Designing Cranbrook: how to 'respond to lessons learnt from the completed housing'

There seems to be quite a mess at Cranbrook.

Whether lack of infrastructure or failure to live up to expectations:
Futures Forum: The Cranbrook project >>> where's the town centre >>> the infrastructure >>>the 'growth point'?
Cranbrook Town Council has its hands full | East Devon Watch
More Cranbrook teething troubles | East Devon Watch

Or lack of basic design:
Futures Forum: Cranbrook: where's the 'good design'?
Futures Forum: Cranbrook: welcome to dismaland
Those “too small” Cranbrook garages: complaints fall on builders’ deaf ears | East Devon Watch

THAT REPORT ON CRANBROOK AGAIN: DESIGN – OR RATHER LACK OF IT

16 Sept 2015

“The quality of the architecture does not reflect the distinctive characteristics of the built environment in Devon. Cranbrook looks like it could be anywhere in the country. A more detailed and robust design guide should be created and enforced in future phases of the development.”

Place Scrutiny () - Fri Sep 11 2015

Er, didn’t East Devon District Council have a “Design Champion” during all this time? In 2014 the “Planning design and heritage champion” was Councillor Alen Dent and we seem to recall that Mrs Helen Parr also once held the job. Did they not notice this?

There also appears to be an “East Devon Design Review Panel”:

Design Review Panel - East Devon

Anyone else ever heard of that before? And where are its agendas and minutes?

Related
Local Plans: with the same figures, Mid-Devon opts for low growth in housing numbers East Devon opts for high growth
Royal Town Planning Institute mentions East Devon in its submission to Parliamentary review of NPPF
Who shapes our future? 

2 thoughts on “That report on Cranbrook again: design – or rather lack of it”

Paul F says:
16 Sep 2015 at 10:26pm

It sounds like the “East Devon Design Review Panel” was a standing meeting, and as per the ICO rules about what should be published by “principal councils” the agendas, reports and minutes of these meetings should have been published on the EDDC web site as a matter of course.

Whilst EDDC has started to publish the minutes of some of the TaFFs and standing Forums (e.g. the Arts & Culture Forum and the Garage Management TaFF (yawn)), we are still awaiting publication of the documents from many other meetings such as the Asset Management Forum and the “East Devon Design Review Panel”.

East Devon Watch says:
17 Sep 2015 at 12:14am

If it ever met!

That report on Cranbrook again: design – or rather lack of it | East Devon Watch
What mainstream media isn’t telling you about that DCC Cranbrook Report! | East Devon Watch
Cranbrook: the result of 40 (yes, forty) years of planning! | East Devon Watch

Much of this lack of design is due to lack of expertise:
Futures Forum: The death of the Public Architects' Department >>> “The danger is things get approved for political reasons if you don’t have a design architect at the top to say, 'That’s rubbish: go back to the drawing board'.”

Cabe is a shadow of its former self:

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... and is now part of the Design Council:

Built environment & Cabe | Design Council

The Design Council might well be able influence the current state of affairs at Cranbroook for the better. They have been working with the District and County Councils of late:

At Cranbrook, a large-scale new community in Devon, we have been working with East Devon District Council and the New Community Partners (a consortium of developers) to review the Cranbrook Vision in planning for the next phase of development. We’ve done this through a series of workshops to help set out design priorities and respond to lessons learnt from the completed housing.

Resolving disputes over planning and design – is there another way? | Design Council

A County Council document refers to Design Council (March 2015): "Delivering Cranbrook Workshop Report"  
www.devon.gov.uk/loadtrimdocument?url=&filename=CS/15/19.CMR&rn=15/WD317&dg=Public
Place Scrutiny () - Fri Sep 11 2015

The County Council and the Design Council have worked together before: 
Futures Forum: Design in the Public Sector... in Devon

Although it is difficult to see Cranbrook as a ‘locally-led’ ‘garden city’: 
​Garden Cities: a panacea for the housing crisis? | Design Council

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Living in a Greener Urban Area

It is clear that green spaces are good for us:
Futures Forum: "Green spaces in town and cities create immediate and long lasting improvements in people's wellbeing."

This study from Exeter University from a couple of years ago backs this notion up with a huge amount of data:

Would you be happier living in a greener urban area?

