Abstract
A series of environmental issues caused by excessive energy consumption in the transportation industry have hindered China’s sustainable development. In this study, an emergy synthesis method was used to analyze the flow of energy. Meanwhile, the emergy yield rate (EYR), environmental load rate (ELR) and emergy sustainability index (ESI) were calculated to evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of the system. In addition, we applied system dynamics to provide a scenario simulation method to compare the emergy indicators of the framework implemented. The paper further put forward some policy insights to improve the sustainability of the transportation system, including adjusting the transportation structure, increasing renewable energy use and promoting a circular economy. The scenario simulation framework based on the sustainable development model of emergy flow can provide a reference for the green development of transportation systems in other regions.
Highlights
The transportation industry has become the department with the fastest growth in energy consumption in China, and the development of any industry cannot be separated from the coordination of the transportation links, which makes the realization of energy conservation and emission reduction crucial in the process of logistics transportation
As for the major non-renewable resources such as coal, gasoline and diesel consumed by the transportation industry, the energy consumption was constantly increasing, and an excessive reliance on non-renewable resources would lead to the continuous depletion of the ecological environment
From theroad perspective of operation management, thegreatest redistribution thethe proportion tion of and railway transportation has the impactofon sustainable of road and railway transportation has the greatest impact on the sustainable dedevelopment of the economic and environmental dimensions of the transportation velopment of the economic and environmental dimensions of the transportation system
Summary
The transportation industry has become the department with the fastest growth in energy consumption in China, and the development of any industry cannot be separated from the coordination of the transportation links, which makes the realization of energy conservation and emission reduction crucial in the process of logistics transportation. The transportation industry is one of the most energy-consuming and polluting sectors, typically accounting for 30–35% of the total fuel demand in most industrialized countries [1]. Statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed that the transportation industry has the fastest growth in carbon emissions in all economic departments [2]. Some scholars pointed out that the transportation industry is the fastest-growing energy consumption industry in the world [3].
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