Transport-related Energy Consumption Research Articles

Urban transport emission prediction analysis through machine learning and deep learning techniques

About 6.6 million people die every year from air pollution diseases globally. Transportation industry is considered one of the leading contributors in air pollution. This research utilizes deep learning and machine learning techniques to predict China’s transport-related CO2 emissions and energy needs by utilizing variables like population, car kilometers, year and GDP per capita. The outcomes have been analyzed using six analytical measures: determination coefficient, RMSE, relative RMSE, mean absolute percentage error, mean bias error and mean absolute bias error. Findings indicate that yearly increase in transport-related CO2 emissions in China will be 3.66%, and transport energy consumption will increase by 3.8%. Energy consumption and transport CO2 emissions are projected to rise by roughly 3.5 times by 2050 as compared to current levels. Therefore, government should re-evaluate its energy investment plans for the future and institute new rules, and standards regarding transport-related energy consumption and pollution reduction.

Filling in the Spaces: Compactifying Cities towards Accessibility and Active Transport

Compactification of cities, i.e., the opposite of urban sprawl, has been increasingly presented in the literature as a possible solution to reduce the carbon footprint and promote the sustainability of current urban environments. Compact environments have higher concentrations of interaction opportunities, smaller distances to them, and the potential for increased active mode shares, leading to less transport-related energy consumption and associated emissions. This article presents a GIS-based quantitative methodology to estimate on how much can be gained in that respect if vacant spaces within a city were urbanized, according to the municipal master plan, using four indicators: accessibility, active modal share, transport energy consumption, and a 15-minute city analysis. The methodology is applied to a case study, in which the city of Coimbra, Portugal, and a compact version of itself are compared. Results show the compact layout improves all indicators, with averages per inhabitant improving by 20% to 92%, depending on the scenario assumed for cycling, and is more equitable.

Assessing the welfare impacts of Shared Mobility and Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Abstract Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is an attempt to overcome market segmentation by offering transport services tailored to the individual traveler's needs. An alternative to prior investment into single mobility tools, it may allow less biased mode choice decisions. Such a setting favors shared modes, where fixed costs can be apportioned among a large number of users. In turn, car-sharing, bike-sharing or ride-hailing may themselves become efficient alternatives to public transport. Although early field studies confirm the expected changes away from private car use and towards public or shared modes, impacts are yet to be studied for larger transport systems. This research conducts a first joint simulation of car-sharing, bike-sharing and ride-hailing for a city-scale transport system using MATSim. Results show that in Zurich, through less biased mode choice decisions alone, transport-related energy consumption can be reduced by 25%. In addition, introduction of car-sharing and bike-sharing schemes may increase transport system energy efficiency by up to 7%, whereas the impact of ride-hailing appears less positive. Efficiency gains may be higher if shared modes were used as a substitute for public transport in lower-density areas. In summary, a MaaS scheme with shared mobility may allow to slightly increase system efficiency (travel times & cost), while substantially reducing energy consumption.

Updated Models of Passenger Transport Related Energy Consumption of Urban Areas

Introduction: As the global warming threat has become more concrete in recent years, there is a need to update transport energy consumptions of cities and to understand how they relate to population density and transport infrastructure. Transportation is one of the major sources of global warming and this update is an important warning for urban planners and policy makers to take action in a more consistent way. Analysis: This paper estimates and analyzes the passenger transport energy per person per year with a large and diverse sample set based on comparable, directly observable open-source data of 57 cities, distributed over 33 countries. The freight transport energy consumption, which accounts for a large portion of urban transport energy, is not considered. The main focus of the analysis is to establish a quantitative relation between population density, transport infrastructure and transport energy consumption. Results: In a first step, significant linear relations have been found between road length per inhabitant, the road infrastructure accessibility (RIA) and private car mode share as well as between RIA and public transport mode share. Results show further relation between travel distance, population density and RIA. In a second step, a simplified model has been developed that explains the non-linear relation between the population density and RIA. Finally, based on this relation and the above findings, a hyperbolic function between population density and transport energy has been calibrated, which explains the rapid increase of transport energy consumption of cities with low population density. Conclusions: The result of the this study has clearly identified the high private car mode share as main cause for the high transport energy usage of such cities, while the longer average commute distance in low-population density cities has a more modest influence on their transport energy consumption.

