Urban congestion: why "free" roads are costly

Source: Australian Treasury
"Many see traffic jams as a fact of city life, but its root cause is overuse of a common resource – the urban road network. Putting a price on access to roads at busy times could encourage individuals to change their travel plans, according to this report. Most roads are nominally ‘free’ to drive on, resulting in demand for many roads that exceeds capacity at relatively predictable times. This means that motorists do in fact pay – in wasted time – to drive on ‘free’ roads at peak periods, which disrupts the flow of people and goods in the economy, harming productivity and growth – as well as frustrating all road users."

Moving cooler: an analysis of transportation strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (summary)

Source: Natural Resources Defense Organisation
"The first-ever comprehensive analysis of transportation efficiency and its relationship to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and consumer savings was released by a diverse group of stakeholders committed to addressing climate change. Sponsored by transportation experts, industry, environmental organizations, federal agencies, trade associations and leading foundations, the report provides an objective and scientific analysis of the effectiveness and cost of almost 50 scalable transportation strategies, both alone and combined, to reduce GHG emissions."

The impact of traffic emissions on atmospheric ozone and OH: results from QUANTIFY

Source: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol.9,no.9 (2009)
"To estimate the impact of emissions by road, aircraft and ship traffic on ozone and OH in the present-day atmosphere six different atmospheric chemistry models have been used. Based on newly developed global emission inventories for road, ship and aircraft emission data sets each model performed sensitivity simulations reducing the emissions of each transport sector by 5%."

Cars and climate: what can EPA do to control greenhouse gases from mobile sources

Source: US Congressional Research Service
"This report discusses EPA’s authority under Title II and provides information regarding the mobile sources that might be regulated under this authority. Among these sources, motor vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks, including SUVs) are assumed to be the most likely initial targets for regulation, both because a petition addressing these sources began EPA’s consideration of the endangerment issue, and because these are the most significant GHG emission sources among those covered by Title II."

Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains

Source: Environment Research Letters, vol.4 (2009)
To appropriately mitigate environmental impacts from transportation, it is necessary for decision makers to consider the life-cycle energy use and emissions. Most current decision-making relies on analysis at the tailpipe, ignoring vehicle production, infrastructure provision, and fuel production required for support. We present results of a comprehensive life-cycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and selected criteria air pollutant emissions inventory for automobiles, buses, trains, and airplanes in the US, including vehicles, infrastructure, fuel production, and supply chains."

Liquid transportation fuels from coal and biomass

source: National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
"Liquid fuels from biomass and coal have the potential to reduce petroleum fuel use and CO2 emissions in the U.S. transportation sector over the next 25 years, says a new report from the National Research Council. Even with abundant resources in biomass and coal, however, substantial investments in research, development, and commercial demonstration projects will be needed to produce these alternative liquid fuels in an environmentally conscious way, and at a level that could impact U.S. dependence on imported oil."

Flying beyond our means: air travel and the environment

Source: Nova Science in the News
"With aviation’s emissions growing faster than any other transport sector our impacts on the environment are heading sky high."

Biofuels for transport: a roadmap for development in Australia

source: Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
"The key finding of this report is that biofuels, both bioethanol (a petroleum substitute) and biodiesel (a diesel fuel substitute) have useful roles to play as Australian transport fuels and can contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation and energy security. While so-described Generation 1 biofuels are limited by competition for scarce resources with food production, Generation 2 biofuels, using prolific but lower-value resources, hold significant promise although production costs remain high with ill-defined conversion pathways. Focused RD &D, essential for eventual technological success and commercial outcomes, relies upon the improved financing, coordination and management of leading Australian RD &D facilities and people, as well as the establishment of productive linkages with international RD&D efforts. It is recommended that a Biofuels Institute be established."

Moving urban Australia: can congestion charging unclog our roads?

Source: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics
"This report reviews the case for congestion charging and provides a policy framework for assessing charging systems. At this time, congestion charging schemes are still in their infancy and evolving in concert with changing policy priorities and system technologies. While individual circumstances determine when and where congestion charging is in the interest of the wider community, some important general lessons can be drawn."

Vehicle fuel efficiency: public discussion paper

Source: Dept. of Environment, Water, Heritate and the Arts.
"A Fed Govt discussion paper has outlined options for improving the fuel efficiency of Aust's 15m-strong vehicle fleet, including subsidies or lower state govt fees for buyers of low-emission new vehicles. Fed enviro minister Peter Garrett said the paper had been released as part of a COAG-endorsed process to evaluate ways to cut GHG emissions by increasing the uptake of more fuel-efficient vehicles."

