Flexicar means 36 million less black balloons in CoM

Monique our CEO has just headed off to an interview for the 2009 Melbourne Awards. We were finalists last year and are hoping this year we could be winners!

We’re entered under the environmental category. As City of Melbourne drivers make up one quarter of the membership base, we have been able to calculate that the average Flexicar member, through their reduced car usage, represents a reduction of 1,822 tonnes of CO2 p/a output as a direct result of the Flexicar initiative. 

I wanted a quick way for her to communicate this to the judges, as tonnes can be hard to picture. We ended up thinking in terms of the “black balloons” featured in sustainability Victoria’s campaign (shown below). As each black balloon holds 50gms of CO2, this means having Flexicar in the City of Melbourne has saved the equivalent of over THIRTY-SIX MILLION black balloons!!!! Flexicar members, pat yourselves on the back!

The heat is on…

Now that Melbourne’s heat wave has passed (I hope!) and my brain is working again, I thought it was worth reflecting on the week that was.

A week in which Melbourne sweltered under 40+ degree 3 days in a row.   The extreme heat caused bushfires, chaos on the trains and power outages.

It seemed kind of ironic that as we all cranked up our air con and fans trying to keep a little cool, we were all cranking up our brown coal consumption, which in turn will only lead to hotter and hotter temperatures in the future as the impacts of climate change set in.

I don’t blame anyone for trying to keep cool last week.  I had my air con on, so I’m not pointing any fingers.  I’m just reflecting on the irony of it, and the massive task ahead of us to convert our lifestyles to a low carbon future.  Significant investment in alternative and renewable energy sources is absolutely required.

If we don’t tackle the climate change challenge soon and decisively we are committing ourselves to a future that will feel like last week, where are we no longer have the good fortune of cooler temperatures that allow the brain a chance to reflect!

Waterless car washing at Flexicar

While Flexicar offers you a great way to reduce your environmental footrpint, as a business we are also always looking at ways to minimise and reduce our own environmental impact of doing business.

As the long hot days of summer are rolling in, it is concerning how little water we have in Melbourne at present.  Melbourne’s water storages are currently at only 33.4%.  So we all need to do our bit to conserve water!

We have always had a water wise policy with regards to cleaning our Flexicars; only taking them to a car wash when they really needed it, and going to car washes that used recylced water.  But we have now teamed up with another great small business to reduce our water use even further.

Jonno’s Car Wash uses Style Magic – a waterless spray & wipe that is 100% natural and organic, Australian made & owned.  He uses NO WATER to clean our Flexicars, and his cleaning process also removes 98% of bacteria, with no chemicals and only micro-fibre cleaning cloths.  Jonno was a Finalists for the savewater! awards 2008.

So next time you see a sparkling clean Flexicar, you can be assured that not one drop of precious water was used to get it that way.  Thanks Jonno!

To Tree or Not To Tree

We here at Flexicar practice what we preach. None of us own a car and all ride bicycles or use public transport. We recycle everything we can, from paper to ink cartridges. We switch off all lights and electronics at the end of the day and use environmentally friendly products to clean our office and Flexicars.

Therefore you can only imagine our disappointment when we receive our Optus bill each month (see picture attached – it is two columns of boxes, covering about 3 months worth of bills!). It is the bill that covers all of the SIM cards we have in our Flexicars. We have pressed Optus to either streamline their billing system or make business accounts available online. They have stated that they are developing this.

In the meantime, we are losing what looks like a tree per bill per month, not to mention the fuel they’re using to have a truck deliver it to us. It is such a big disappointment for it to come through the doors each month when we try all we can to cut down on such eco-unfriendly things in our everyday operations.

So, if the picture shocks you as much as it does us, and especially if you’re an Optus client, write to them, call them, blog yourself, and force a change for the better. Flexicar thinks “Not To Tree” is the answer!

Why does Stonnington oppose car sharing?

Well, I certainly don’t have the answer to that one!

A week ago we had to remove our Flexicars (Dorthy & Toto) from Prahran due to the closure of Conservo Biofuel Service Station, where we had temporary parks. We always knew these parks were temporary, and that’s why Flexicar applied for car parking with Stonnington Council back in September 2007. Stonnington initially rejected our proposal, despite it being in line with those submitted to and supported by the Cities of Melbourne, Port Phillip, Yarra and Moreland.

Many of our members wrote to the various Councillors urging them to allow Flexicar to operate in Stonnington, which, to their credit, they eventually did. They called for Expression of Interests to operate a car share scheme in the Prahran/South Yarra area.

Their timeframe for consideration meant they were going to leave Dorthy & Toto without a home. We therefore appealed to the Council for temporary parks, or to fast-track their Expression of Interest considerations.

The issue was actually tabled as an urgent matter at this week’s Council meeting. At the time of deliberation, the Council decided on a private decision, and observers were asked to leave. When the Councillors surfaced from their discussion we were advised they had voted AGAINST allowing car sharing in Stonningon. The vote was 5-4.

Needless to say we are extremely disappointed, as are the 50+ Flexicar members that no longer have access to a car share service. To be honest, we find it absolutely mind-boggling that Stonnington continues to reject this concept that has so many demonstrated community and environmental benefits, is already supported by all other inner-city councils in Melbourne (and Sydney), the Victorian State Government, Metlink, etc. City of Melbourne Cr Catherine Ng even wrote to Stonnington urging them to support car sharing in their municipality!

Despite their website claims of being an environmentally conscious municipality and as being “affected by high traffic volumes, fast-moving vehicles and traffic congestion, all of which could potentially undermine the quality of life in some parts of Stonnington” they remain the ONLY Council Flexicar has dealt with that is not supportive of car sharing.

If Stonnington was serious about tackling the tough issue of climate change and increasing urban density, while managing parking pressure and traffic congestion, it would be providing leadership and support for new and innovative solutions like Flexicar.

Transport…the elephant in the corner

Today at Parliament House the Victorian Premier, John Brumby, hosted the Victorian Climate Change Summit. I listened to the Premier’s address live online this morning. There was lots of good stuff about energy and water covered. However, there was little mention of transport.

The transport sector in Victoria is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gas emission, and what’s more it is the sector with the fastest growing emissions. And the need to address this was further highlighted this week with the release of the Eddington Report.

The only real mention of transport in the Premier’s speech was the need to shift to hybrid cars. Hydrid cars are great, and will be part of the transport sector’s response to climate change. But a shift in the type of cars we drive won’t address issues such as congestion and parking pressure (particularly with our strong population growth). Nor are they currently an affordable option for most people, with hybrids vehicles costing close to $40k on road (the main reason Flexicar doesn’t yet have any hybrids in its fleet).

Furthermore, continuing to build our city around the car leads to other increased greenhouse gas emissions associated with urban sprawl, loss of arable land to housing/roads/parking, greater distances for food to travel, etc.

It was disappointing that in the Premier’s speech this morning there was no mention of public transport, services like Flexicar, car pooling or active transport (walking and cycling). I noted the Victorian Climate Change Summit agenda DID include a break out discussion group topic that included transport. I do hope the delegates in that group addressed the impact of emissions from transport better than the Premier did.