Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Bases for Building a Sustainability Indicator
System for Transport
Alfredo Tolón-Becerra, Isabel Otero-Pastor, Pedro Pérez,
Alejandra Ezquerra-Canalejo, and Xavier Lastra-Bravo
To achieve these objectives, we recommend using an iterative cycle of the indicator:
generation and selection, technical construction, application, development and finally,
communication, transfer and use. As examples of the methodology, we show:
•
An example of two blocks of indicators of a social nature
•
The development of a subset of road accident indicators, which have been
applied in several geographic areas throughout Europe and Spain
Introduction
In recent years the range of transport systems, infrastructures and services available
in Spain has grown in response to social demand, within a climate of economic
growth. This increasing trend in transport use - both for passengers and freight - has
been a contributing factor to the rise in energy use and carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions.
The current transport system is based on transport modes with high energy intensity
such as road transport. It has a serious impact on the environment, including air
pollution and noise, as well as contributing to global warming
[1]
.
Both transport demand and greenhouse gas emissions are constantly increasing,
and at a greater rate than the GDP. On the other hand, there has been some decrease
in air pollution, although to a lesser degree
[2]
. Unless we can dissociate transport
activity from income, the use of energy in the transport sector will continue to grow
[3]
. However, we have already reached the maximum elasticity of greenhouse gases
in relation to the GDP, and this implies that future increases in GDP will entail more
minor changes in emissions
[4]
.
A. Tolón-Becerra and X. Lastra-Bravo
Department of Engineering Projects, University of Almería
I. Otero-Pastor, P. Pérez, and A. Ezquerra-Canalejo
TRANSyT (Transport Investigation Centre), Polytechnic University of Madrid
