Sustainable Transportation Blog

Cars generate a lot of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Each litre of fuel burned in a car emits almost three kilograms of GHGs.

The Centre’s research work using on-board vehicle feedback systems, known as OttoView^TM, have estimated emissions from light duty vehicles operating in Winnipeg. The Centre is currently working with Blue Mountain Resort to reduce vehicle emissions in their light duty commercial fleet. A principle finding from this innovative research indicates that drivers underestimate the emissions generated from vehicles. The Centre proposes additional studies to improve driver understanding and awareness of vehicle carbon- footprint.

Copenhagen, for those who have never been, is an amazing city and the hub of the capital region of Denmark. It is amazing for its copper roofs and numerous spirals. Storks, Tivoli Gardens, Carlsberg beer, and the Little Mermaid are landmarks in this old capital city. Shakespeare must have visited a cheese shop here to understand that “there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.” And he chose the northern community of Helsingør and the Kroneborg Castle as the setting for Hamlet.

This capital region was modernized and expanded by the famous finger plan: a network of radiating arterial roads and alternative transportation corridors, including cycle paths and commuter rail. It will become famous again in a couple of weeks when world leaders meet to decide global measures to address climate change.

The current media is flooded with articles, pro and con, about climate change, leading up to the upcoming high level discussions in Copenhagen. The Centre for Sustainable Transportation (definition) works to reducing transportation emissions and using energy resources in transpiration more efficiently.

Results of a transportation study by the Oslo-based Centre for International Climate and Environment Research (CICERO) in Norway are reported in Atmospheric Environment. The study estimates and forecasts the contribution of transportation sector emissions to global climate change. The researchers admit there are some uncertainties in the estimates they calculated due to the limitations of understanding the role of clouds and aerosols affecting climate. But they also find that their results agree with the general conclusion of other atmospheric scientists.

The printed article includes intriguing data, graphics and discussion. The take-away for the Centre’s purposes is that this study estimates transportation “…has contributed 9% to the total net man-made warming in 2000.”

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has produced a series of socio-economic scenarios that drive energy use for purposes of estimating future emission of GHGs. Depending on the scenario, the study forecasts that by 2050 transportation will account for between 10% and 16% of total global warming. By 2100, the IPCC forecast transportation will contribute roughly 20% to total global warming.

Future temperature increases in this study are forecasted based only on emission records after 2000. This method is used to minimize the influence of different emission histories within transportation sectors, e.g. vehicles, rail, air and ships. Road transportation is found to be the most dominant contributor. This sector is forecast to increase global temperature between 0.13°C and 0.18°C by 2050. Given this conclusion it is apparent that addressing emission reductions in road transportation vehicles is critically important.

The Centre will be very interested to find what the climate negotiations and agreements will decide to do about reducing emissions from this sector. We’ll keep you posted!

by Terry Zdan, CST Research Director

Labels: cars, climate change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, politics, sustainable transportation