roadworth vehicles on the road, reducing waste, conserving vital foreign currency reserves, and enticing consumers to spend less on transport which may encourage them to save or invest wisely the monies saved.

The Government cash for commuter car clubs is part of an ongoing investment but it is mostly benefiting Carplus.  They are national transport charity promoting the rethinking in car use by promoting the role of car clubs within a sustainable transport future.  Antonia Roberts, Director of Car plus - the national charity supporting car club development, commented:
“£40,000 may seem like a relatively small amount of funding but it has a huge significance in this period of reduced spending. The DfT’s announcement signifies valuable support for car clubs, which can save individuals, businesses and local authorities money, reduce emissions and support sustainable transport objectives.”

Today’s announcement will combine with Transport for London’s continued funding to support the provision of core services developing car clubs.  The Government views such schemes as an effective way of tackling congestion, reducing the level of CO2 emissions and improving the quality of life of citizens and communities.    The money is intended help car clubs to continue with their core services.  It is part of a scheme which the DfTs are providing £57,000 of investment into the industry.

CarSpareFinder - one of the leading UK vehicle parts locator calls upon David Cameron, Nick Clegg and shadow ministers to remove VAT from recycled vehicle parts and encourage greater use of the well established network of UK vehicle dismantlers and internet part locators to keep vehicles in top condition and on the road. At a time when saving money and resources is paramount the environmentally and financially sound policy for recycling used vehicle parts is a winner.

Auto manufacturers continue to go green but what will happen and the other end of the car market?

This week Land Rover revealed it new Baby Land Rover, Toyota began UK production of its Hybrid Car and even Porsche have just unveiled their first Hybrid motor in the shape of the second generation Cayenne.  Many will be aware of great changes ahead, with cars and the way they are made.   In particular, the way they are powered and the materials they are made from.    Although it will take a few years to affect the spares market; how will it affect the spares market?

Managing Director of the web based company Car Part Buyer Mark Flanighan said “We haven’t seen any requests for parts for electric cars just yet but I anticipate some in the near future”.     The industry is not sure just how much change is taking place or indeed how much has already taken place.  Mr Flanighan continued “We already have had people putting in requests for parts for Hybrid cars, as parts are similar to conventional engines.  Looking to the future we just don’t know what effect changes to the used automotive parts sector in the UK and globally will have.”

Hydrogen cars are still quite experimental.   They’re not commercially available on a large scale at this time, so there is no real car parts market for them.   There are certain concerns to breakers and recyclers of hydrogen vehicles given the nature of the element:   Hydrogen is a very unstable and is very re-active.  This could make Hydrogen fuels cells difficult to dispose of and recycle.  There will be incentive to recycle H1 fuels cells as they contain valuable precious metals such as platinum for instance.     Could Hydrogen fuel cells also be available as second hand parts?  We will have to wait and see.   Hydrogen cars won’t be hitting the street in large numbers just yet, as it is a not a carbon neutral fuel yet and there are still technology problems.

Auto gas or LPG is an already established fuel source with a nationwide network of refuelling points.   With the long term financial gains and the availability of a Government initiative, many car owners converted their vehicles to LPG.  LPG vehicles are the same as conventional fuels vehicles with the exception of a few minor differences.  They use the same parts as their counterparts with the exception of a few parts relating to the engine and fuelling system.

The automotive industry is going through a time of innovation and change.  It will be important for those in the car parts sector to keep up or face being left behind.

Teddy Kline, engineer, patented his invention to convert h20 to Hho. Originally designed to run an ‘water burning engine for cutting metal’. However he baegan to see the possibilities for his innovation, and so he converted a 1994 Ford as a protoype to run on water, based in Clearwater, US.

Tragically it seems that he was killed before his invention could be brought to market. Here is the video on You Tube.

Nevertheless Kline is not the only inventor / engineer innovator to have made advances in water powered vehicles. Also in the US, Steve Meyers claims to have invented technology to enable engines to run on water, and here is the You Tube video on this.

What impact will new technology have on the existing used vehicle recycled marketplace? Actually I envisage that the change may well be seamless. In other words, demand for fossil fuel pwered vehicles will steadily decline whilst demand for the newer alternative energy powered vehicles will increase.

Incredibly vehicle part consumers insist on genuine recycled vehicle manufacturer parts as opposed to replica parts from a third party. The message is clear. The market demands RECYCLED VEHICLE PARTS. The market determines that recycles used car, and van parts are the quality standard it seeks. 
This is also in line with the global movement for green environmental pressures which incorporates better fuel efficient engines, higher performance car batteries, and the recycling of all major vehicle components.

So great is the demand, that supply is a key challenge. Ask any member of the motor vehicle dismantlers association as a UK vehicle dismantler and they will quickly confirm how much effort they have to put into maintaining a steady supply of quality vehicle parts. At present, about 75% of the scrap from old cars is recycled, while the remaining parts usually end up in landfill sites, according to Professor Allan Hutchinson, author of a project report carrried by Oxford Brookes University in 2007 which predicts that more cars will be built in the next 25 years than in the entire history of cars, as a result of demand in emerging economies such as Russia, India and China. 
How the new Government initiative called the ‘UK Car Scrappage Scheme’ will impact on the environment is still unclear but any move to support recycling has to be supported.

Julian Rowe, Business Correspondent, Business Service Finder