Decoupling of economic activity from transport-related energy consumption: an analysis for European Union member countries

In this paper, the evolution across different time periods of coupling and decoupling relationships between transport-related energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) for the EU-28 member countries is analysed. Focusing on the period before and after the economic crisis of the year 2008, it is noticeable a differentiation of the relation between economic growth and transport-related energy consumption, as after the economic crisis the vast majority of countries have passed the threshold of coupling and are subjected to a form of decoupling. This new reality creates a significant opportunity for transport activities and for travel habits to enter into a continuous process of rationalisation and reduction of both energy consumption and other transport-related harmful effects to the environment. It is a political and institutional challenge to maintain the observed decoupling, by strengthening and encouraging the green mobility, the environmentally friendly and efficient mobility, which is one of the greatest tasks of the future.

Decoupling of economic activity from transport-related energy consumption: an analysis for European Union member countries

Decoupling of economic activity from transport-related energy consumption: an analysis for European Union member countries

The selection of compact city policy instruments and their effects on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector: The case of South Korea

This paper uses the South Korean case to directly identify the factors that affect local governments’ policy instrument choices for achieving the compact city concept and test whether these policy tools lead to low energy consumption and environmentally friendly urban areas. The results of binary logistic regressions show that local governments’ socio-economic characteristics and their locations influence the implementation of compact city-related urban policy instruments. The results of hierarchical linear models suggest that there are strong positive associations between greater urbanization and both transport-related energy consumption and transportation-sector greenhouse gas emissions. These results indicate that urban planning for optimal city size, significant compact city characteristics and effective policies with sufficient financing can help reduce transport-related energy consumption and air pollution. Therefore, we need innovative urban planning policies and policy implementation processes to achieve energy efficiency and air quality improvements in the urban context.

At a Crossroads: Investigating Automobility and Its Implications for Local Urban Transport Policy Design

More people than ever before are living in urban settlements, increasing competition for living space, employment, food, water, and energy. Urbanisation poses many challenges, most notably meeting the basic health and well-being needs of inhabitants. One of the key challenges faced is the increase in transport-related energy consumption and its negative economic, environmental, and social consequences. Cities and towns are complex spatial structures supported by transport systems, and automobility dominates many urban planning decisions. Such approaches to transportation and land use patterns favour and promote car use, providing inadequate alternatives or more sustainable modes of transport such as public transport, cycling, and walking. However, automobility is now deemed unsustainable, and moves toward more sustainable modes of transport are both necessary and essential to improving the quality of life for all citizens. This study seeks to determine levels of automobility thinking and attitudes to transportation in Galway, a small city on the west coast of Ireland, and provides an innovative, quantitative measure of reliance on this single mode of transport. Results indicate people who live in the city are not as car dependent as its rural hinterlands, although this is seldom reflected in local authority and regional transport approaches and decision-making.

Potentials for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and conversion of renewable energy for the regional transport market - a case study -

Abstract The present study determines the energy consumption and the CO 2 emissions in the transport sector in Northern Hesse for today and the future. Northern Hesse is a region in the middle of Germany with about one million inhabitants. Together with the two studies on energy transition, which are both focused on the electricity and the thermal sector, results for all essential energy industries are now available. The developed model represents the main influencing factors of the transport sector on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. The developed model makes use of available data and can be used as a basis for forecasts. The model is able to consider changes in urban structure, demography, mobility behavior and technical developments of vehicle systems. In addition to the status quo, a trend scenario and a scenario, where the state of sustainable mobility is assumed. The results of the study demonstrate that the transport sector can make a significant contribution to energy transition in the region. To reduce transport-related energy consumption and transport-related CO 2 emissions, it is crucial that both presented strategies (automotive engineering and behaviorial change) will be implemented. The study analyses shows that the electricity demand in the transport sector in 2030 can be covered by renewable energy from the region.

