Jenny Jones - Crossrail's environmental impact
Jenny Jones, Green member of the London Assembly, offers her thoughts on what the Crossrail project needs to do to lessen its carbon footprint:
At a London Assembly Transport Committee meeting today, Crossrail bosses were quizzed on the projected environmental sustainability of the project, both during the construction phase and during its use. Although there is a plan to produce a report on the carbon footprint of Crossrail, answers were rather thin, as the report has yet to be commissioned.
However, it is possible to list some of what the report should include:
- Figures for the projected electricity consumption, during and after construction
- Targets for minimising energy consumption, during and after construction
- A guarantee that Crossrail passengers will have fewer carbon emissions per km travelled than passengers on the existing underground or overground network
- Amount of investment in infrastructure for renewable energy on site and in all buildings
- Tough environmentally friendly design criteria for all buildings (eg PV, waste water etc) and rolling stock (eg light weight, with regenerative braking).
Crossrail is a project that will last at least until the end of the century. It is vital that it incorporates the most up to date and ambitious environmental specifications. Londoners will feel some pain with the construction, from noise, vibration, disruption, pollution, so it's only fair that Crossrail brings every benefit possible, to make the pain worthwhile and make London greener and cleaner.
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