Once upon a time in Wessex

摘要

Somerset Council, Hampshire County Council and Cornwall Council are partnering under the name The Wessex Group for a Live Labs 2 project looking to decarbonise maintenance in nine experimental 'corridors' over the next three years. The authorities are committed to achieving net zero and will focus on changing their current practices to achieve this ambition. 'Like many local authorities we declared a climate emergency in 2019, and though of course it's great to see a rise in EVs on our roads, the amount of carbon we emit when maintaining just three to four miles of highway is equivalent to driving a fossil fuel car for five years, so decarbonising the way we do this is absolutely vital to climate change,' says Mike O'Dowd-Jones, the technical Live Labs lead at Somerset Council. 'We'll be looking at working methods and materials, as well as sharing skills, knowledge and experience with each other to move as closely as we can to net zero emissions from maintenance in our corridors. The areas chosen range from town centre streets and quiet rural B roads to busy A roads.'