Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World [Paperback]

Andreas Schäfer (Author), John B. Heywood (Author), Henry D. Jacoby (Author), Ian A. Waitz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262512343 | ISBN-13: 978-0262512343 | Publication Date: April 17, 2009 | Edition: 1

A discussion of the opportunities and challenges involved mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from passenger travel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Andreas Schåfer and his colleagues provide a clear and concise overview of the role that transportation plays in creating some of the global environmental challenges confronting us and look at the sort of technology that can help us circumvent the dangers of global climatic change. In doing this it brings within a single set of covers a wealth of information, systematically presented, and, importantly, written in a way that can be followed by a non-specialist. It is a very welcome addition to the literature."--Kenneth J. Button, Director, Aerospace Policy and Management Center, School of Public Policy, George Mason University

About the Author

In the nineteenth century, horse transportation consumed vast amounts of land for hay production, and the intense traffic and ankle-deep manure created miserable living conditions in urban centers. The introduction of the horseless carriage solved many of these problems but has created others. Today another revolution in transportation seems overdue. Transportation consumes two-thirds of the world's petroleum and has become the largest contributor to global environmental change. Most of this increase in scale can be attributed to the strong desire for personal mobility that comes with economic growth. In Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World, the authors present the first integrated assessment of the factors affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from passenger transportation. They examine such topics as past and future travel demand; the influence of personal and business choices on passenger travel's climate impact; technologies and alternative fuels that may become available to mitigate GHG emissions from passenger transport; and policies that would promote a more sustainable transportation system. And most important, taking into account all of these options are taken together, they consider how to achieve a sustainable transportation system in the next thirty to fifty years.

John B. Heywood is Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at MIT.

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (April 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262512343
• ISBN-13: 978-0262512343
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #513,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Options for GHG mitigation short of full-crisis mode, August 17, 2010

By 

K. F. Laux "kflaux" (Bloomington, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World (Paperback)

This very well-researched and technically replete book outlines the options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, primarily vehicles (cars and light trucks) and aircraft.

In this, it does an excellent job and is invaluable; but I'm not sure it really takes the "climate-constrained" qualifier in its title as seriously as it should. Emblematic of this is the fact that in the final chapter, one scenario for future transportation-related GHG emissions assumes an atmospheric CO2 target level of 550 ppm by volume. We are already at 380 today; many climate scientists think that if we reach 550, we will already be risking environmental Armageddon.

Thus this tome is invaluable for evaluating policy options and promising transportation-related technologies if one eschews full-crisis mode. But those of us convinced that the climate crisis really IS a crisis, requiring fundamental changes in behavior that cannot be easily extrapolated from historical data, will probably not be satisfied to stop at the authors' conclusions.

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, throughly researched and objective, April 6, 2011

By 

Antony D. Evans "Dr A.D. Evans" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World (Paperback)

This book provides an interesting, very thoroughly researched, and highly insightful review of the growth of transportation, its climate impact, and the policy approaches designed to mitigate it. It gives a clear picture of the problems faced, and the best ways to deal with them. It takes climate-change seriously, but is also realistic about the potential effectiveness of different options available to deal with it, in transportation. Importantly, I feel that the book is objective, and not overly optimistic or pessimistic.

The book is also easy to read, but dense, so whilst it is interesting for general readers, it is also very useful for researchers and policy makers, and should be a bench mark for transportation policy analysis. I would strongly recommend this book.