PrintAssigned Reading I
We will once again return to Project Drawdown to explore energy use in the transportation sector. Recall that Project Drawdown explores examples of innovative approaches and technologies to lead to more sustainable energy production and use, especially energy with a lower carbon footprint.
https://drawdown.org/sectors/transportation
Scan the "Solutions in this Sector" examples at the bottom of the page. You will explore some exciting options for more efficient and sustainable solutions, realizing the point made above that transportation sector has a significant carbon footprint. And you will also note that the answer is not always a more efficient vehicle. Sometimes the solution is looking at mobility in a completely different way.
For example, a more well-known alternative in transportation that has been around for a long time is mass transit and carpooling. The idea behind these options is to put more people in fewer vehicles. Even if the vehicle itself is not any more efficient than in the past, the overall impact is still less because you move more people per unit energy. But in the Project Drawdown examples, we also see the evolving concept of “virtual transportation.” That is being somewhere else, but not physically having to move. Telecommuting and virtual meeting is on the rise. And the COVID pandemic has propelled society into the virtual realm much faster than may have been originally expected, or desired! Finally, there are examples of moving from point A to point B, but using more mechanical energy forms of transportation, such as bicycle. And of course, there is always good old fashion walking. But whereas walking is probably the most sustainable, it is not practical unless the distances to cover are manageable. And this is the catalyst behind walkable cities and communities.