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CE Delft Study Finds Lower Highway Speed Limits Could Result in Significant Reductions in CO2 from Road Transport; Encouraging Modal Shifts and Land Use Changes

Cedelft
Short- and long-term CO2 emission reductions as a share of total motorway CO2 emissions by cars in various scenarios. Click to enlarge.

Carbon dioxide emissions from road transport in the Netherlands could be reduced by 30% if motorway speed limits in the Netherlands were set at 80 km/h (50 mph). The research, undertaken by CE Delft for the NGO Milieudefensie, estimates the optimum long-term reduction as 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 for passenger cars, and a further 0.2 mt for delivery vans.

The research also finds that, because of the longer travel times resulting from lower speed limits, fewer car kilometers will be driven and there will be “a certain shift from private car to public transport”. The researchers also believe this will lead in the longer term to people moving closer to their workplace and shops relocating closer to consumers, thereby reducing overall car kilometers.

Based on the law of constant travel time budget, the average travel time elasticity of the amount of kilometres equals -1, (average for all modalities) (Van Wee, 1998; Pfleiderer, 2003). This means that a 1% increase in travel time leads to a 1% decrease in travelled kilometres. A decrease of maximum speed on the motorway will not only lead to a decrease in travelled kilometres by car, but will also partially result in a modal shift. The use of public transport and cycling will become relatively more favourable options. The car travel time elasticity of the amount of car-kilometres will therefore be less than -1.

—“Why slower is better”

CO2 emissions of a passenger car are directly related to fuel consumption. Non-technology factors affecting fuel consumption are, among other things, driving speed and driving pattern. Fuel consumption of a car increases at higher speeds, the main reason being that with increasing speed the wind resistance increases exponentially.

The study assumes a reduction to a uniform limit of 80 km/h which is strictly enforced. Less drastic tightening of speed limits result in emissions cuts of 8-21%.

Lower speed limits would also improve air pollution, noise nuisance, possibly congestion and traffic safety. However, from the perspective of economic welfare, both the lower speed and the reduced volume of traffic count as costs. A follow-up study on the social costs and benefits would enable calculation of ‘optimal’ speed limits, the researchers suggest.

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Comments

HarveyD

Couldn't equivalent CO2 reduction be gained by reducing vehicle weight + wind and road resistance + lower friction engines + better power trains and transmissions + solar cells to keep accessories going etc?

Of course, future e-vehicles will not have that problem but lighter vehicles with less wind and road resistance will still be an asset.

dursun

Cue Sammy Hagar.

Matthew

Another study showing that making life suck is good for the environment? I think we already knew that.

The Goracle

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"Lower Highway Speed Limits Could Result in Significant Reductions in.. blah... blah... blah..."

And facts show that reduced speed limits cause higher deaths due to accidents. The interstate highway is designed for safe travel at 70 mph. People tend to drive at whatever speed "feels" safe. Some will obey a dangerously slow speed limit while most will drive the natural, safe, design speed. The high speed differential will cause accidents and kill more people - as the evidence of the past thirty years indicates.

But, this is what Globalwarmist religion is all about, isn't it? "So what if people die - we have Mother Earth to worship!"

Praise be to Algore!

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ai_vin

Quoting fred schumacher | April 28, 2010 at 01:00 PM
"Research by Cesare Marchetti and Yakov Zahavi have shown travel time to be remarkably consistent, unchanging over thousands of years, right into the present. As travel speeds have increased, distance has increased, but travel time has remained the same, between 1.1 and 1.5 hours per day. This appears to be hard-wired into our psyches.

Transportation costs have also remained constant, averaging 15% of income. As incomes have gone up, more money has gone to travel, but the percentage going to travel hasn't changed."

wintermane2000

Actualy the thing that is realy causing waste isnt high speed its bouncing from high to low and back again many times during a trip. Most of this is the fault of cities with far far more jobs then they have roads to deal with the commuters AND cargo trucks.

Sanity Chk

Ah, the Gornicle is back! We missed your fossil mouthpiece rants and "Globalwarmist" tripe.

But yes, Al Gore is someone to be admired as a true leader (something in desperately short supply these days) for taking it upon himself to educate the public around the world about the facts of Global Warming. Unlike you and your ilk, he is part of the solution to a global problem that is far greater than any that human kind has faced.

Reading your posts puts me in mind of Nero fiddling while Rome is burning - i.e. you don't seem to care what disastrous consequences result from your continued carbon spewage. Science be damned! It's all a conspiracy! yada, yada, yada ... Gore had it pegged correctly as truly "An Inconvenient Truth."

Wake up and smell the coffee! It's time to stop drinking the fossil company Kool-aid and become part of the solution.

GdB

I'm fine with it as long as all the go slows make up the lost time and wages.

Today is is possible to reduce fuel consumption by 3 to 4 times by making the right vehicle choices. Simple design concepts have shown that even vans can have very low drag (look up MB boxfish concept).

Trucks can be improved also.

Both better CAFE standards and fuel taxes in lieu of other taxes are needed to encourage the right choices.

GdB

Oh yeah and I can't drive 55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sanity Chk

Of all the ways to reduce carbon emissions, speed limit reduction has to be the most difficult to enforce and may have a substantial economic impact to the trucking industry (perhaps not in the Netherlands).

I prefer approaches like:
- lowering the drag coefficient of vehicles
- retrofitting existing cars and trucks with hybrid systems
- better government incentives for upgrading to EVs and PHEVs and for vehicle conversions to LNG
- Elimination of ALL fossil fuel subsidies (with possible exception of Natural Gas)

All this is doable with existing technology and isn't likely to require serious changes to individual behaviors.

The Goracle

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"Gore had it pegged correctly as truly "An Inconvenient Truth."

