ROVER
ROVER stands for Remote Optical Vehicle Emissions Reporter and refers to a road-side ultra-violet/infra-red technology that can analyze the pollutant composition of a car’s tail-pipe plume as it drives by. A digital sign further down the road provides a direct feedback to the driver on the emissions performance of his or her car.
ROVER2 is a follow-up study underway in Edmonton, repeating a 1998 ROVER project that will assess how vehicle management programs and fleet turnover has changed the pollution profile arising from vehicles.
The ROVER equipment was set-up in the parking lot of one of Edmonton’s premier river valley parks, Wm. Hawrelak Park, named after a mayor famous for having being investigated and convicted of financial malfeasance while in office, but was re-elected nonetheless. The Table in the saffron-office once served as one of Mayor Hawrelak’s meeting pieces during his administration. If only it could talk.
The electronic media covered the ROVER2 kick-off event thoroughly, but print was absent. A peculiarity of media events is how little reporters cover the planned event, opting for their own post-event interviews no matter how redundant the content. I was the 5th speaker at the podium, and by the time I was up, all the cameras were turned off and the reporters were waiting for everything to end. When it was over, I did three on-camera interviews responding to questions that I had already answered in my speech.
I support the ROVER project, but getting a good rating on your car’s emissions should not encourage anyone to always drive. If tail-pipe pollution were solid, the average Canadian vehicle would poop-out a turd the size of an Oh Henry bar every 400 meters. The carbon-turd metaphor is enjoying excellent mileage. Global included the metaphor in their story, and the Minister of Environment mis-quoted it in the closing remarks of his inaugural Youth Environmental Summit! in Kananaskis calling them “eco-turds”.
ROVER2 is a follow-up study underway in Edmonton, repeating a 1998 ROVER project that will assess how vehicle management programs and fleet turnover has changed the pollution profile arising from vehicles.
The ROVER equipment was set-up in the parking lot of one of Edmonton’s premier river valley parks, Wm. Hawrelak Park, named after a mayor famous for having being investigated and convicted of financial malfeasance while in office, but was re-elected nonetheless. The Table in the saffron-office once served as one of Mayor Hawrelak’s meeting pieces during his administration. If only it could talk.
The electronic media covered the ROVER2 kick-off event thoroughly, but print was absent. A peculiarity of media events is how little reporters cover the planned event, opting for their own post-event interviews no matter how redundant the content. I was the 5th speaker at the podium, and by the time I was up, all the cameras were turned off and the reporters were waiting for everything to end. When it was over, I did three on-camera interviews responding to questions that I had already answered in my speech.
I support the ROVER project, but getting a good rating on your car’s emissions should not encourage anyone to always drive. If tail-pipe pollution were solid, the average Canadian vehicle would poop-out a turd the size of an Oh Henry bar every 400 meters. The carbon-turd metaphor is enjoying excellent mileage. Global included the metaphor in their story, and the Minister of Environment mis-quoted it in the closing remarks of his inaugural Youth Environmental Summit! in Kananaskis calling them “eco-turds”.