Transport solarpunk solutions
An analysis of the transport sector's greenhouse emissions and the existing green alternatives.
In 2016, the transport sector accounted for 16.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, in Europe, transport represents almost a quarter of its total greenhouse emissions and 33% in the USA. Moreover, it is considered the leading cause of air pollution in cities. So let's break down the transport emissions and discover some realistic solarpunk alternatives that can help reduce the overall transport emissions.
Note: by transport, I do not consider the manufacturing of the vehicles themself, but only their direct emissions from burning fossil fuels to power the transport activities (as well as a small amount of indirect electricity). We can separate this source of emissions into five subcategories:
Road transport (11.9% of global emissions)
Emissions from burning petrol and diesel from all forms of road transport: cars, trucks, lorries, motorcycles, and buses. 60% of these emissions come from passenger travel.
An efficient way to decrease these emissions is by promoting public transport (using electric or hybrid buses and having a well-connected network of rail and bus systems). Some cities are making public transport public. That is, free to use. As a result, they experienced an increase of 40% in the number of users.
Other techniques to further drop the emissions coming from road transport include creating safe bike and scooter paths in the cities.
A significant percentage of these passenger travel emissions result from a centralized working system -people move from peripheral locations to central cities to get to work. Thus, encouraging people to work in local establishments or adding co-working spaces in sub-capital cities would help reduce the need for working-related passenger transportation. In addition, some countries like Iceland have been conducting experiments on a reduced number of working hours via a 4-day workweek (which reduced the amount of work-related transport emissions). They have concluded that a 4-day workweek improves the employers' mental health and happiness while not affecting the overall productivity!
The remaining 40% of the road transport emissions come from road freight (lorries and trucks). Without a doubt, going electric is the most straightforward solution to lower their emissions. Biodiesel trucking, where the fuel consumed is made from vegetable oils rather than petroleum, is also becoming an option. However, the most impactful alternative is to cut the need for such transportation, which is achieved by consuming fewer goods and not adhering to the trends of our fast-paced world of mass consumerism. It is preferred to fix a non-working item than to buy a new one. Purchasing local products instead of imported ones is also an excellent way to reduce these road freight emissions while empowering your local community.
Aviation (1.9% of global emissions)
Emissions from passenger travel and freight, and domestic and international aviation. 81% of aviation emissions are from passenger travel, of which 60% come from international travel and 40% from domestic.
Passenger flying is a controversial topic in climate debates.
One reason for this is that while only accounting for 1.5% of global emissions (in 2016), it dominates the personal carbon footprint in the Global North population. This fact happens because there are significant inequalities in how much people fly. For example, 62% of the air travel emissions come from high-income countries, while these only represent 16% of the global population. In contraposition, the 'poorest' half of the world (representing 49% of the world's population) only emits 10% of the air travel emissions.
Another reason for this controversy is that while domestic flights are counted in a country's emissions accounts, international flights are not. This fact means that there are few initiatives for governments to reduce them.
So, what can we do? Numerous solarpunk alternatives have been proposed to tackle this problem.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is a UK company launching a short-range (and very cool) airship service that shortens CO2 emissions by 90% compared to regular planes. They plan to start transiting in 2025. One benefit of airships is that they don't require unique infrastructure such as runaways for taking off and landing. This means that they can take off and land in areas closer to the cities than airports, thus reducing the transportation emissions generated by getting into the airports. However, as a downside, airships are slightly slower than planes. Yet, I bet you'd like to spend even more time inside such airships enjoying the trip! Take a look at the interior of the Airlander 10 aircraft:
While airship traveling is unavailable in your city, you might think twice if taking the plane is a necessary option. Maybe you can find alternative transport systems that emit less such as traveling by train. Or perhaps you can discover areas closer to your home before visiting distant locations.
As for the 19% of the emissions corresponding to freight, these can be reduced via some of the abovementioned solutions. For example, decreasing the number of purchased goods, buying local products instead of imported ones, and using airships for cargo transportation.
Shipping (1.7% of global emissions)
These are the emissions that come from the burning of petrol and diesel on vessels. The emissions in this subcategory comprise both passenger and maritime freight trips.
New technologies focus on the fuel efficiency of modern ships (for example, a system to reduce the friction between the boat and the water, reducing fuel consumption by 5%). Others prefer incorporating solar panels into cargo vessels or traditional, wind-powered sailing techniques for such freight ships.
Another easy option is Less-than-Container Load (LCL), where different shipments of smaller than a standard-sized cargo container are grouped. As a result, the cargo vessels have to carry fewer containers. Consequently, fewer trips are required, and less greenhouse gas is emitted.
Rail (0.4% of total emissions)
Emissions from passenger and freight rail travel.
Generally speaking, the rail system is powered by electricity and is the transport method that produces the most negligible greenhouse emissions. As a result, it serves as a great, green alternative to aviation shipment.
Pipeline (0.3% of total emissions)
Fuels and commodities often need to be transported via pipelines. This process requires energy inputs that generate emissions. These pipelines, when poorly constructed, can also leak, resulting in direct methane emissions to the atmosphere -not counting as emissions in the transport sector. However, we will treat this topic in a future post.
A simple alternative to these pipelines is to use, when possible, locally produced green energy, such as solar panels. These forms of energy do not need pipelines to transport, as electricity travels via cables.
In 2018, transportation accounted for 14.2% of total worldwide emissions. So yay, we did improve somewhat! However, aviation emissions increased to 2.4%... we still have a long way to go. But, by promoting the solarpunk solutions discussed, we could lower the overall transport sector emissions way more.
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Sources:
https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/us/free-public-transit.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/iceland-government-backed-4-day-work-week-trial
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation
https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying
https://ourworldindata.org/breakdown-co2-aviation
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/transport-emissions_en
https://www.climatewatchdata.org/