Keeling Curve

Project Summary / Description:

Canadian tar sand industry produce petrol for road transport with high upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and by destroying valuable ecosystems. I aim to redevelop road technologies to render such oil extraction unnecessary. My colleague, Felix Creutzig, is a world class climate economist, who also fears for the life of his children, when high powered cars rush down the road in front of the playground. 

The main hypothesis is that most cars are over engineered to comply with the need for speed , and specifically to the above 200km/h German autobahn. Such high speed pose a danger to safety, lead to high marginal greenhouse gas emissions (energy use grows with the square of speed), while having hardly any useful purpose. If cars are down engineered to power levels adequate for most street use, significant life-cycle GHG emissions can be saved both in the material production and in the use phase. 

The project involves a spectrum of lifecycle assessment for various segments of the automobile market. As reference case, we assess an existing passenger car model in the German automobile market, investigating the reduction of GHG emissions due to reduction in vehicle weight, and its use emissions due to adapted speed profiles.

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Mission Statement:

MCC‚ mission is to provide solution-oriented policy pathways for governing the global commons to enhance sustainable development and human well-being. Our approach is based on high-quality research to inform policy making in an iterative societal learning process. We call this assessment-making.

Link: Facebook:

Mudit‚ personal blog site: http://www.onearthside.com, Twitter: @muditchordia Felix‚ personal website: http://www.mcc-berlin.net/~creutzig/http://index.html, Twitter: @efesce