Eco-cars still a fairly rare sight on Finnish roads

Energy production seen as more efficient way to cut emissions in Finland

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By Pekko Ylönen
     
      Special environmentally-friendly cars are something of a rare sight on Finnish roads. Almost all vehicles in this country are powered by ordinary petrol or diesel fuel.
      Things are different in Sweden, where the state offers considerable incentives for drivers of cars using alternative fuels. Thousands of vehicles powered by ethanol or biogas are already criss-crossing Swedish highways.
     
The European Union has set as its goal the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from transport. The goal is that by 2010, 5.75% of fuel would be renewable. The directive is not binding, but its aim is to encourage member states to take measures to reduce emissions.
      Finland has not yet set quantitative targets for biological fuels for transport, but it is expected to be in the range of two or three percent.
      One way that Finland is aiming to achieve the desired levels is by increasing the use of biogas and biodiesel.
      Natural gas is already being used to some extent. The first filling station for cars powered by natural gas opened on Monday, June 6th in the Malmi district in the north of Helsinki.
      Leo Parkkonen, an official at the Ministry of Finance, says that the reason why Finland has invested so little in environmentally friendly cars is that a more cost-effective target for Finland to reduce emissions is to tackle those coming from the generation of electricity.
     
"In energy production, cutting a tonne of emitted carbon dioxide costs EUR 15-20. In transport fuel it costs more than EUR 200. From the point of view of reducing emissions, the result is equally good, regardless of whether the renewable energy is burned in a heating furnace, or in a car engine."
      Special researcher Juhani Laurikko of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) largely agrees with Parkkonen. He says that in Sweden, transport is proportionally a much higher source of emissions than in Finland. Sweden has twice as many cars as Finland, and the carbon dioxide emissions of energy production are clearly lower than in Finland.
      However, Laurikko is concerned that carbon dioxide emissions from cars in Finland have remained unchanged for three or four years, while they have declined in other parts of Europe.
      "When people buy new cars they should think about what they are buying. The completely ridiculous asphalt SUV craze has come to Finland", he says.
      MP Pekka Vilkuna (Centre) says that the small number of environmentally friendly cars is not the result of a lack of resources alone. He says that when the 20-fold diesel tax was lifted from gas-run cars in 2003, their emission limits were made so stringent that older models certainly cannot meet them.
     
"A deliberate hook was added to the law, and nobody had the presence of mind to remove it. It is quite ridiculous that an environmentally friendly biogas car must meet stricter emission limits than one operating on petrol", Vilkuna says.
      He has drafted a legislative initiative to lower the emission limits. It has been signed by 188 of Finland’s 200 Members of Parliament.
      Laurikko says that the reason for the emission limits was to prevent people from retrofitting gas devices onto old cars.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.6.2005

More on this subject:
 In Stockholm, 2,500 cars run on ethanol
 Many alternatives developed for petrol

Links:
  US National Biodiesel Board
  Biogasworks.com

PEKKO YLÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
pekko.ylonen@sanoma.fi