Last Updated on 2021-04-04 , 4:13 pm
As our carbon emissions increase, the search for renewable sources of energy, much like our need for leisure travel, intensifies.
Ever since scientists discovered that copious emissions of carbon dioxide can have a negative impact on our environment, they’ve urged world leaders to take decisive action.
Sceptics need only look around the world in the last few decades to see the rise in occurrences of extreme weather events like tropical storms, wildfires, severe droughts, and heat waves.
This means that every little step we take to reduce our carbon footprint, no matter how small, can go a long way to combating climate change.
And one way is to cut down on our CO2 emissions from vehicles on the road.
Go Ahead S’pore Installs Solar Panels on Rooftops of 2 Buses in 6-Mth Trial
Forget petrol, the bus you take to work could soon be running on energy from the sun.
That’s the goal of Go Ahead Singapore, a local public transport provider which currently operates 31 services around the country.
On Tuesday (30 March), Go Ahead Singapore launched a trial of buses with solar panels for six months until the end of September.
1.6mm ultra-thin solar panels were installed on the roofs of two of its buses, which will run on Service 15.
The panels will convert solar energy into electricity to charge the buses’ batteries.
As the company explained, this will reduce the load on the vehicle’s alternator, and in turn save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.
Instead of using conventional solar panels, Go Ahead chose ultra-thin panels due to their lightweight and flexible nature.
“The whole setup weighs less than 20kg — that’s very negligible compared to the weight of the bus as a whole, so it won’t cancel out the (fuel) savings”, Go-Ahead Singapore engineering director Leonard Lee said.
Conducted Similar Trial in UK With Encouraging Results
For those who don’t know, Go-Ahead Singapore is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group, a UK transport operator.
Go-Ahead Group has conducted a similar trial in Southampton, Britain, operating 18 buses with solar panels for more than a year.
And the results were encouraging, to say the least.
According to Go-Ahead Group, the use of these panels resulted in savings of 1,400L of diesel per bus per year.
This in turn reduced carbon emissions by about 3.7 tonnes per bus.
“It was based on the success of that trial in Southampton that we’ve decided to bring the idea to Singapore, and actually we think the solar panels should be even more effective in the climate in Singapore,” Go-Ahead Singapore managing director Andrew Thompson said.
If the trial goes well, more of the buses we take every day could soon be powered by the sun.
Featured Image: Phuong D. Nguyen/ Shutterstock.com
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