Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(US$0.68/litre) in early 2013. The retail price of gasoline is much below this level in countries
where there are very high gasoline subsidies (Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait - usually where
plentiful domestic oil supplies are available); other countries have high subsidies (Malaysia,
USA, Mexico, Vietnam, Philippines); some have limited taxation (Singapore, India, Sweden,
UK); and some have higher taxation (Denmark, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong).
In Asia there is an additional dimension to mobility as the ownership levels for motorcycles
(two- and three-wheelers) are substantial. In Delhi, for example, over 80 per cent of households
have motor vehicles, but these are mainly motorcycles which cost 10-15 per cent of a small
car. The new challenge in India is the introduction of the cheap, mass produced car, such as
the Tata Nano, and the impact this will have on both motorcycle and car ownership. The
importance of motorised two-wheelers may reflect situations where previously there was high
cycle use. As usual, there is more to ownership of different types of vehicles than narrow
economic criteria. For example, the implementation of management schemes and the allocation
of dedicated space is also important, and there are also strong cultural issues. Overall, a 'ladder
of mobility' has evolved with implications for the distance travelled, the transport energy
(carbon) used, and for sustainable transport.
For society, the car industry provides employment through manufacture, servicing, repairs
and recycling, potentially employing about 10 per cent of the total workforce directly and
many more indirectly through suppliers of components and other support services. Many
national governments encourage and support the car industry, both in terms of generating
demand in their own country, but also in the export potential. The encouragement of a domestic
motor industry is often a key economic goal, providing a successful sector for employment,
with examples from the early Fordism in the West to the current encouragement of automobile
manufacturing in India and China. The car industry is also global in its reach, and uses a huge
range of raw materials and other sourcing through complex and extensive supply chains.
Within the context of sustainable transport, there are many challenges for city transport.
The huge growth in private motorised transport and the demand for fuel form the central
debating issues for transport, as the sector is virtually dependent on carbon-based energy sources.
This may be reduced over time with the use of alternative fuels and more efficient vehicles,
but any reductions in the carbon emissions per vehicle are likely to be more than outweighed
by the growth in demand. In cities there are many opportunities for using the land-use planning
system, together with physical restraints and pricing to slow down the growth in travel and
to explore the means by which travel distances can be reduced. These are key issues taken
up in the case studies explored later in this topic. In addition to the carbon challenge, there
are several other key elements to be addressed, and these include the externalities: congestion,
noise, safety and accidents (
Table 1.6
and
Figure 1.21
), community severance, local air
pollution, space requirements (for parking), etc. There are also huge variations by context in
the levels of emissions allowed and the enforcement of regulations is variable, as are vehicle
emission standards.
Comparative analysis of global trends in private motorised transport in urban areas provides
one means to understand the scale of the problems being faced and the range of differences
that exist between cities (
Table 1.7
and Kenworthy, 2011). New technology has an important
role to play in improving the efficiency of all transport, but there has been little significant
improvement in vehicle efficiency as measured by fuel consumption until recently. Until 1973,
there was no pressure on the price of fuel and it was considered to be abundant, with few
problems relating to the environment. It is only in the last 30 years that both the local and
more recently the global environmental issues have become dominant, together with the
increasing levels of accidents and most recently the health implications.
