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| The Future of Mobility |
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Principal Investigators
MIT:
D.Roos, R.Gakenheimer
UT: K.Ohta, H.Ieda
ETH: M.Eberle,
A.Wokaun
Mobility is one of the most fundamental societal and
economic needs. Satisfying this need requires a careful balancing of
demand and supply sides, taking into account social, ecological and
economic concerns. It is necessary to explore how societies can
balance the goals of enhanced physical mobility for citizens,
continued economic growth and environmental sustainability to reduce
pollution, protect crucial ecosystems, conserve natural resources,
and provide a high quality of life.
Goals/Objectives
The objectives of this research
included the following:
- To analyze technological measures for the reduction of
transportation carbon dioxide emissions
- To estimate the potential of urban management measures, both
supply and demand-side management, for carbon dioxide emission
abatement on a world-regional scale in North America and Western
Europe
- To advance power train studies and life-cycle analyses of
fuels, emphasizing energy efficiency and the use of materials
resources during the lifetime of a vehicle, from construction to
disposal, and the associated pollutant
emissions
Results/Findings
The research has
focused on examining the potential of new technologies to reduce
adverse environmental impacts, preparing metropolitan-level case
studies to document and assess innovative approaches to provide
mobility, and modeling future worldwide and regional demand for
mobility and exploring the environmental consequences of this
activity.
Work at the Paul Scherrer Institute (ETH domain)
has focused on understanding the viability of biomass for fuel cell
operations by analyzing the chemistry of the autothermal methanol
partial oxidation reformer. Particular attention was paid to
understand which cleaning procedures are required such that the
reformed gas with impurities can be successfully fed to a low
temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The fuel cell and fuel
performance characteristics were analyzed in a Ph.D
dissertation.
The UT team examined mobility in two Asian mega
cities, Tokyo and Bangkok, focusing on air pollution from
transportation and coordination of urban development with transport
systems. An analysis of auto dependency using mathematical
optimization models revealed that auto dependency could be
suppressed by reducing cross commuting. Also, the team analyzed
travel cost changes associated with metropolitan structural
strategies in terms of spatial distribution of activities with job
concentration/dispersion and increased transit services. The
findings include that job decentralization decreased the auto
dependency in Tokyo, and that job concentration with transit service
improvement in Bangkok could reduce commuting trip-km by car.
Appropriate planning and traffic management tools have been proposed
and documented in relevant publications.
At MIT, the project
was embedded into the Corporate Mobility Research Program, with the
following results and findings:
- Continuing data collection and development of comprehensive
models of forecasting worldwide demand for mobility and the
implications of transportation trends for controlling greenhouse
gases
- Two working papers on emerging auto technologies
- Active participation in the Mexico City Project, studying
mobility patterns in the region
- Collecting information about the positive contributions toward
mobility, Smart Development in Santiago, Chile
- Continued research work on mobility trends and emerging issues
in China, resulting in the working paper, Urban China Adjusting to
Mobilization
- A supplement to the third edition of the International
Mobility Observatory that provides short descriptions and
references of innovative transportation policies and developments
on a worldwide basis
More Information
PSI
website
MIT Cooperative Mobility
Program
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