Jeffrey Ang-Olson

Energy Efficiency Strategies for Freight Trucking: Potential Impact on Fuel Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Trucking is the dominant mode of domestic freight and offers a substantial opportunity to improve transportation energy efficiency and reduce the emission of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs). In response, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing the voluntary Ground Freight Transportation Initiative, which will work with all industry sectors associated with freight movement as well as local governments to improve efficiency and reduce emissions through a range of voluntary actions. These actions may include best management practices, operational improvements, and advanced technologies. Strategies that EPA and partners will investigate as potential measures that could improve the environmental performance and energy efficiency of one subsector of ground freight, the trucking sector, are explored. Eight trucking strategies are assessed, including technological innovations and humanfactor (operations) strategies. All are commercially available (or, for operations, feasible) today, but most have achieved little market penetration. Each strategy is briefly described, and each strategy’s impact on the fuel economy of a typical freight truck is assessed. Then estimations of the current and potential maximum market penetration of each strategy as well as the potential reductions of U.S. GHG emissions resulting from national adoption of the strategy are presented. At a national participation rate of 50%, the total maximum benefit of the initiative in 2010 would be a reduction of 3.0 billion gallons of fuel and 8.3 million metric tons of carbonequivalent emissions.

EXTERNAL URBAN TRUCK TRIPS BASED ON COMMODITY FLOWS: A MODEL

A procedure is described for incorporating interregional (external) heavy-duty truck trips in a regional travel-demand forecasting model. The procedure was developed as part of a comprehensive truck modeling effort conducted by the Southern California Association of Governments. The procedure is based on commodity flow forecasts and economic input-output modeling techniques. County-level commodity flows are disaggregated to the transportation analysis zone level using employment data, land use data, and commercial facility data. Input-output models are used to determine the portion of each inbound commodity that goes to final demand by consumers and the use of each commodity by industry sectors. Commodity flows then are converted to truck trips using commodity-specific estimates of the portion of tonnage carried in each truck weight class and the average truck payload for each weight class. These estimates are developed using data from the federal Truck Inventory and Use Survey and some truck origin-destination surveys performed at cordon points around the region. The model produces a set of trip tables that can be assigned to the regional roadway network using standard assignment techniques.

Integrating Climate Change into State and Regional Transportation Plans

This paper aims to advance the practice and application of transportation planning for state, regional, and local transportation planning agencies to address the relationship between transportation and climate change. The focus of the paper is on long-range planning documents as tools for climate change planning. Reviews included federal regulations and statutes that govern transportation planning as well as a sample of current planning documents from state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Interviews were conducted with four DOTs and eight MPOs that were incorporating climate change into long-range transportation plans. The text of federal statutes provides opportunities to link climate change considerations with transportation planning. The current practice in transportation plans varies widely by agency. Climate change can appear in the vision, goals, policies, strategies, trends and challenges, and performance measures of planning documents. Some plans merely recognize that climate change is related to transportation and begin to relate existing plans and strategies to climate change. Other plans make climate change more central to their goals and policies. Some agencies are quantifying greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation plans and programs. Quantification will likely be a key component of plans in the future. Research highlighted several types of barriers and needs for agencies considering climate change in transportation plans. These barriers were reviewed. Some simple recommendations were provided for how state DOTs and MPOs could address them.

Achieving Goals of San Francisco, California, for Greenhouse Gas Reductions in Transportation Sector: What Would It Take?

Although several studies analyze strategies for reducing transportations contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, few do so at the local level, particularly for a city such as San Francisco, California, that is already a leader in climate-friendly transportation. This study examined nine GHG-reducing strategies within the San Francisco context, where local ordinance establishes a goal to reduce the citys GHGs 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Strategies that were analyzed included infrastructure improvements, expansion of demand management policies including pricing, and accelerated penetration of electric vehicle technology. The study used a combination of travel demand model and sketch-planning methods to estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of strategies in reducing GHGs and their cumulative ability to achieve San Franciscos goal. The analysis results showed roadway pricing and electric vehicle strategies to have had the largest potential to reduce GHGs, although these two strategies differed significantly in cost-effectiveness. The results also showed that strategies involving share costs between public sector, private sector, and individuals had great promise in delivering reductions. Although investments in transit alone may not produce large GHG reductions, they are necessary to accommodate the mode shift of other strategies and can be paired strategically with pricing strategies. According to analysis results, San Franciscos policy goals appeared unachievable, even with ambitious assumptions about funding and policy change. These findings point to the need for policy change at a higher scale and for unprecedented changes in individual behavior to achieve GHG goals.

Comparison of Technological and Operational Strategies to Reduce Trucking Emissions in Southern California

This study compares the cost-effectiveness and the emission reduction potential from selected trucking strategies in Southern California. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will have to accommodate substantial traffic growth in the next decades because of Asia Pacific corridor trade growth. Not only will California have to improve capacity and avoid gridlock, but it will also have to develop strategies that reduce emissions from goods movement. The Southern California Association of Governments and other agencies are developing major plans for goods movement infrastructure investments as well as technological and operational strategies that account for environmental performance. Beside future improvements in trucking emissions due to new emission standards, additional trucking strategies are evaluated in this analysis. They include truck replacement, truck repowering, truck retrofit with particulate matter control devices, and two operational strategies—a virtual container yard and an expanded incident management program that tackles incidents involving heavy-duty diesel trucks.

