Overview
There is the international agreement that we today have non-sustainable transport. Furthermore, there is a widespread agreement that without significant changes in policy and practice, the unsustainable trend will continue. A necessary condition for successful changes of policies and practices is the basic knowledge about various means of transport and transport overall energy and environmental characteristics.
The objective of this project is to establish a scientifically reliable, updated and consistent energy and emission database for passenger and freight transport. The database will include the main categories of travel categories and vehicles for land, sea and air transport and, moreover, include both conventional and alternative energy sources and fuels. The data are mainly of technical nature, but use of the data is linked to social purposes.
- The project consists of the following activities:
• Comparisons of energy use and emissions between different means of transport (road, sea, rail and air, respectively passenger and freight)
• Comparisons of energy use and emissions within the various travel categories (short, medium and long travels)
• Comparisons of energy use and emissions within different time horizons (2010 and 2020)
• Comparisons of energy use and emissions of different fuels (both conventional and alternative fuels)
• Comparisons of energy use and emissions for different future transport scenarios in 2020 (combinations of fuel, vehicles and transport volumes).
Funding
Results
The project results are summarized in the attached final report. It calculates energy use and emissions of different means of transport used for passenger transport or cargo in various life cycle stages. The whole life cycle is taken into account; it includes progress of transport, production and distribution of fuel for transport, construction, operation and maintenance of transport infrastructure and the provision and maintenance of transport itself.