Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World

In the nineteenth century, horse transportation consumed vast amounts ofland for hay production, and the intense traffic and ankle-deep manure createdmiserable living conditions in urban centers. The introduction of the horselesscarriage solved many of these problems but has created others. Today anotherrevolution in transportation seems overdue. Transportation consumes two-thirds ofthe world's petroleum and has become the largest contributor to global environmentalchange. Most of this increase in scale can be attributed to the strong desire forpersonal mobility that comes with economic growth. In Transportation in aClimate-Constrained World, the authors present the first integrated assessment ofthe factors affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from passenger transportation.They examine such topics as past and future travel demand; the influence of personaland business choices on passenger travel's climate impact; technologies andalternative fuels that may become available to mitigate GHG emissions from passengertransport; 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 thirtyto fifty years.