Decomposing the influencing factors of energy consumption in Tunisian transportation sector using the LMDI method

Due to rapid economic development and accelerated urbanization, Tunisia's transport sector has experienced a dramatic growth that leads to excessive demand for fossil fuel energy. This study identifies the driving factors and measures their corresponding contributions in transportation energy consumption for the case of Tunisia by using the logarithmic-mean Divisia index method (LMDI) over the period 1985–2014. The transport related energy consumption is decomposed into energy intensity, transportation structure effect, transportation intensity effect, economic output, and population scale effects according to the driving mechanism. Results indicate that the overall effect of economic output, transportation intensity, population scale, and transportation structure on energy consumption is positive, whereas the overall effect of energy intensity is negative. It was shown that energy intensity played the dominant role in decreasing energy consumption during the study period. Improving the transport intensity exerts significant effect on saving energy. Our empirical findings provide scientific supports for the policy measures based on low greenhouse gas emissions integrated transport.

International comparisons of energy and environmental efficiency in the road transport sector

The present work provides an international comparison of the energy intensity and the carbon dioxide intensity in road transport for a group of 90 countries over the period 1980–2012. This paper attempts to perform a comparative analysis to find the most appropriate mapping of the energy performance in road transport taking into account the three dimensions of sustainable energy development, namely road transport-related energy consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions. An important result of the study is the inverse relationship between energy efficiency and environmental efficiency. Through the calculated Theil coefficient, our empirical findings highlight the existence of spatial and temporal disparities between countries. In 2012, Tunisia occupies the 48th and the 38th rank respectively in terms of energy and environmental efficiency. Based on a general index of energy performance in the road transport sector, it is deemed to have a medium–high energy performance by occupying the 34th rank. The study shows the importance of enhancing a number of policies for the road transport system through the joint improvement of the fuel price policy, of the road infrastructure policy and of the fuel-efficient road vehicles policy, in order to maintain sustainable energy road transport.

Road transport-related energy consumption: Analysis of driving factors in Tunisia

The rapid growth of urban population and the development of road infrastructures in Tunisian cities have brought about many environmental and economic problems, including the rise scored in energy consumption and the increase in the quantity of gas emissions arising from road transport. Despite the critical nature of such problems, no policies have yet been adopted to improve energy efficiency in the transport sector. This paper aims to determine driving factors of energy consumption change for the road mode. It uses decomposition analysis to discuss the effects of economic, demographic and urban factors on the evolution of transport energy consumption. The main result highlighted in the present work is that vehicle fuel intensity, vehicle intensity, GDP per capita, urbanized kilometers and national road network are found to be the main drivers of energy consumption change in the road transport sector during 1990–2006 period. Consequently, several strategies can be elaborated to reduce road transport energy. Economic, fiscal and regulatory instruments can be applied in order to make road transport more sustainable.

Decoupling urban transport from GHG emissions in Indian cities—A critical review and perspectives

How to sustain rapid economic and urban growth with minimised detriment to environment is a key challenge for sustainable development and climate change mitigation in developing countries, which face constraints of technical and financial resources scarcity as well as dearth of infrastructure governance capacity. This paper attempts to address this question by investigating the driving forces of transport demand and relevant policy measures that facilitate mitigating GHG emissions in the urban transport sector in Indian cities based on a critical review of the literature. Our overview of existing literature and international experiences suggests that it is critical to improve urban governance in transport infrastructure quality and develop efficient public transport, coupled with integrated land use/transport planning as well as economic instruments. This will allow Indian cities to embark on a sustainable growth pathway by decoupling transport services demand of GHG emissions in the longer term. Appropriate policy instruments need to be selected to reconcile the imperatives of economic and urban growth, aspiration to higher quality of life, improvements in social welfare, urban transport-related energy consumption and GHG emissions mitigation target in Indian cities.