TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORTATIONOECD International Conference, Vancouver Canada
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORTATION
Environmentally Sustainable Transport brings about the need to reduce total transport-related fossil fuel consumption and C02 emissions by over 50%. If global car use will be allowed to grow as predicted, (and if solar or other sustainable energy sources are not available to feed the world vehicle fleet of over one billion by 2015) then future cars need to be at least 300% more fuel efficient than current new car fleet averages.
All R&D activities of North American and European automakers, focused upon either the New Generation of Vehicles or the so-called "3 liter car," are directed towards putting more and better technology into vehicles to reduce fuel consumption/emissions. Apart from some construction materials-oriented efforts to reduce weight, R&D seems go neglect that putting "less of the same" into cars could be a more cost-effective and sustainable way of making cars environmentally compatible.
Vehicle characteristics most relevant to fuel consumption are body weight, power and performance. These characteristics have been upgraded ("more of the same") dramatically in almost every aspect - (US cars exempted thanks to CAFE ) at the expense of improving fuel efficiency. Compared to the car fleets of the 60s and 70s, current European and Japanese cars have been upgraded with respect to body weight and dimensions, engine capacity, power output, top speed and acceleration capacity, comfort and safety. As a consequence market segments have been upgraded as well.
Available power and performance levels lead to "upgraded" driving speeds and a more powerful driving behaviour, thus reducing the potential fuel efficiency benefits of such modern (engine) technology as TDI, multivalve variable valve timing and drag reduction. Moreover the growing popularity of weight-adding accessories such as airco's, and of "fun" -oriented vehicle classes such as 4WD, pick-ups and MPV, is trading off overall efficiency improvements.
Recent research in the Netherlands into the effectiveness of reducing vehicle speeds and improving driving behaviour by speed limit enforcement, in-car feed back and speed control instruments, has shown a huge potential in energy savings and GHG emission reduction, as well as considerable road safety improvements. These effects may range between 10% and 40%, relative to the quality of the measures, accounting for a total cost reduction of 1% to "% GNP. Surprisingly though, these measures seem a taboo - or least neglected - both in Europe and North America when addressing sustainability of transport and traffic.
The paper presents this new evidence and the arguments which point towards the great life - and earth- saving potential of "putting less" into cars instead of the costly search for more of the same.