Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics

Decision-Making Models and Solutions

Javier Faulin, Scott Grasman, Angel Juan, Patrick Hirsch, Javier Faulin, Scott Grasman, Angel Juan, Patrick Hirsch

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780128142431
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Transportation & Navigation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics: Decision-Making Models and Solutions provides deterministic and probabilistic models for transportation logistics problem-solving and decision-making. The book presents an overview of the intersections between sustainability, transportation, and logistics, and delves into the current problems associated with the implementation of sustainable transportation and smart logistics in urban settings. It also offers models for addressing complex structural problems and procedures for estimating transportation externalities such as environmental and social impacts, both in industrial and government arenas, as well as decision-making models from operational, tactical, and strategic management perspectives. Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics also covers best practices for practical corporate policy implementation, making it a comprehensive and vital resource for researchers, graduate students, practitioners, and policy makers in transportation, logistics, urban planning, economics, engineering, and environmental science.

• Examines various modes of transportation
• Includes mathematical models for decision-making in a wide variety of situations
• Presents public transportation and smart cities use cases

Part I

Basic Concepts in Transportation

Outline

Chapter 1. Sustainable Transportation: Concepts and Current Practices

Chapter 2. Introduction to the Technology, Applications, and Modal Choice of Land Transport

Chapter 3. Environmental Sustainability in Ports

Chapter 4. A Review of Sustainability in Aviation: A Multidimensional Perspective

Chapter 5. Intermodal Transport—Basics, Structure, and Planning Approaches

Chapter 1

Sustainable Transportation

Concepts and Current Practices

Javier Faulin ¹ , Scott E. Grasman ² , Angel A. Juan ³ , and Patrick Hirsch ^{4 1} Institute of Smart Cities, Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain ² Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Kettering University, Flint, MI, United States ³ IN3 – Computer Science Department, Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain ⁴ Institute of Production and Logistics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Sustainable transportation is a popular concept with great influence in political decisions. After a general description of its main traits, we present the general characteristics of passengers and freight transportation in order to discuss later the importance of their environmental impact. Then we give an introduction to the main sources of energy, which give support to each transportation mode, presenting the main intermodal systems. An explanation about how to make decisions in conflicting scenarios is presented in the following section. Finally, some emerging trends in sustainable transportation are provided, along with conclusions.

Keywords

Decision making; Emissions; Energy; Environment; Externalities; Intermodal logistics; Sustainable transportation

Outline

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2. Characteristics of Freight and Passenger Transportation
3. 3. Sources of Energy and Transportation Modalities
4. 4. Planning Intermodal Logistics
5. 5. Quantitative Methods for Decision Making in Transportation
6. 6. Emerging Trends in Sustainable Transportation
   1. 6.1 Drones
   2. 6.2 Car Sharing
   3. 6.3 Automatic-Driven Vehicles
   4. 6.4 Public Transportation for Cargo
   5. 6.5 Trunk Delivery
7. 7. Conclusions
8. References

1. Introduction

Sustainable transportation gains a lot of attention in today's research and practice. Economic growth and global trade relations lead to a tremendous increase in transportation activities. Transportation is related to numerous negative external effects such as noise, air pollution, or accidents; it is also a major contributor to human-induced climate change. Sims et al. (2014) state that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector have increased by a factor of 2.5 between 1970 and 2010 worldwide; hence, they have grown at a faster rate than in any other energy end-use sector. Victor et al. (2014) show that the transportation sector was responsible for more than 14% of the total global GHG emissions in 2010. GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) (EU, 2017).

With regard to sustainable development, there is a vast array of definitions, terms, approaches, concepts, methods, and tools, many designed for specific fields only (Missimer et al., 2017). Johnston et al. (2007) estimate that about 300 definitions for sustainability and sustainable development exist. Commonly used are the three pillars or dimensions of sustainability: economy, ecology, and society. The Renewed Sustainable Development Strategy of the European Union adopted by the European Council in June 2006 defines a sustainable transportation system as one that “meets society's economic, social, and environmental needs whilst minimizing its undesirable impacts on the economy, society, and the environment” (EC, 2011). The authors of this chapter refer to this definition, when writing about sustainable transportation. Ongoing developments in vehicle technology, new organizational forms in transportation, investments into infrastructure, the internalization of external cost, or customized algorithms for transportation planning are vital, inter alia, to support the aim of having a sustainable transportation system.