Land Use as an Air Quality Control Measure: Review of Current Practice and Examination of Policy Options

The inclusion of sustainable land use policies and programs for emissions credit in the air quality planning process is examined. Reviewed first is the role of land use in procedures for development of the state implementation plan (SIP) and the transportation conformity determination. Twenty-seven metropolitan areas were surveyed to identify how land use currently is incorporated into air quality plans. The survey found nine metropolitan areas that include a control measure involving land use in an air quality plan, though only two of these actually quantify an emission reduction from the measure. Then three general policy options are examined that could allow for better accounting of the air quality benefits of sustainable land use. One option is to enhance transportation and land use forecasting procedures so that they better capture land use and design features. A second option is to adopt land use policies as an explicit SIP control measure. A third option is to show an emissions reduction from land use as part of a transportation plan conformity determination. Existing rules are reviewed concerning each of these options, and how they would apply to land use measures is discussed.

Toward a Better State Climate Action Plan: Review and Assessment of Proposed Transportation Strategies

A major body of transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies is contained in state-level climate action plans (CAPs). There has been some concern among major stakeholder groups that CAPs are not rigorously developed documents and that the reductions estimated in CAPs are unrealistic given real constraints on funding and implementation authority. This paper analyzes a subset of 84 strategies in nine states’ CAPs to determine how reliable reduction estimates are and where significant sources of uncertainty arise. Measures from these CAPs are evaluated according to requirements for enactment, external factors that play a role in implementation, quantification methods, and variables used in the quantification. For enactment of strategies, nearly all of the transportation GHG reductions estimated in state CAPs would require new state legislation or state agency rulemaking. Half of the reductions would require major new funding. For implementation factors, one-third of state CAP GHG reductions relies heavily on assumptions about the future price of transportation. A relatively small portion (10%) of the estimated GHG reductions depends on changes in land use. Some of the greatest uncertainty stems from strategies that are quantified with goals rather than empirical data and are not supported by a feasibility study. The authors judge that if state CAP transportation strategies are enacted as stated, roughly one-third of the estimated reductions in GHG emissions is highly uncertain. As states develop and revise CAPs in the future, they can focus on developing and quantifying strategies in a way that increases the likelihood that strategies will achieve at least the reductions estimated.

FREIGHT ACTIVITY AND AIR QUALITY IMPACTS IN SELECTED NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT TRADE CORRIDORS

The current and future air quality effects that result from the development of North American trade and transportation corridors are examined, and strategies to mitigate these impacts are explored. The analysis focuses on five specific binational corridor segments. For each segment, commodity flow and ground freight traffic volumes (truck and rail) are used to develop a sketch-level estimate of current air pollution emissions associated with cross-border trade. Cross-border freight is responsible for 3% to 11% of all emissions of nitrogen oxides and 5% to 16% of all emissions of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) from mobile sources in the corridor regions. Trade forecasts to 2020 are used to develop a sketch-level estimate of future trade-related emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from cross-border trade will increase 2.4 to 4 times over current levels in the five corridors. As a result of the expected improvement in criteria pollutant emissions controls for trucks and locomotives, total trade-related emissions of nitrogen oxides and PM10 in 2020 will be lower than or the same as current levels, despite increased trade volumes. The effects of six emissions mitigation strategies are also discussed.

Environmental Performance Measures for State Departments of Transportation

Transportation supports ease of movement, access, and economic health for communities, but transportation also has indisputable impacts on air, water, and natural ecosystems. Although state departments of transportation (DOTs) are increasingly harmonized in their approaches to performance measurement for areas such as infrastructure preservation and congestion, there has been little consensus or direction on approaches for measuring environmental performance. This paper describes the identification and testing of a suite of core environmental performance measures designed to help state DOTs better understand and communicate the impacts of transportation on the environment and ultimately to support more informed business decisions. The measures reflect five major focus areas: air quality, energy and climate, materials recycling, stormwater, and wildlife and ecosystems. The measures discussed in this paper were subject to proof of concept testing with available data gathered from state DOTs. Twenty-seven states participated in the testing to some degree. The performance measures recommended in this paper should be considered a sound starting point for continued efforts in assessing the impacts of DOTs on the environment and not perfect or permanent metrics.

Comparative Evaluation of Infrastructure Strategies to Reduce Emissions from Intermodal Freight Movement in Southern California

Five major infrastructure projects are evaluated that could substantially reduce emissions from intermodal goods movement in Southern California: on-dock railroad expansion, near-dock railroad expansion, mainline railroad capacity expansion and grade separation, electrification of the Alameda Corridor, and electrification of the entire mainline regional railroad system. Given the importance of Southern California as a gateway for international trade, the need for expansion of the capacity of the regions goods movement system, and the contribution of goods movement to the regions serious air quality problems, it is important to understand the emissions impacts of major goods movement infrastructure projects. This study finds that all five infrastructure projects can reduce a significant amount of emissions. Electrification of the entire mainline railroad system would achieve by far the largest emission reductions, eliminating emissions of more than 7,500 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 236 tons of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or smaller (PM2.5) annually. Mainline capacity expansion would achieve the next-largest reductions. Alameda Corridor electrification is the most cost-effective of the five strategies at