This study draws on 18 years of panel data from over 10,000 participants to explore the self-reported psychological health of individuals over time and the relationship between urban green space, wellbeing and mental distress. Findings show that urban green space can deliver significant benefits for mental wellbeing.

The impact of green space was examined through a positive, evaluative measure of wellbeing – life satisfaction – as well a more experiential marker of psychological ill-health – the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scale. By using a fixed effects analytic approach more common in economic analyses, the green space effect was estimated without being biased by the personalities of the survey respondents.

Data was derived from the British Household Panel Survey, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of households in the UK that ran annually from 1991-2008, containing over 5,000 households and 10,000 individual adults.

Local area green space was derived from the Generalised Land Use Database, which classifies land use at high geographical resolution across England, and has been applied to 32,482 Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) – a standard geographic unit used to report small area statistics.

Our analyses suggest that people are happier when living in urban areas with greater amounts of green space. Compared to instances when they live in areas with less green space they show significantly lower mental distress (GHQ scores) and significantly higher wellbeing (life satisfaction).

The analysis also made it possible to compare the beneficial effects of green space with other factors which influence wellbeing. In comparative terms, living in an area with higher levels of green space was associated with improvements in our wellbeing indicators roughly equal to a third of that gained from being married, or a tenth as large as being employed vs. unemployed.

These effects emerge controlling for other differences at the different time points such as income, employment status, marital status, health, housing type and local area level variables, such as crime rates.

Urbanisation is considered a potential threat to mental health and wellbeing and although effects at the individual level are small, this study demonstrates that the potential benefit at a population level should be an important consideration in policies aiming to protect and promote urban green spaces for wellbeing.

This study is published in the journal Psychological Science

Park image courtesy of Shutterstock

Full citation

Would You Be Happier Living in a Greener Urban Area? A Fixed-Effects Analysis of Panel Data, Mathew P. White, Ian Alcock, Benedict W. Wheeler and Michael H. Depledge, Psychological Science, published online 23 April 2013, DOI: 10.1177/0956797612464659

Would you be happier living in a greener urban area? | ECEHH
Would You Be Happier Living in a Greener Urban Area? A Fixed-Effects Analysis of Panel Data
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Plans for Port Royal: anticipatimg a Regeneration Board

Seaton has its Regeneration Board:
Seaton Regeneration Programme Board - East Devon
30 March 2015 - Seaton continues to thrive - East Devon
Trinitymatters.co.uk website of Cllr Ian Thomas EDDC - Displaying items by tag: Seaton Regeneration Board
SEATON: ‘Clear progress’ on regeneration | Pulman's View from Seaton

Exmouth has its Regeneration Board:
Exmouth Regeneration Programme Board - East Devon
Regeneration projects in Exmouth - East Devon
Exmouth vision - East Devon

However, these bodies are not terribly transparent:
minutes of the Exmouth regeneration board - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow
Why is regeneration in East Devon always secret? | East Devon Watch

Comment on the EDW blog yesterday asked:

“REGENERATION PLANS AND MEETINGS” – ARE THEY WORTH THE EFFORT

1 Oct 2015

A correspondent writes:

“For years Exmouth and Seaton have had regeneration areas and Regeneration Boards. Until recently, all the Regeneration Board meetings were secret – now they are published but often with redacted parts.

But are these meetings, Boards, plans, consultations worth the bother?

Seaton’s regeneration area began life with a relatively small supermarket, housing, community and leisure facilities and a hotel, with 40% affordable housing in a total of over 400 houses. What they got was an enormous Tesco, less than 300 houses and no affordable homes.

Exmouth is now going the same way: it started as a purely seafront-themed “upgrading” but changed into expensive housing and cloned businesses.

So, we must ask ourselves: what were all these plans, meetings and consultations actually FOR? What we are ending up with on both sites is nothing like what was initially planned, or discussed or consulted on.

Regeneration Boards are top-heavy with the developers on each site, who appear to use them to push forward their plans, unchallenged either by councillors or officers – in fact, the total opposite, leaving said officers and councillors to ram through their development agendas.

Surely, this makes a total mockery of our officers, councillors and Regeneration Boards but, more importantly, the electors of East Devon, who were sold pups – coincidentally just before two major district elections.

