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Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment issued a report last week entitled “The Future of Mobility Roadmap.” The highlight of this report is that changing weight, length and designs of new vehicles can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By creating lighter and more aerodynamic vehicles, drivers produce fewer emissions by not placing high strains on gas engines and hybrid systems. These changes in vehicle design would also reduce fuel consumption by allowing drive systems to run more efficiently. “The Future of Mobility Roadmap” also points out the liabilities of clean fuel technologies currently under development.
The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment notes that plug-in electrics, biofuel and algae fuel vehicles are not the best solutions to emissions in the long term. Plug-in and all-electric vehicles may not produce emissions directly but coal-powered electric plants more than make up for their emissions savings. Biofuels like ethanol do not stand up to national and international rollouts due to the large amounts of land needed to grow crops for fuel. “The Future of Mobility Roadmap” also critiques algae fuels as too early in development to be useful given current production processes.
This recent report charges the British government with encouraging better vehicle designs using top-down solutions. In order to get lighter vehicles on the road, the report’s editors want the government to apply extra taxes to drivers of SUVs and heavy-duty passenger trucks. These taxes would be funneled to public transportation and urban mobility programs that produce far fewer emissions during commutes. “The Future of Mobility Roadmap” goes beyond the streets of British cities to address air travel and sea transportation. From airplanes to merchant vessels, the Oxford University report advocates for sleeker designs and smarter route planning to reduce overall emissions.
“The Future of Mobility Roadmap” goes a long way toward diminishing myths about clean transportation options. The report spends some time reviewing common myths that diesel engines produce greater emissions than gas engines and that biofuels are the silver bullet to global fuel needs. In fact, the overriding conclusion of this Oxford University study seems to be that automakers, politicians and consumers are wrong to think that there is another transportation silver bullet on the horizon. Public and private interests need to think about total mobility from bullet trains to all-electric buses, electric scooters and hybrid commuter cars in order to reduce emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. The sensible first step is to change the way we think about vehicle design and that will lead to a sea change in thoughts on day-to-day mobility.