When highlighting transportation in the EU-28, freight transportation activities are estimated to amount to 3516 billion tonne-kilometers (tkm) in 2015 (EU, 2017); this figure includes intra-EU air and sea transportation but not transportation activities between the EU and the rest of the world. A tkm is defined as the product of the transported mass in tonnes times the distance covered in kilometers (km). The EU (2017) states that in 2015 road transportation accounted for 49% of this total, rail for 11.9%, inland waterways for 4.2%, and oil pipelines for 3.3%; intra-EU maritime transportation was the second most important mode with a share of 31.6% while intra-EU air transportation only accounted for 0.1% of the total. Between 1995 and 2015, the growth rate of freight transportation in the EU-28 on each mode was positive, road transportation increased by another 33.7%, which represents an average annual growth of 1.5% (EU, 2017) and the highest growth rate of all modes, when intra-EU air transportation is not taken into account. The total growth rate of freight transportation within that period was 23.6% (EU, 2017). Having a look at the modal split of freight transportation in the EU-28, one can observe that the portion of road transportation increased from 45.3% in 1995 to 49% in 2015 (EU, 2017); the portion of all other transportation modes, except for intra-EU air transportation, decreased slightly during the same period. In the USA, freight transportation activities were estimated to be 8301.5 billion tkm in 2014; road transportation accounted for 45.9% of this total (EU, 2017). Overall, there was an increase of 17.6% of freight transportation activities in the USA between 1995 and 2014 (EU, 2017).

Total passenger transportation activities in the EU-28 by any motorized means of transportation are estimated to amount to 6602 billion passenger-kilometers (pkm) or on average around 12.962 km per person in 2015 (EU, 2017); this figure includes intra-EU air and sea transportation but not transportation activities between the EU and the rest of the world. A pkm is defined as the product of transported passengers times the distance covered in km. EU (2017) states that passenger cars accounted for 71.5% of the total pkm in 2015, powered two-wheelers for 1.9%, buses and coaches for 8.2%, railways for 6.7% and tram as well as metro for 1.6%; intra-EU air and intra-EU maritime transportation contributed 9.8% and 0.3%, respectively. Between 1995 and 2015, the growth rate of passenger transportation activities in the EU-28 on each mode was positive except for intra-EU maritime transportation (−29.7%); passenger cars increased by 20.9%, powered two-wheelers by 11.1%, buses and coaches by 5.6%, railway by 26.1%, tram and metro by 38.9%, and air by 86.5%. The total growth rate of passenger transportation within that period was 23.8% (EU, 2017). Having a look at the modal split of passenger transportation in the EU-28, one can observe that the portion of air transportation increased from 6.5% in 1995% to 9.8% in 2015; during the same period, the portion of motorized individual transportation modes as well as bus and coach decreased slightly, the portion of intra-EU maritime transportation was halved, and the portion of public transportation modes rose slightly (EU, 2017). In the USA, passenger transportation activities were estimated at 7845.1 billion pkm in 2015; passenger cars, including light-duty vehicles, accounted for 27.3% of this total (EU, 2017). Overall, there was an increase of 18.3% of passenger transportation activities in the USA between 1995 and 2015 (EU, 2017).

In the EU, 26,134 persons were killed in road accidents (fatalities within 30 days) in 2015, which is 0.7% more than in 2014 (EU, 2017). Nevertheless, the number of fatalities was reduced by 66.2% between 1990 and 2015 (EU, 2017). In rail transportation, 27 persons lost their lives in 2015; this figure does not include casualties among railway employees or other people run over by trains (EU, 2017). Air transportation accounted for 150 fatalities in 2015 (EU, 2017). In 2015, the total GHG emissions in the EU-28 were 4451.8 million tonnes CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e), the transportation sector accounted for 1182.9 million tonnes CO₂e, which is 26.6% (EU, 2017). The total GHG emissions were reduced by 22.1% between 1990 and 2015, whereas the transportation-related GHG emissions increased by 23% during the same period (EU, 2017). In 2015, road transportation acc...