Fhmuraca's List: Transportation - Energy Research

Abstract:
"Gasoline consumption per capita in ten large United States cities varies by up to 40 percent, primarily because of land use and transportation planning factors, rather than price or income variations. The same patterns, though more extreme, appear in a global sample of 32 cities. Here, average gasoline consumption in U.S. cities was nearly twice as high as in Australian cities, four times higher than in European cities and ten times higher than in Asian cities. Allowing for variations in gasoline price, income, and vehicle efficiency explains only half of these differences. We suggest physical planning policies, particularly reurbanization and a reorientation of transportation priorities as a means of reducing gasoline consumption and automobile dependence. 

Abstract: 
This paper challenges an emerging conventional wisdom: that transport energy consumption, and hence pollution, can be substantially reduced by  promoting more compact cities. Such reasoning has quickly found its way from academic studies to official policy in many countries. Do the likely savings from such containment warrant the required draconian policies? An  empirical assessment of transport energy consumption arising from decentralization is used  to  address this question. Two contextual reviews - of the compact city  case and the strength of decentralization - precede the assessment. The conclusion is that energy  savings will be minimal and that other policies might be more fruitful.

Abstract  The continued outward growth from a central business district has been the dominant characteristic of most cities in Australia. However, this feature is seen as unsustainable and alternative scenarios to contain the outward growth are being proposed. Melbourne is currently grappling with this issue while simultaneously trying to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Housing size, style and its location are the three principal factors which determine the emissions from the residential sector. This paper describes a methodology to assess the combined impact of these factors on past and possible future forms of residential development in Melbourne. The analysis found that the location of the housing and its size are the dominant factors determining energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.