Abstract
Energy conservation in the passenger transport sector of cities is an important policy matter. There is a long history of transport energy conservation, dating back to the first global oil crisis in 1973–1974, the importance and significance of which is explained briefly in this paper. Detailed empirical data on private and public passenger transport energy use are provided for Sweden’s ten largest cities in 2015 (Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Linköping, Helsingborg, Uppsala, Jönköping, Örebro, Västerås and Umeå), as well as Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, which is a benchmark small city, well-known globally for its sustainability credentials, including mobility. These data on per capita energy use in private and public transport, as well as consumption rates per vehicle kilometer and passenger kilometer for every mode in each Swedish city and Freiburg, are compared with each other and with comprehensive earlier data on a large sample of US, Australian, Canadian, European and Asian cities. Swedish cities are found to have similar levels of per capita car use and energy use in private transport as those found in other European cities, but in the context of significantly lower densities. Possible reasons for the observed Swedish patterns are explored through detailed data on their land use, public and private transport infrastructure, and service and mobility characteristics. Relative to their comparatively low densities, Swedish cities are found to have healthy levels of public transport provision, relatively good public transport usage and very healthy levels of walking and cycling, all of which help to contribute to their moderate car use and energy use.
Highlights
Until the 1973–1974 Arab oil embargo from October 1973 to March 1974, the use of energy in transport was not seriously on any academic or policy agendas
As part of the author’s research in K2, this paper reports on detailed comparisons of many aspects of land use, transport and other transport-related factors in ten Swedish cities, including the energy consumption of each passenger transport mode and attempts to answer the following three research questions about private passenger transport energy use in Swedish cities: (1)
Stockholm of 0.76 MJ/Passenger Kilometer (PKT), It reveals that Swedish cities have over a threefold difference in energy use per PKT, from a low in up to 2.53 MJ/PKT in Jönköping, which is only 8% lower than for cars in that city
Summary
Until the 1973–1974 Arab oil embargo from October 1973 to March 1974, (the first global oil crisis) the use of energy in transport was not seriously on any academic or policy agendas. Rising living standards and incomes and increasing car ownership and use, especially in such populous countries mentioned above and the continued profligate use of transport energy in North American and Australian cities, for example, make it difficult to reduce global oil demand in the transport sector. The global COVID-19 pandemic, saw passenger transport demand in cities basically collapse, and the price of oil in April 2020 had plummeted to just $19 per barrel Regardless of these perturbations, the issue of transport energy use in cities is still of major concern. Can differences in transport energy use per capita be explained through reference to a range of other important transport indicators in Swedish cities?
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