LOL!! That's why the court in England ruled that notices had to be issued with the Algore's garbage, identifying the falsehoods. Algore "pegged it correctly!" LOL!!! Thanks for that.

Scientists agree that Earth was in a warming trend, except for the past 15 years. What scientist do not agree on is the cause. Although it should be agreed on, even by the most incompetent of us, that massive tax increases, drastic losses of freedom, and an ever expanding, incompetent, government are not the "solutions" to Earth's naturally changing climate.

Praise be to Algore!

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Sanity Chk

Gornicle: What planet do you come from? And what do you mean by "What scientist do not agree on is the cause."?

There is overwhelming consensus among thousands of scientists in multiple disciplines about the causes.

This is supported by recent IPCC assessment (http://www.ipcc.ch/) and though you may be loathe to admit it, even the long-skeptical Bush administration released a report in May 2008 saying “it is likely that there has been a substantial human contribution to surface temperature increases in North America.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aXQeBMUnvRys

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-3/final-report/default.htm

Nattering naysayers like yourself claiming otherwise does not change the facts. Polar ice is melting - primarily as a result of human activity and perhaps as much as 10% the result of solar influence. We are rapidly approaching tipping points with positive feedback mechanisms that will accelerate the process.

There may have been a few flaws in the material that Al Gore presented, but the lion's share of it was spot-on. Just saying otherwise does not make it so.

Regarding the UK court decision in Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education and Skills, the judge sided with the defendant (Gore) writing:

"I have no doubt that Dr Stott, the Defendant's expert, is right when he says that: 'Al Gore's presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change in the film was broadly accurate.'" On the basis of testimony from Robert M. Carter and the arguments put forth by the claimant's lawyers, the judge also pointed to nine errors, i.e. statements that he found to depart from the mainstream scientific positions on global warming. He also found that some of these errors arose in the context of alarmism and exaggeration in support of Al Gore's political thesis. Since the government had already accepted to amend the guidance notes to address these errors along with other points in a fashion that the judge found satisfactory, no order was made on the application.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth

To make only 9 errors in the hundreds of facts presented is pretty impressive, and these issues were long ago addressed.

Get an ethic, stop sowing misinformation, and start helping to solve the problem.

Find a real job and quit being a mouthpiece for the fossil companies.

Get real and yes, thank God for Al Gore!

Sanity Chk

I stand corrected, Gore presented thousands of facts in "An Inconvenient Truth," not hundreds. Take a look at what he has to say about the 9 "errors" and the UK court ruling:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_team_gor_1.html

JMartin

How about this old design solution: fossil fuel tax increasing by $0.01 per gallon per month forever. That will prompt slower driving, less driving, and choice of better designed vehicles.

The Goracle

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LOL!!! Wikipedia and the Washington Post as references. No point in reading on...

And, of course we ALL know that scientists are lying when they claim that Ohio was once covered by glaciers. Since SUVs were not around to melt them, and man didn't have much of an impact with his CO2 output at the time, Global Warming® (since rebranded Climate Change® since rebranded CO2 Pollution®) had to have taken place **without** man's interference. The glaciers could not have been there! Earth doesn't warm and cool on its own!!!

As one "scientist" recently said: "hide the decline!"

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Sanity Chk

@Gornacle: Wow, quite the master of cherry-picking phrases out of context to twist and distort the facts to make any and all claims with no substance. Impressive!

How convenient to ignore the Bush administration's own assessment in your rant. And of course I suppose the IPCC doesn't count for anything either since in your mind all scientists are liars, cheats, and self-serving.

Did you even try to learn the context of where "hide the decline" was used? Did you actually read any of the email thread from which you quote? Clearly not since it would be antithetical to your objectives!

The Washington Post article was simply giving Gore the courtesy of responding to attacks on "An Inconvenient Truth." Apparently you are not interested in what he had to say in his defense.

It's clear that you are content to carry on unencumbered by the truth, and unencumbered by a conscience. It's time for a little introspection guy.

The Goracle

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Thank you for the hysterical rant, Sanity Chk. Yes, "science" at its best: name calling and unfounded accusations! You're now just being silly, right? Thanks for the good laugh! Keep praying to Mother Earth!

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fred schumacher

When speed limits were dropped to 55 mph by the Nixon Administration during the first oil price shock, I noticed how much less stressful driving suddenly became.

All vehicles were driving the same speed, instead of the 20 mph differential between trucks and cars. There wasn't the constant passing and lane jockeying. Back then trucks didn't have as much power as today, and even if they had wanted to break the truck speed limit of 55 mph, they had a hard time doing it. The slower speed meant drivers were in better control and had more time to plan ahead.

When fuel prices were at their peak two years ago, I drove cross-country on I-80. I drove at a steady 62 mph and was passed by only two trucks over a span of nearly 1,000 miles. Truckers had self-regulated themselves to a 60 mph limit, since fuel costs were exceeding labor costs.

SJC

It was said that they made it 55 mph because it was temporary and no one would put up with that speed for long. 60 mph seems more practical and we can live with that as long as we have to. It is easy to calculate how much fuel is saved if everyone drives at that speed.

Sanity Chk

Ah, Mr. Gornacle. . . your lack of depth is once again revealed.

When confronted with the truth about your unsupportable assertions, your only recourse is to claim hysteria and silliness on the part of those shining the light. When you have no basis for discussion, deflect.

Thank God for people who care enough about our environment to stand against those who would decimate it for a buck. In what twisted reality does casting aspersions on their characters make any moral or ethical sense?

Yet, unencumbered by the facts, you prattle on with mockery and "LOL!!!s" and "good laughs" while polar ice continues to melt and oceans become more acidic.

ToppaTom

Slow the car speeds by 25%, you get about 25% more cars on the road because they are each on the road about 25% longer.

That's not relaxing.

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