Council fleets go under microscope
green-party
Wed Feb 14 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Council fleets go under microscope
Wednesday, 14 February 2007, 2:31 pm
Press Release: Green Party
Council fleets go under microscope in Green Party survey
To encourage local government to show leadership on climate change, the Green Party has surveyed the fuel efficiency and climate friendliness of the vehicle fleets run by local authorities in New Zealand.
"We all need to take responsibility for the impacts our actions have on climate change. While some local bodies have tried to buy clean, fuel efficient vehicles, some still have a long way to go,"
Even the well performing councils can lift their game significantly in some parts of their vehicle fleets, Green Party Co-Leader Jeannette Fitzsimons says.
The survey analysed the total of 4569 cars, utes, vans and SUVs operated by 82 city, district and regional councils, and found that they consume 8.9 litres of petrol on average for every 100 kilometres travelled. The most efficient cars use less than 6 litres, and the most efficient SUVs use 7.3 litres. The survey also calculated how much money and carbon dioxide could be saved if the councils bought the most fuel efficient, low carbon emission vehicles available in each category.
"Local bodies could save their ratepayers substantial amounts of money with more fuel efficient vehicles: money they could put into improved public services. This would also help reduce the current account deficit by reducing fuel imports, and help save the planet by cutting greenhouse emissions.
"In the Auckland region for instance, the seven local bodies could collectively save a total of $446,514 annually if they were operating the equally suitable fuel efficient vehicles now available. They would also be saving 790 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from being dumped every year into the atmosphere.
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Nationwide, North Shore City Council scored highest of all local authorities for fuel efficiency and planet friendliness. Among the 51 district councils that took part in the survey, Kapiti Coast District Council came out on top, with Waitaki, Buller and Opotiki district councils almost deadlocked as worst performers, but Waitaki ultimately took out the wooden spoon.
"Among regional and unitary councils, Tasman's unitary council and Environment Canterbury ranked the best, while Horizons Regional Council and Auckland Regional Council brought up the rear. Among the nation's 16 city councils, North Shore was the clear winner while Napier, Wellington and Nelson city councils rank almost bottom, with Invercargill City Council behind them in very last place.
"The survey identifies possible savings within fleets. Horizons Regional Council for instance operates an array of gas guzzling Toyota Hiluxes including a petrol-powered Nissan Patrol that the survey has fingered as the ultimate terminator, being the least fuel efficient local body vehicle in the entire country. If that vehicle alone was replaced by the best available option, the planet would be facing 4.7 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
"Auckland Regional Council came up with low efficiency partly because they operate an all petrol fleet. We suspect this may be because until recently diesel fuel in New Zealand had so much sulphur that it was causing poor air quality in the city. As cleaner diesel is now available, the ARC could now act to improve its fleet composition and standing," Ms Fitzsimons says.
"Wellington City Council also has little to be proud of, thanks to the number of highly fuel inefficient, carbon belching large cars that it operates - despite there being satisfactory options available, such as the Honda Jazz.
"Hopefully, armed with this information, ratepayers may now force local bodies to justify their purchase of gas guzzling SUVs as well, when more fuel efficient 4WD options or other types of vehicles can do the jobs required.
"On the upside, North Shore, Tauranga, Porirua and Dunedin city councils, and the Kapiti Coast, Tasman, Matamata/Piako and Papakura district councils all deserve praise for operating some of the most efficient local body vehicle fleets in New Zealand.
If anything, the survey overstates the efficiency of the fleets, in that some local authorities did not specify which year's model they had in use. In such cases, they got the benefit of the doubt, and were treated as if they had the most fuel efficient model. In the case of Gisborne City Council, the vehicles were generally of a good type, but were too old to get reliable efficiency data. We therefore removed Gisborne from the survey.
"The requests for fleet data were made under the Official Information Act, which binds local authorities. We were most disappointed that both Hauraki and Southland district councils refused to supply any information, despite two requests. We hope this is not an indication of their interest in fuel efficiency, climate change and their use of ratepayers' money," Ms Fitzsimons says.
"Our purchasing decisions can help or hinder climate change. We need to maintain pressure on central and local government to lead by example with what they buy, and thus minimise our reliance on imported oil, and the impact our consumption has on climate change," she says.
ENDS
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