“Regeneration plans and meetings” – are they worth the effort | East Devon Watch

In the light of proposals for 'redeveloping' a car park in Sidmouth
Futures Forum: The District Council, developing Mill Street in Sidmouth ... and transparency

... concerns about a possible 'redevelopment' of the whole of the eastern end of Sidmouth have been expressed on the front page of today's Herald:

Sidmouth Herald: ‘War’ cry over future of eastern town

Written by East Devon Alliance on 2-Oct-2015. Posted in Cathy Gardner

Anger at plans to redevelop a car park for social housing is a ‘battle’ that risks distracting residents from the ‘war’ over eastern town, a representative has warned.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) member Councillor Cathy Gardner said that the authority owns much more land that could be targeted – and Sidmouth could end up with unwanted developments like in Seaton or Exmouth if people do not speak out.

She and Cllr Marianne Rixson are launching a consultation to give residents and businesses a say on what they want – and what they do not.

“This isn’t about the Mill Street car park – it’s about the whole of the eastern side of town,” said Cllr Gardner. “It’s to do with plans for Port Royal and the seafront. Everyone can get excited about the rights and wrongs of increasing parking charges, but it’s part of a bigger picture.

“EDDC owns a lot of land there and I don’t know if people are aware of how much – the lifeboat station, the Drill Hall and the sailing club are all in the Local Plan for development.

“It also owns the car parks – and all of that potentially could be sold off.”

EDDC last month revealed proposals to redevelop its Mill Street car park.

The authority has drawn up proposals to build affordable housing on the ‘under-performing’ asset. It was accused of orchestrating the situation – but Cllr Gardner said the town was at risk of ‘fighting a battle but losing the war’.

“Eastern town is rough around the edges, but some of that is likely to be deliberate,” she said. “There’s also the beach management plan and any lack of progress there.

“When you look at the bigger picture, things start to make sense. In Exmouth, small businesses seem to have been driven out because they wanted to redevelop the seafront, but for whose benefit? Exmouth didn’t seem to want a Premier Inn. Look at Seaton – there’s no affordable housing, but they got a huge Tesco.

“People need to be aware of how plans can snowball – otherwise EDDC will roll on and it will be done before you know it.

“We’re going to consult and listen to what’s right for Sidmouth. There’s a huge amount of land up for grabs. We need to be speaking out for the people of Sidmouth.”

EDDC’s policy in its draft Local Plan is to ‘promote a mixed-use redevelopment of the east end and Drill Hall site on The Esplanade’. The area is allocated for 30 homes.

Sidmouth Herald: 'War' cry over future of eastern town « East Devon Alliance
Sidmouth Herald: EDA Councillor Cathy Gardner sounds alarm over “eastern Sidmouth” | East Devon Watch
Breaking news & sport in Sidmouth | Sidmouth Herald

See also:
Futures Forum: Redeveloping East Devon >>> the alternatives to a heavy-handed approach
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Climate change: join the Climate March in Exmouth >>> Sunday 29th November

On Sunday 29th November, there will be several events taking place to mark the opening of the UN climate change talks:
Futures Forum: Climate change: join the global Climate March >>> 29th November >>> Paris and beyond >>>
Futures Forum: Climate change: join the Climate March on Dartmoor >>> 29th November

Many of these are being organised through Avaaz:
November 29th: Global Climate March

Devon Transition Towns are getting in on the act:
Sustainable Crediton - Call for Volunteers to help us organise a Crediton Climate Rally

Transition Exmouth is putting together its own march:

Peoples' Climate March, November 29th

Noel & Rob of your Umbrella Group have registered with Avaaz a local event in harmony with their Global "People's March for the Planet" on the eve of the UN Climate Change discussions starting 30^th November. These talks (COP21) are widely recognised as our last chance for effective action. 

In the UK this action is supported by many diverse organisations, The Woodland Trust, Action Aid, Avaaz, Bond, Campaign Against Climate Change, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Climate Change Centre Reading, Climate Revolution, Friends of the Earth, Global Justice Now, Greenpeace, MADE, National Union of Students, Oil Vay, PCS, People’s Assembly Against Austerity, Reclaim The Power, Stop the War Coalition, Student Assembly Against Austerity, This Changes Everything, Time to Act, UNISON, UK Youth Climate Coalition, RSPB and I'm sure many others. With such weighty opinion as this, with the 6 largest US banks and the Bank of England urging effective action, now is the time to lobby!

