Estimating and incorporating CO2 emissions and associated fuel consumption into the Urban Mobility Report.

Details

• Creators:
  Eisele, William L. ; Fossett, Tyler ; Schrank, David L. ; Farzaneh, Mohamadreza ; Meier, Paul J. ; Williams, Scott P.
• Corporate Creators:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic congestion
  • Emissions reduction
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Fuel consumption
  • Greenhouse gases
  • Environmental impacts
  • Mobility
  • Methodology
  • Urban areas
  • Pollutants
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CFIRE 05-16
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• Abstract:
  TTI’s Urban Mobility Report (UMR) is acknowledged as the most authoritative source of information about traffic congestion ; and its possible solutions. As policymakers from the local to national levels devise strategies to reduce greenhouse gas ; emissions and other pollutants, the level of interest in the environmental impact of congestion has increased. To this end, this ; research effort developed and applied a methodology for determining the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to congestion ; for use in the UMR. The methodology also estimated fuel consumption based upon the carbon dioxide emissions estimates. ; Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) collaborated with researchers at the Wisconsin Energy Institute ; at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop CO2 estimates to include in the UMR. Researchers developed a five-step ; methodology using data from three primary data sources, 1) the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Highway ; Performance Monitoring System (HPMS), 2) INRIX traffic speed data, and 3) The United States Environmental Protection ; Agency’s (EPA) MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model. The research successfully developed and applied the ; methodology. Emission rates (lbs of CO2 per mile) were validated in selected cities, with results in the range of 80 percent to ; 99 percent of the literature values. Researchers incorporated the new methodology for all urban areas into the 2012 Urban ; Mobility Report and plan to include these same measures in future releases of the report. Researchers reported that, in 2011, ; 56 billion pounds of additional CO2 were produced in all 498 urban areas during congestion only, equating to 2.9 billion ; gallons of “wasted” fuel. Researchers reported the amount of CO2 produced at free-flow conditions (i.e., absent congestion) ; is 1.8 trillion pounds in 2011 in all 498 urban areas.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT06-G-0020
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26177/dot_26177_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce82dfaf1c3a2c574b39a1897ebb2c60f8027bfdd8ad07c2b382eea83475ad5d8b803247c8bf8a5f52f5090effd373e80bf8d549b6669122d004abc23ca24340