University of winnipeg

Sustainable Transportation Blog

The information presented is the opinion of the authors and may not represent the position of The Centre for Sustainable Transportation. The material presented is for informational purposes only. The Centre is not responsible for external comments, links or references or the relevance of the information over time.

This site is monitored for inappropriate and offensive comments. The Centre reserves the right to edit or remove any offensive material. The Centre is not liable for comments posted to this site. Please alert cstinfo@uwinnipeg.ca to any inappropriate or offensive postings.

Cars, Copenhagen and Climate Change

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 OttoViewTM, 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: , , , ,

posted by The Centre for Sustainable Transportation at 4:41 PM 1 Comments

Transportation News Roundup

It's been a busy couple of days for transportation news over at Planetizen, the primo source for urban planning news on the Web!

Did you know for example that California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kiboshed efforts to obtain over a billion dollars in federal funding for 29 projects to improve commuter rail lines, choosing instead to seek funding for one line only: a nearly 800-mile bullet train link between San Diego and San Francisco? His reasoning was that it would improve its chances for actually receiving the stimulus money.

For those wishing to commute somewhat less than 800 miles, there is a new study from US News and World Report documenting the U.S. cities with the shortest commute distances. Reasoning that high rates of public transportation don't necessarily translate into shorter commuting times, the researchers looked for cities with shorter commuting times first. They found that the 15 top cities are characterized by various combinations of walkable neighbourhoods, extensive investments in cycling infrastructure, and excellent transit services. With fewer people on the roads in cars, commuting times drop for everyone.

Meanwhile, over at the Freakonomics Blog, Eric Morris argues that transit services shouldn't treat everyone equally. Wealthier users tend to travel longer distances on more expensive modes (i.e., commuter rail) and during peak hours, while poorer riders use buses during off-peak times. He is therefore pleased to learn that New York's MTA is going to institute reduced off-peak fares. This should only be a first step, in his view: transit authorities should also consider distance-based fares.

Such pricing regimes can vary, but those for safety should not. That's the argument from the Obama Adminstration, which is seeking legislation to set and impose safety standards for the nation's transit systems. The Administration is concerned over the number of accidents in subways and light rail systems, which went up over 180% in the five years between 2003 and 2008.

Surely some of this can be blamed on the deplorable state of America's transportation infrastructure. That's the argument of Bob Herbert, writing in the New York Times, who laments that America appears to have forgotten the economic importance of transportation infrastructure. He speculates on two alternate futures: One in which the nation has invested in light rail, electric vehicles and a smart grid, and the other in which the nation's roads, bridges and rail tracks continue to deteriorate to unusability. Which future the country actually gets will depend, he says, on decisions made now.

Commuters in Minneapolis/St. Paul might have a more sunny take on their infrastructure: they just saw the opening of the $317 million, 41-mile Northstar Commuter Rail line connecting Minneapolis to western exurbs in Anoka County. It is expected to be used by long-distance commuters working in the Twin Cities.

Those in England, however, may well agree with Herbert: many of that nations' train stations are deteriorating. The condition of these stations (some of which date to the 19th century) is so bad that Transport Secretary Lord Adonis is personally touring the worst of them to determine what is to be done. According the BBC website, "the signs of decay...are everywhere." And just to make sure the government knows the extent of the problem, they're soliciting readers to submit their candidates for the worst station on their website.

At the other end of the age-o-meter is the freshly-minted LRT system in LA. Christopher Hawthorne, writing in the LA Times, celebrates the opening of the Gold Line Extension, and believes that the region's light rail connections are "remaking the physical and psychological terrain of Los Angeles in profound ways." At a basic level, he argues, more transit means more pedestrians, as well as new connections forming between parts of the city -- and populations -- that have for too long been divided.

This is precisely why Enrique Penalosa (the "father" of Bus Rapid Transit) is disappointed by the Ahmedabad BRT in Gujarat, India. In an interview with the Indian website DNA, he points out that the ample parking lot at the station should have been given over to enhance pedestrian accessibility. Making space for pedestrians is essential if a city is going to have lively public spaces -- and, he adds, vibrant local shops.

Finally, the Netherlands is considering a distance-travelled fee on motorists. Starting in 2012, GPS units mounted in each Dutch car would record the kilometers travelled and transmit this to a collection agency, which would then send drivers a bill, for 7 U.S. cents per km, raising it to 16 U.S. cents by 2018. Passed by cabinet, the bill still needs parliamentary approval.

So there you have it...the highlights from just one day in transportation news. Clearly -- there's a lot happening in sustainable transportation news, so much so that it's hard to keep track of. As this review demonstrates though, Planetizen is a great source for transportation news.


posted by The Centre for Sustainable Transportation at 8:46 PM 0 Comments