Our Exmouth march is on Sunday, 29th November beginning at the Clock-tower on the Esplanade at 14.30. and will parade the Town Centre before finishing at the War Memorial in the Strand, where we will have a minute's silence at 15.30 for those who died in two World Wars that were both designated as the War to end Wars. 70 years later it is high time that humankind learns the lesson, and actually does make war historic and start to care seriously for lonely Planet Earth - the only one we know of that sustains life systems like our own.

Join us on the march and bring your friends and neighbours! Bring warm clothing, because it could be cold, Carry a placard and a musical instrument if you have a suitable one. Musicians, try to create a song for the planet, if you are talented that way, and set it to a well known tune. Run off copies of the words, and we'll give it a go! Let this be an enjoyable family event!

Members' and Supporters' newsletter from Transition Exmouth –October/November 2015 
Transition Town Exmouth | Dealing With Climate Change and Peak Oil
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The fall and rise of the Electric Vehicle ... and yet "the electricity power grid needed behind the recharging still uses fossil fuels."

There is more and more interest around the electric car:
Boating Business - Massive growth of electric vehicles should be noted

In Sidmouth, the community energy group SidEnergy has been working with partners to make it easier to use electric vehicles:
Futures Forum: SVEAG project: Electric car charging point at Hunter's Moon Hotel

Meanwhile, the market for electric-powered transport is hotting up: 
Tesla's Model X Is Here, and It's as Awesome as We Hoped | WIRED
6 next-gen electric vehicles taking on Tesla

This might actually help the belleaguered VW:
Could Electric Cars Save Volkswagen? | Carol Pierson Holding

This report from the New Economics Foundation looks at the fall and rise of the EV:

Energy round-up: back from the dead

Photo credit:   Frank Hebbert

OCTOBER 2, 2015 // BY: GRIFFIN CARPENTER

A decade ago electric cars were a lost cause. The popular 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, highlighted the role of carmakers, oil companies and politics to explain why a technology with a lot of promise never caught on. But these days there is a very different tone among car industry commentators.

The dramatic rise of Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, continues to surprise industry analysts and traditional carmakers are now throwing their own weight behind EVs.

VW made news recently with its admission that it was cheating emission tests, but what passed unnoticed just days before was their launch of 20 new electric and plug-in hybrid models by 2020,including a luxury Porsche and an Audi sports utility vehicle. The degree to which VW knew this scandal was coming is unclear, but it does look like EVs are central to VW’s strategy for adapting to a new world of sustainable transport.

Constantly tightening emission standards are one driver of the rise in EVs but they are not the most important. Most of the surge is credited to government programmes designed to increase EV uptake. Interestingly the evidence shows that non-financial incentives play a large role here.

Cross-country comparisons show that countries with similar financial incentives like Norway and Denmark have very different rates of EV ownership. Some analysts have credited this difference to environmental attitudes, more indirect incentives like parking spaces, and overall awareness about the available programmes – something we’ve recently observed in other policy areas, such as the plastic bag levy in Wales and Northern Ireland.  

The recent fall in oil prices provides another example where EV sales did not drop as much as traditional economic models would assume, and sales are now rising again despite little change in oil prices.

What makes this rise of electric vehicles particularly interesting is how it could link up with other changes in the energy industry. Analysts with an eye to the future are now trying to piece together what the electrification of nearly all energy use, the inevitable dominance of distributed and renewable energy, and the creation of smart homes means for who holds power in the energy market. Could communities soon be generating their own renewable energy, charging their cars and controlling home appliances remotely? Take a look at our previous energy round-up for some of these key shifts taking place in homes across the country.

Don't miss these:

• The carbon bubble: Read Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s speech on climate change and financial instability.

• The diesel tax advantage: Diesel is often taxed less than gasoline, but the VW emissions scandal is undermining the already questionable environmental rational.

• An eye to the future: Many large companies are now using carbon prices in their decision-making as they prepare for likely action on climate change.

In other news…

Shell’s failed Arctic adventure reveals a failing business model

There was a big announcement from Shell this week: Burger J, Shell’s Arctic oil well will be sealed and abandoned, resulting in an estimated loss of $7bn. It is now likely that Shell will continue to produce oil and gas faster than it is adding to its reserves, a problem faced by many of the oil majors. This is not a bad thing for climate change or the financial system (see Mark Carney’s speech in this week’s three things not to miss), although state-controlled reserves are still rising.

