PrintAccording to the EPA, 95% of the world's transportation energy comes from fossil fuels. Ninety five percent! (That's higher than I expected, how about you?) This is predominantly comprised of gasoline and diesel for on-road use.
As global demand for personal transport goes up (World Economic Forum, 2016), we'll need to think creatively about how to reduce emissions while accommodating an increasingly mobile global population.
How do we handle twice as many cars worldwide in 2040 while also seeking to aggressively reduce global GHG emissions?
Reducing energy intensity and switching to low/no carbon fuel sources are just a few of the ways we might be able to achieve those goals. Check out some of the proposed solutions outlined in Project Drawdown's Transport Sector Summary.
| Year |
Total Direct/Indirect (GTCO2 eq/yr) |
Total Direct (GTCO2 eq/yr) |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| 1990 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| 2010 | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Year | Indirect | Road | Rail | Pipeline | HFC & Indirect N20 | International aviation | Domestic Aviation | International and Costal Shipping | Domestic Waterborn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2.71% | 59.85% | 9.78% | 2.81% | 1.38% | 5.55% | 5.71% | 11.66% | 3.26% |
| 1990 | 2.83% | 71.00% | 3.34% | 3.45% | 1.12% | 5.39% | 5.94% | 7.66% | 2.09% |
| 2010 | 2.11% | 72.06% | 1.60% | 2.38% | 2.16% | 6.52% | 4.10% | 9.26% | 1.91% |
The two takeaways from this graph are (1) transportation emissions have more than doubled since 1970 and are expected to continue increasing and (2) the vast majority of those emissions come from on-road sources (light duty vehicles and medium-heavy duty vehicles).