Smart City, Sustainable Mobility, Home-Work Mobility: data analysis and Actions (original) (raw)

Sustainability and EU Road Transport Carbon Emissions from Consumption of Diesel and Gasoline in 2000 and 2018

Applied Sciences, 2021

To accomplish the 1.5 °C and 2 °C climate change targets, the European Union (EU) has set up several policy initiatives. Within the EU, the carbon emissions of the road transport sector from the consumption of diesel and gasoline are constantly rising. (1) Background: due to road transport policies, diesel and gasoline use within the EU is increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and adding to climate risks. (2) Methods: sustainability analysis used was based on the method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (3) Results: to meet its road transport requirements, the EU produces an estimated 0.237–0.245 billion tonnes of carbon per year from its total consumption of diesel and gasoline. (4) Conclusion: if there is no significant reduction in diesel and gasoline carbon emissions, there is a real risk that the EU’s carbon budget commitment could lapse and that climate change targets will not be met. Sustainability analysis of energy consumption in road...

Topical issues Road transport and CO 2 emissions: What are the challenges

Transport Policy, 2017

In order for the world to stay within the safety threshold of a 2C increase in average temperature agreed by virtually all governments, the transport sector needs to be decarbonized. The two main obstacles that have prevented this from happening have been the absence of a global legally binding deal and the high relative cost of clean vehicle/energy technologies. The Paris Agreement, which commits countries to reductions of GHG emis- sions, has virtually solved the first problem and paved the way for countries to implement environmental taxes and subsidies in order to change the relative costs of clean alternatives, which would solve the second problem. These policy actions combined with investment in clean infrastructure and regulation can decarbonize the transport sector.

The Factors Influencing Transport Energy Consumption in Urban Areas: a Review

Transport energy consumption accounts for about one third of total energy consumption in EU. Despite significant advances in transport technology and fuel formulation, transport energy consumption has increased in most EU countries over the last three decades. This increase in consumption occurred as a result of factors such as higher car ownership, a growth in automobile use and an increase in vehicle distances traveled. As travel and land-use are a function of one another, it is often hypothesized that changing urban structure can result in changes in energy consumption. Understanding how different land use characteristics may influence travel behaviour and the corresponding energy consumption is crucial for planners and policy makers in order to develop strategic actions to shrink the environmental footprint of the urban transportation sector. The aim of this article is to review the current literature on the connections between land use, travel behavior and energy consumption. I...

Decarbonizing urban transport in European cities: four cases show possibly high co-benefits (Environ. Res. Lett. 7, 2012)

Cities worldwide are increasingly becoming agents of climate change mitigation, while simultaneously aiming for other goals, such as improved accessibility and clean air. Based on stakeholder interviews and data analysis, we assess the current state of urban mobility in the four European cities of Barcelona, Malmö, Sofia and Freiburg. We then provide scenarios of increasingly ambitious policy packages, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from urban transport by up to 80% from 2010 to 2040. We find significant concurrent co-benefits in cleaner air, reduced noise ambience, fewer traffic-related injuries and deaths, more physical activity, less congestion and monetary fuel savings. Our scenarios suggest that non-motorized transport, especially bicycles, can occupy high modal shares, particularly in cities with less than 0.5 million inhabitants. We think that this kind of multi-criteria assessment of social costs and benefits is a useful complement to cost–benefit analysis of climate change mitigation measures.

Energy Use and CO 2 Production in the Urban Passenger Transport Systems of 84 International Cities: Findings and Policy Implications

The urban transport systems of most cities are particularly vulnerable to the ‘ big rollover ’ in world oil production and still unprepared for the inevitable transition to a post-petroleum world. Likewise, global warming is placing additional pressure on urban transport to reduce its energy use and CO 2 output. This chapter provides a review of private and public transport, urban form, energy use, modal energy efficiency and CO 2 emissions patterns in an international sample of 84 cities in the USA, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, high and low income Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and China. It concentrates on factors such as urban density, transport infrastructure and car ownership and use, public transport and non-motorized mode use, in order to better understand patterns of passenger transport energy use and CO 2 emissions in different cities. It finds that average per capita energy use in private passenger transport is about 24 times higher in the study ’ s US cities than in the Chinese cities. CO 2 emissions from passenger transport follow a similar pattern. For example, Atlanta, the most car-dependent city in the study, produces 105 times more CO 2 per capita than Ho Chi Minh City. Some policy implications are outlined to reduce urban passenger transport energy use and CO 2 production. Wealth, for example, is not found to be a fundamental explanatory variable in understanding car use and energy use patterns in urban transport systems. Physical planning and infrastructure differences on the other hand are found to be fundamental. This means that urban and transport planners have a key role to play in shaping the direction of passenger transport energy consumption and CO 2 production in cities. This includes programs to limit growth in car and motorcycle ownership and usage, especially in developing cities and to protect and enhance the roles of public transport, walking and cycling, which are being decimated by motorization. Urban rail modes are found not only to be the most energy efficient, but also result in higher public transport use, offering speeds that are more competitive with the car. They also fit best with the need for strategically increasing urban densities through transit-oriented development, another key policy conclusion from the research. Traffic congestion is shown to act as a break on growing car use and energy use and urban policy needs to recognize this by a cessation of freeway building in cities and prioritising infrastructure for public transport and non-motorized modes. Likewise, high parking levels in central cities encourages greater car and energy use and needs to be curtailed and reduced. Finally, cities need to strategically focus denser, mixed use urban development into nodes, including traditional CBDs, linked by high quality public transport operating on its own right-of-way to create more transit-oriented, polycentric metropolises.

Reducing CO2 Emissions from Road Transport - Overview of the Main Initiatives and Technical Measures Proposed to Date in Europe

The Journal of Engine Research, 2010

The demand for fossil fuel in the transport sector is constantly increasing and transportation is ranked amongst the highest greenhouse emitting sectors globally. Today, tackling CO 2 emissions from road transport a widely discussed topic and constitutes a milestone towards reaching a sustainable, carbon neutral economy. This challenge is being described in various initiatives adopted in the European Union and other parts of the world. So far several measures have been proposed and adopted for reversing the increasing greenhouse gas emissions trends. This paper attempts an overview of the existing policy framework in various countries focusing on European Union. In addition, the main technical measures proposed and promoted in this direction are presented and evaluated with respect to their greenhouse reduction potential. Special attention is paid to emerging technologies, such as hybrid vehicles and biofuels. The main factors differentiating the officially reported CO 2 emissions f...

Analysis of road transport energy consumption and emissions: a case study

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, 2014

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the growing energy consumption pattern and emissions due to increasing vehicular density in the Vellore district. The transport demand in Indian cities has increased substantially over the past few years. Increasing household incomes and economic development in cities have added to this growing demand. Design/methodology/approach – The growth of Vellore town currently is such that in a short period of time, the development is likely to engulf the entire district as one big city, as it happened for Chennai. It is at a transitional stage where it is possible to bring about certain policy changes to prevent the catastrophic effects of urbanization. To test the objectives of the study, statistical and mathematical tools such as mean, coefficient of variation, correlation and regression models are used. Growth of vehicle population in Tamil Nadu in general and Vellore in particular are analyzed by computing the percentage rate of change a...