Fracking or climate change action: pick one

Energy Desk runs through the ways in which fracking runs counter to action on climate change, particularly for the UK. What once was a powerful argument in favour of fracking now seems to have turned around in the face of some on-the-ground realities and further analysis.

Co-benefits of climate change policy could motivate action

A new article in the journal Nature shows the massive co-benefits of climate action – from cleaner air to more resilient economies – can motivate people of all ideologies to act. If climate scepticism continues to act as a barrier to progress, this may prove an effective way of building consensus.

The 800 ways public money supports fossil fuel industries

Public subsidies in all shapes and forms continue to support the fossil fuel industry, totalling $167bn last year for the oil, natural gas and coal industries, according to the OECD. This figure dwarfs the amount of subsidies for renewable energy technologies.

No investor interest in Hinkley Point nuclear

Delays and cost overruns at similar nuclear power stations in France and Finland have scared investors off Hinkley Point nuclear, despite huge financial guarantees and subsidies from the British government. Now the UK government is approaching China for investment.

Policy uncertainty causes Drax to quit UK carbon-capture scheme

The government’s £1bn carbon capture and storage plan is now in serious question after the Drax power company has announced it is leaving the scheme due to policy uncertainty. A wave of cuts to other energy programmes earlier in the year may be taking its toll across the energy portfolio.

Energy round-up: back from the dead | New Economics Foundation 

With a perspective from the United States on how EVs will effect the climate:

How much can electric cars impact climate change? New report says a lot

A Chevy Volt gets a free electric charge at one of two new charging stations in Pasadena on Friday.WALT MANCINI — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

POSTED: 09/29/15, 10:35 AM PDT | UPDATED: 2 DAYS AGO

3 COMMENTS

The new Free Electric Charging by VOLTA is at 528 Hudson Avenue in Pasadena behind the Macy’s Shops on South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.Walt Mancini — Staff PhotographeR

Just two months before international climate talks begin in Paris, a new report from energy and environmental groups predicts greenhouse gases can plunge 77 percent in 2050 by electrifying more than half the nation’s cars, trucks and forklifts.

Through electrification of 53 percent of the vehicle miles traveled primarily from passenger cars, small trucks, buses and off-road equipment, along with more wind and solar power plants, the nation would realize a reduction in greenhouse gases of 550 metric tons per year in 35 years, equal to 100 million gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles taken off the road, according to the report.

Put simply, electric vehicles are cleaner than petroleum-fueled vehicles and seen as a partial solution to global warming, the report concluded.

Such a paradigm shift in transportation requires cooperation from California, the leader in electric vehicles, which must convince the other 49 states to enact zero-emission vehicle targets that will translate into more electric cars produced and sold.

CALIFORNIA, UTILITIES LEAD THE WAY

Already, California is committed to 1.5 million electric cars on the road by 2025 for an 80 percent reduction in carbon pollution from the transportation sector by 2050. On Friday, the California Air Resources board continued a plan to cut carbon content from fuels 10 percent by 2020.

With the passage of a pared-down Senate Bill 350 earlier this month, the state will have to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. Though a petroleum reduction clause was removed from the bill, new clean-electricity targets are significant and are being used as fodder by utilities to expand electric transportation in California and beyond, even to the point of replacing petroleum fuels.

THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH ELECTRIC VEHICLES

There are 150,000 electric cars in the state out of 13 million registered automobiles; about 350,000 EVs or plug-in hybrids in the nation out of 250 million automobiles, according to energy officials.

The small number of EVs represents a fraction of the vehicles on the road. Ramping up to more than 50 percent would be a dramatic change but one that utilities and nonprofit think tanks see as doable.

“Is it a slam dunk to achieve 60 percent of vehicle sales (electric) by 2050? We’ll have to see. A lot of things have to happen to reach that potential,” said Mark Duvall, director of energy utilization for the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto.

A WORLD WITH ALL-ELECTRIC DRIVING

EPRI and the Natural Resources Defense Council released their report on Sept. 17, in cooperation with dozens of municipal and investor-owned utilities.

It was part of a consideration for reducing GHG levels to prevent more warming of the planet, which is causing ice sheets to shrink, sea levels to rise and record warm temperatures in the western United States, including California.

The two nonprofit groups were first to use battery-electric cars such as those from Tesla, Nissan and Chevrolet as part of a model predicting air emission and GHG reductions in 2050.

