No doubt our readers are aware that by the time you read this, a new carbon tax is being charged when purchasing a new passenger car or light commercial vehicle (a bakkie). This tax is calculated by SARS according to a formula based on factors provided by vehicle manufacturers.
These factors express CO2 emissions in grams per kilometre or grams per hour , a calculation that is similar to measuring specific fuel consumption in grams per kilowatt per hour. The tests are conducted to an established international standard.
How accurate this is as a measure of CO2 emissions, especially when passenger cars are driven at high speed, is questionable. Green watchers are saying it is only a matter of time before similar taxes will be imposed on all commercial vehicles. With this in mind – and in the interests of going green – FuelWatch contacted Deon Durand, technical director at Digicore to gain some firsthand information of the CANbus system recently launched to monitor CO2 emissions via C-track, the well known tracking system.
Durand says it is a simple matter of capturing the vehicle manufacturer’s fuel consumption and emissions model on the C-track database as well as a fuel flow meter to monitor fuel used in grams per litre or per hour. This enables C-track to produce a graphic report showing CO2 emission and how it is influenced by idling, speed, and unplanned kilometres. Reports can be configured to reflect CO2 emissions for an entire fleet. For more details contact Deon Durand at Digicore.
Petro SA refinery
The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) is optimistic that the Petro SA oil refinery will soon get the go ahead from government to be built in the Eastern Cape.