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Brief summary
The Etruscan round table on “Sustainable Mobility and Transport” was held on Thursday, the 24th of march, at the conference hall of the Viterbo Province. The Etruscan project, coordinated by the Province of Viterbo along with five other partners, aims to demonstrate the efficiency of renewable energy for extra-urban transport. Secondly the project aims at producing two prototype hybrid buses powered by biodiesel (fuel derived from cooking oils considered 'special waste', not directly derived from agricultural crops, used for food) and solar power.
The meeting was attended by a large number of government representatives and stakeholders of the project: provincial authorities, such as the provincial president Marcello Meroi, the councilor for environment, Paolo Equitani, as well as the councilor for agriculture (Domenico Simeone), the head of the provincial environment department, Flaminia Tosini and finally the office staff, in charge of the coordination and implementation of the Etruscan project.
The representative of the Ministry of Transport, Luciana Napoletano, highlighted the meaning “development”, a concept often invoked as a solution: today the finite natural resources and the limited regeneration rate compared to the exploitation rate should be placed at the center of the development process and a transition to a sustainable model should at this point be fully undertaken.
Transport and mobility produce polluting emissions affecting the climate. In Italy the number of cars per capita is very high, and the time spent driving in major urban centers may sum up to 74 minutes per person per day, as in the case of Rome. The average speed equals to 25Kmh, almost less than a bicycle! Biking would be a more sustainable way to move in the city!
However, there is a structural constraint: the lack of an integrated policy approach to town planning and transport has allowed an undisputed supremacy of private cars. "It is not easy to change this model”. The Regulation on Sustainable Mobility issued in 1998 left to Italian local authorities most of the work, without a national coordination plan. Unfortunately it has not achieved the desired effects since the economic decision making framework and the actors involved in mobility is more complex.
To date, intervention models to improve sustainable mobility address local public transport, the introduction of cycle lanes and bus lanes, the introduction of entry tolls into the city and parking tickets, the temporary traffic block and the introduction of “mobility manager” in local authorities. The presentation of L. Napoletano ends with a brief outline of the current regulatory framework for transport and mobility at national and European level.
The Sustainable Mobility Program of the Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea, presented by Riccardo Simone (see PPT ) contained additional intervention measures to achieve reduced traffic of private vehicles; these include the upgrading and replacing of the public transport vehicles fleet with low-impact-mobility enhancement, streamlining goods delivery, the improvement of parking and intermodal exchange, but also the increase and strengthening of fuel distribution networks with low environmental impact, and also performing specific actions to increase the safety of vulnerable road users.
The sustainable mobility fund, established for 2007-2009 (Law No. 296, 27th December 2006) was allocated with 239 billion Euro to support local authorities to co-finance projects. Up to now about 195 billion were approved and assigned (see chart for distribution sectors).
The consultations and sustainable mobility working group headed by the Ministry led to three general strategies, presented as an optimistic example of a "win-win strategy": it combines positive economic benefits, as well as environmental, stimulates growth and improves the quality of life. Three directions are given:
- Reduce emissions and pollution from traffic in urban areas as well as in sub urban areas
- Reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions from transport sector, equivalent to 30% of the total
- "Liquefying" transportation of persons and goods, a key component of post-industrial economies, and simultaneously reduce the costs of traffic "congestion".
The replacement of old vehicles with new ones, using technologies and the redesign of infrastructure could present a real stimulus to the economy.
The Regional Councilor Parroncini underlined and stressed the priorities for the province to improve the railway link with Rome, which is still totally inadequate for the mobility needs of the province.
The representatives of the Italian Organic Agriculture Association (AIAB) and of the Italian Agricultural Consortium stressed the importance shifting from oil dependent agriculture (consisting on fuel and raw material for pesticides), exploring the opportunities of biodiesel without running the risk of producing biofuels from agricultural crops used for food production.
Professor Maurizio Carlini, University of Tuscia (project partner) presented aspects related to the production of the hybrid shuttle prototype, the innovation, the details of the energy production systems, both photovoltaic and waste oils regeneration for the production of biodiesel.
The representative for the National Authority for Electricity was unfortunately unable to attend; however, Mr. Luca Lo Schiavo gave an interview (see audio-video file), which was shown at the end of the round table. He presented the Regulation for the establishment of a distribution network unit for electric or hybrid vehicles on national territory.
The interview and other articles and videos of the various speeches are available on the project website ETRUSCAN: www.lifeetruscan.eu.
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The Project 