The study’s lower GHG scenario also figures a cheaper cost of natural gas, closure of higher-polluting coal plants and increasing the number of clean-fuel plants such as those run on wind, solar and geothermal power for generating electricity, as well as a price penalty on higher-carbon fuels. The base calculation, without the carbon penalty, will reduce 430 metric tons in 2050 or the equivalent of 80 million passenger cars.

No other report studies what would happen if more than half the miles traveled would be via electric power.

“It’s based on a sophisticated model of the electric transportation sector. We’ve proven you can get there,” Duvall said.

Tens of millions of cars and light-trucks would have to run on battery power. More importantly, the power needed to charge them must be available.

The report figures even with a 62 percent share of light­ and medium-­duty vehicles as electric in 2050, those EVs would consume only 13 percent of grid-­supplied electricity.

IS THERE ENOUGH POWER?

“The grid is ready for this. And transportation will benefit from it,” said Ed Kjaer, director of transportation electrification for Southern California Edison.

Edison is mandated by state law to increase the amount of renewable energy. Currently, 22 percent of all the energy supplied by SCE comes from renewables and that must reach 50 percent by 2030, he said.

He called transportation the last industrial sector to electrify. Cars can plug in to the grid at night, when power is not being used by air conditioners. By increasing usage, it forces Edison to add new solar, wind and geothermal plants to the grid, he said.

“We see the benefits of connecting transportation to the grid: reducing GHGs, air quality and increasing efficiency of the electrical system while helping to introduce renewables into the system,” Kjaer said.

California air quality rules require an increasing scale of zero-emission vehicles each year, Duvall explained. The numbers will go from 35,000 a year to double in 2018 to 15 percent of all car sales by 2025.

Oregon and several Northeastern states have adopted California’s ZEV targets, meaning these states will see more EV sales as well. Duvall says it is possible there will be close to 4 million EVs on the road in the U.S. by 2025.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE PRICES DROPPING

Since the release of the all-electric Nissan Leaf in 2011 and in the same year, the Chevrolet Volt, a battery-powered car with a small, gasoline-powered generator that runs the electric drive train if necessary, more automakers have jumped on the battery-electric or plug-in hybrid bandwagon.

From 2016 to 2020, Duvall says 24 new electric car models will be sold in the United States. Audi, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz are investing heavily in battery-electric cars, perhaps as competition for the luxury Tesla Model S, which has about a 265-mile range between charges and costs between $70,000 and $105,000.

Like computers and smart phones, as more electric cars are made, the prices will drop, he said. In 10 years, the sticker price of a electric car will be equal to that of a similar-sized gasoline car, he said.

“Battery costs are declining, the cost of motors and controllers and all the things unique to electric vehicles are dropping significantly,” Duvall said.

Fueling an electric car is about the equivalent of paying $1 per gallon of gasoline and that doesn’t include the reduced maintenance costs associated with EVs.

How much can electric cars impact climate change? New report says a lot

A note of caution, however, about where all this electric power will come from:

False Greening in the Auto Industry: Volkswagen and Tricking Emissions

By Binoy Kampmark

Global Research, October 01, 2015

The German automobile giant, Volkswagen, has produced a few gems of history. Volkswagen’s Beetle, to take a classic, dominated German roads, and made a permanent impression on the international automobile market. While 1.3 million Morris Minors struggled to be sold over the decades, the Beetle stormed through the million unit mark each year in the 1960s and early 1970s. As Richard J. Evans notes, by 1972, the Beetle’s gross sales had passed that of Henry Ford’s Model T.[1]

... 

Then looms the issue of diesel and gasoline, those grand fossil fuel sources that remain staples in automobile technology. Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk, suggests that the Volkswagen scandal serves to show that the time to give up the ghost on such fuels. “What Volkswagen is really showing is that we’ve reached the limit of what’s possible with diesel and gasoline.”[2] The point is hardly surprising, given Tesla manufacturing’s base of electric cars, which run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. For all that optimism, the electricity power grid needed behind the recharging still uses fossil fuels.

Costs vary on the proposed correction, though the $7.3 billion figure has been put forth by the company. Up to 11 million cars will have to be recalled. There will be more than a loss of good faith. The lawyers will certainly be kept busy in the forthcoming months, as will the investigators seeking to find other perpetrators. Volkswagen is hardly likely to be the only one.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

False Greening in the Auto Industry: Volkswagen and Tricking Emissions | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization
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