Vehicle Emissions Team

The goal of the Vehicle Emissions team is to pilot, monitor and evaluate CASA approved projects related to vehicle emissions reduction.

Objectives include:

  • Pilot the former vehicle emissions working group’s recommendations. This includes project development, fund-raising and project management (e.g. remote sensing project, scrappage program).
  • Monitor the outcome and evaluate the programs.
  • Liaise with CASA groups and maintain contact with other agencies and organizations that are undertaking related initiatives.
  • Encourage continued active participation by Alberta organizations and departments in national and international processes to reduce emissions from all forms of transportation.
  • Assess if the tabled options reviewed by the vehicle emissions working group should be brought forward.
  • Assess the need for initiatives in the transportation sector outside light-duty vehicles (fleets, trucks, off-road, rail, air etc.).
  • Develop and implement an effective communications strategy based on the information gathered by the vehicle emissions working group and focusing on the opportunity for Albertans to take responsibility for reducing their emissions and improving air quality.

Learn more in the terms of reference.

Co-chairs:

  • Gerry Ertel (IND)
  • Alan Brownlee (GOV)

PROJECTS

For more information, email info@awc-casa.ca.

The vehicle emissions team is unique because vehicle emissions at our level are very much a life style/quality-of-life issue. The federal government largely looks after the vehicle emission standards and fuel quality.

When addressing in-use vehicle emissions, the focus should be on the public with respect to how we drive, how much we drive and how we maintain the vehicles we drive. Making progress in this area requires the team to create awareness of the issue and offer practical alternatives to the public.

In short, the team needs to influence the attitude and behaviour of Alberta drivers. This is a formidable task and one that will have to be measured over many years.

Projects

Sub-groups completed specific tasks to further the goal and objectives of the larger team with membership from the larger team.

The vehicle emissions working group was established to recommend initiatives to help protect public health and the environment from vehicle emissions produced in Alberta. The group focused on light duty vehicles used in urban centres. They thoroughly examined and assessed mandatory, voluntary and economic approaches, developing a series of recommendations to realistically and cost-effectively reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality.

While many of the recommended options will also reduce greenhouse gases, this was not the main thrust of this work. The group looked at four main areas in which action could be taken:

  • Vehicle technology
  • Fuel formulation
  • In-use vehicle emissions reductions
  • Transportation demand management measures

The CASA board endorsed the group’s recommendations in June 1998, including the establishment of an implementation design team. Several of the recommendations involved close collaboration with other agencies, including the Alberta ROVER project (Remote Optical Vehicle Emissions Reporter), which was completed in the fall of 1998.