The scope for enhancing public transport in Australian capital cities

source: Global Collaborative
“The rise in petrol prices in Australia has accelerated the trend back to public transport evident over the last decade. But this has caused overcrowding of trains and buses, leading some to question whether our public transport systems can cope. All our capital cities have significant network capacity in the short term, and with increased rolling stock and the expansion plans already underway or planned could double total patronage in Sydney and Melbourne by 2021, and triple it in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Australian cities are in fact well placed to cope with the paradigm shift occurring away from low density car-oriented growth, provided they continue to invest in public transport and support this with appropriate pricing and other policies.”

Modelling of the future of transport fuels in Australia

Source: CSIRO
"This publication describes the modelling framework that was applied, the scenario and model assumptions that were used to underpin the modelling and the detailed model results associated with each scenario examined in the Future Fuels Forum. The report contains results for a number of sensitivity cases not discussed in detail in Fuel for thought. While the core drivers of the main scenarios are greenhouse gas emissions trading and changes in international oil supply, the sensitivity cases address: uncertainty around social preferences for travel additional policies that might be considered by governments, technological uncertainty in regard to biofuels, hydrogen, nuclear power, CO2 capture and storage."

Transportation fuel use, technology and standards

Source: World Bank
"There is a debate among policy analysts about whether fuel taxes alone are the most effective policy to reduce fuel use by motorists, or whether to also use mandatory standards for fuel efficiency. A problem with a policy mandating fuel economy standards is the “rebound effect,” whereby owners with more efficient vehicles increase vehicle usage. If an important part of negative externalities from transport are associated with vehicle kilometers (accidents, congestion, road wear) rather than fuel consumption, the rebound effect increases negative externalities. Taxes and standards should be mutually supportive because fuel taxes often meet political resistance. Over time, fuel efficiency standards can reduce political resistance to fuel taxes. Thus, by raising fuel efficiency standards now, politicians may be able to pursue higher fuel tax paths in the future. Another argument in support of fuel efficiency standards and similar policies is that standards to a greater extent than taxes can be announced in advance and still be credible and change the behavior of inventors, firms, and other agents in society. A further argument is that standards can be used with greater force and commitment through international coordination."

Freight transport in a carbon constrained economy

Source: National Transport Commission
"This report discusses the key issues for addressing growing greenhouse gas emissions from freight transport. The report proposes actions for managing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from freight transport over the longer term."

Potential impacts of climate change on U.S. transportation

Source: U.S. Transportation Research Board
"This report explores the consequences of climate change for U.S. transportation infrastructure and operations. The report provides an overview of the scientific consensus on the current and future climate changes of particular relevance to U.S. transportation, including the limits of present scientific understanding as to their precise timing, magnitude, and geographic location; identifies potential impacts on U.S. transportation and adaptation options; and offers recommendations for both research and actions that can be taken to prepare for climate change. The report also summarizes previous work on strategies for reducing transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide—the primary greenhouse gas—that contribute to climate change."

Does rail transit save energy or reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Source: Cato Institute
"Far from protecting the environment, most rail transit lines use more energy per passenger mile, and many generate more greenhouse gases, than the average passenger automobile. Rail transit provides no guarantee that a city will save energy or meet greenhouse gas targets."

Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005: end use allocation of emissions

"This study analyses Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005. The analysis allocates greenhouse gas emissions to detailed energy uses in the residential sector, and also analyses commercial/services, manufacturing and transport sector emissions. The report compares Victoria's emissions with national averages and with other states and territories. The study includes an estimate of emissions from projected energy use in Victoria's residential sector from 2005 to 2020."

Transport, planning and the built environment

"This fifth paper issued by the Garnaut Climate Change Review is based on the discussion at a public forum on 19 February 2007, other discussions with stakeholders and internal research. Issues related to the adoption of low-emission technologies and practices in transport, land-use and buildings are interlinked, but for the purposes of clarity this paper divides these issues into transport (Section 3) and buildings (Section 4). Land-use is discussed in both sections. Each section explores the emissions from the sector, technical options to reduce emissions, and potential barriers that may impede the adoption of cost-effective emission reduction strategies. In doing so, the paper focuses on barriers to the adoption of existing low-emission technologies and practices".

The broader connection between public transportation, energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction

"The most energy efficient households in America that produce the least amount of carbon are located within close proximity of a bus or rail line. The people in those households drive an average of 4,400 fewer miles annually as compared to persons in similar households with no access to public transit, according to a new study released today by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)".

Giving green to get green: incentives and consumer adoption of hybrid vehicle technology

"Federal, state and local governments in the U.S. use a variety of incentives to induce consumer adoption of hybrid-electric vehicles. The authors study the relative efficacy of state sales tax waivers, income tax credits and non-tax incentives and find that the type of tax incentive offered is as important as the value of the tax incentive".