Sustainable Mobility: Interdisciplinary Approaches

The continuous growth in greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector has led to calls for a sustainability transition that is largely driven by technological means and supply-side measures such as infrastructure and vehicles [...]

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Attitudes Toward Electric Vehicles: The Case of Perugia Using a Fuzzy Set Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10113999 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 3999 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Simona Bigerna ◽

Silvia Micheli

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Electric Vehicles ◽

Fuzzy Set ◽

Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽

Road Transport ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Consumer Decision Making ◽

Sustainable Mobility ◽

Gas Emissions

Sustainable mobility has received increasing attention in recent years. The transport sector contributes to almost a quarter of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions. The development of electric vehicles (EVs) may help the shift toward sustainable mobility, reducing oil vulnerability and greenhouse gas emissions in road transport. Poor penetration of EVs might be explained, moreover, by consumer resistance to EVs. The aim of our paper is to determine consumers’ attitude and preferences for EVs, investigating which conditions influence consumer decision-making to purchase an EV. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis of 421 highly-educated individuals, involving students and faculty members, we identify several configurations of conditions of the variables which lead to the outcomes, supporting their equifinality and asymmetric nature. Our findings indicate attitudes related to EVs differ across age and groups. Our paper offers public decision makers new useful insights for understanding the importance of specific determinants, and for designing effective strategies for EVs’ development worldwide.

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A Review of Transport Policies in Support of Climate Actions in Asian Cities and Countries

Earth ◽

10.3390/earth2040043 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 731-745

Author(s):

Madan B. Regmi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Urban Transport ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Asian Countries ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Carbon Neutrality ◽

Asian Cities ◽

Nationally Determined Contributions

Asia is one of the continents that is the most affected by the impacts of climate change. Asian countries need to take climate actions and mitigate emissions from the urban passenger transport sector. Despite some progress in improving urban mobility in Asian cities, greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector continue to rise. Policy makers who are responsible for managing mobilities must play a major role in decarbonizing the transport sector. In this context, this paper reviews the efforts of selected Asian countries and cities towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the urban transport sector. It will analyze their pledges in the Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and will review their relevant transport sector strategies, policies, and practices. It will also look at trends in transport sector emissions and air pollution in different cities, including the short-term impacts of COVID-19. Lastly, it reviews governance issues and the roles that institutions should play to implement polices to decarbonize transport. Based on this analysis, this paper offers policy suggestions to accelerate actions, enhance cross-sectoral coordination, and move towards carbon neutrality in the transport sector in Asia.

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Method for a Multi-Vehicle, Simulation-Based Life Cycle Assessment and Application to Berlin’s Motorized Individual Transport

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12187302 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (18) ◽

pp. 7302

Author(s):

Anne Magdalene Syré ◽

Florian Heining ◽

Dietmar Göhlich

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Vehicle Simulation ◽

Transport Simulation ◽

Whole Life Cycle

The transport sector in Germany causes one-quarter of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. One potential solution to reduce these emissions is the use of battery electric vehicles. Although a number of life cycle assessments have been conducted for these vehicles, the influence of a transport system-wide transition has not been addressed sufficiently. Therefore, we developed a method which combines life cycle assessment with an agent-based transport simulation and synthetic electric-, diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicle models. We use a transport simulation to obtain the number of vehicles, their lifetime mileage and road-specific consumption. Subsequently, we analyze the product systems’ vehicle production, use phase and end-of-life. The results are scaled depending on the covered distance, the vehicle weight and the consumption for the whole life cycle. The results indicate that the sole transition of drive trains is insufficient to significantly lower the greenhouse gas emissions. However, sensitivity analyses demonstrate that there is a considerable potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with higher shares of renewable energies, a different vehicle distribution and a higher lifetime mileage. The method facilitates the assessment of the ecological impacts of complete car-based transportation in urban agglomerations and is able to analyze different transport sectors.

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Issues Concerning Declared Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of FAME Biofuels

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10093025 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3025 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ján Ližbetin ◽

Martina Hlatká ◽

Ladislav Bartuška

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Freight Transport ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

The Road ◽

Transport Services ◽

Road Freight

The paper deals with the issue of greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by the road freight transport sector. These emissions affect the structure of the ozone layer and contribute to the greenhouse effect that causes global warming-issues that are closely associated with changing weather patterns and extreme weather events. Attention is drawn to the contradictions linked to FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) biofuels, namely the fact that although their use generates almost zero greenhouse gas emissions, their production requires high levels of energy consumption. The first part of the paper deals with the theoretical basis of the negative impacts of transport on the environment and the subsequent measurement of the extent of the harmful emissions generated by the road freight transport sector. In the methodical part of the paper, the calculation procedures and declared energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions generated by transport services are analyzed according to the EN 16258 standard. The experimental part of the paper focuses on the application of the methodology to a specific shipment on a specified transport route, where the total energy consumption and production of greenhouse gas emissions is determined. These calculations are based on comprehensive studies carried out for a particular transport company that assigned the authors the task of determining to what extent the declared energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions change when the type of fuel used is changed.

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Refrigerated Transport: State of the Art, Technical Issues, Innovations and Challenges for Sustainability

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14217237 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (21) ◽

pp. 7237

Author(s):

Angelo Maiorino ◽

Fabio Petruzziello ◽

Ciro Aprea

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Cold Chain ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Routing Problem ◽

Alternative Technologies ◽

Refrigerated Transport

The cold chain is responsible for perishable products preservation and transportation, maintaining a proper temperature to slow biological decay processes. Often the efficiency of the cold chain is less than ideal, significantly increasing food waste and energy consumption. Refrigerated transport is a critical phase of the cold chain because of its negative impact on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that around 15% of global fossil fuel energy is used in the refrigerated transport sector, so there has been a growing interest in the last decades in the optimization of these systems in order to reduce their environmental impact. Vapor compression refrigeration units, usually powered by means of a diesel engine, are the most commonly used systems in road refrigerated transport. This paper provides a review of (a) currently used systems and alternative technologies that could reduce the environmental impacts of road refrigerated transport and (b) optimization models and methods used to minimize fuel/energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, focusing both on reducing the thermal loads and solving the refrigerated vehicle routing problem.

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A CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM WOOD PELLET

Facta Universitatis, Series: Working and Living Environmental Protection ◽

10.22190/fuwlep1801081j ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 081

Author(s):

Milica Jović ◽

Mirjana Laković ◽

Marjan Jovčevski

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gasses ◽

Product Service ◽

Earth’S Climate ◽

The Impact

Daily emissions of greenhouse gasses have a negative impact on the quality of the atmosphere. In almost every sector there is a certain emission of these gasses. This means that every sector, whether it is the energy, industry, transport sector or the household has a part in the degradation of the environment. In this connection, many models have been developed, whose task is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide as well to improve the environmental quality. This paper will discuss the carbon footprint model. A carbon footprint is the set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by something. It can be calculated for a product, service, person or even a country, and is used to understand the impact of human activity on the earth’s climate. Also, an analysis of carbon footprint using different types of fuel for heating households will be presented.

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