February 29, 2016
Will automation benefit electric vehicle efficiency?
Lots of people have been asking how the results of our analysis of automated vehicles and energy demand might be different if cars are largely electric instead of gasoline-powered in the future. Last week I posted about our new article in which we tried to place some bounds on the potential energy and carbon implications…
February 26, 2016
Researching, planning, and preparing for the automated vehicle revolution
Zia Wadud, Paul Leiby, and I have just published a new article on the potential impacts of widespread vehicle automation on travel demand, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. Bottom line: we can plausibly see automation leading to anywhere from a factor of 2 decrease in road vehicle energy consumption to a factor of 2 increase….
February 23, 2016
Should ridesourcing apps go the way of the jitney?
As smartphone adoption has increased, entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the new business models and service opportunities enabled by this technology. Companies such as Uber pioneered the app-based platform for ridesourcing in 2010 and have continued to flourish in this new age of smartphone-enabled transit services; from 2010 to 2014 they expanded from services solely…
February 22, 2016
Paper Review: “Using An Activity-Based Model To Explore Possible Impacts Of Automated Vehicles”
In a paper published last year, staff from the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) examined the impacts of automated vehicles (AVs) on travel behavior using their activity-based travel model for the Seattle region. The authors concluded “improvements in roadway capacity and in the quality of the driving trip may lead to large increases in vehicle-miles…
February 19, 2016
Can Norway save the electric vehicle market?
In contrast to the drop in Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) sales in 2015 in the US, the PEV market in Norway seems to be quite vigorous. In March 2014, more than one percent of all passenger cars on the road in Norway were PEVs and by March 2015, this number grew to 2%, and PEVs…
February 18, 2016
Transit concerns in Bogotá: is Bus Rapid Transit a victim of its own success?
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Bogotá, Colombia (the Transmilenio) is the largest, fastest, and generally one of the most highly renowned systems in the world. It opened with 90% popular support in 2000, received the first ever Sustainable Transport Award from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in 2005, and currently serves…
February 17, 2016
Could reducing cardboard packaging be bad for the environment?
The New York Times had a story yesterday about the large and growing amount of cardboard being used in packaging up goods for on-demand delivery. It gives a great introduction to some of the tough questions about online shopping and on-demand delivery and how to assess their net environmental impacts. It also mentions various efforts…
February 16, 2016
Go ahead and eat that snow
You might recall a little brouhaha a few weeks ago regarding a study out of McGill University in Montreal about car exhaust and the composition of snow. Basically, the researchers were interested in what happens to the air pollutants in car exhaust when they are emitted at low temperatures in the presence of snow, which…
Are low gas prices killing the electric car?
Was the drop in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales in 2015 just a speed bump on the road to a much brighter future for electric drive? Green Car Reports , citing Navigant Research, seems to think so, and predicts that the market will rebound with the further development of charging infrastructure and the launch of…
Welcome to the Sustainable Transportation Lab’s blog
Welcome to the Sustainable Transportation Lab’s blog. Our goal is to provide a venue for sharing and discussing the Lab’s research and related topics in the broader world of transportation sustainability. Content comes from students and faculty who are members of the Lab, and will span the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainable transportation….
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