CONSERVATION OF ENERGY IN THE URBAN PASSENGER SECTOR: A GENERAL PRINCIPLE AND SOME PROPOSALS

A large number of competing proposals have been made for energy conservation, and this paper proposes a straightforward principle for choosing among them: "the law of large proportions". The law is a simple one - the biggest components matter most - but it has been largely ignored by much of the government-formulated energy policy so far. The paper applies the law to the urban transportation sector, and concludes that the major hope for conserving transportation energy is to drop our preoccupation with public transit and, instead, to concentrate on the goal of "civilizing" the automobile. The paper, then, proposes three ideas that might accomplish this: two different ways of promoting the sale of fuel-efficient vehicles, and one way of improving the efficiency of the existing vehicle fleet. (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09658564
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Headington Hill Hall
  Oxford OX30BW,    
• Authors:
  • Lave, C A
• Publication Date: 1980-10-12

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 321-326
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
  • Volume: 14A
  • Issue Number: 5/6
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0965-8564
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobiles; Economic efficiency; Energy conservation; Fuel consumption; Highway capacity; Improvements; Laws; Legislation; Manual safety belts; Planning; Private transportation; Public transit; Road markings; Speed limits; Transportation planning; Urban areas; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• ITRD Terms: 643: Capacity (road, footway); 1243: Car; 562: Carriageway marking; 5911: Efficiency; 212: Energy conservation; 1556: Legislation; 143: Planning; 746: Private transport; 744: Public transport; 1476: Safety belt; 624: Speed limit; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; Environment; Highways; Law; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; I10: Economics and Administration; I96: Vehicle Operating Costs;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00330866
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-030 953
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 15 1983 12:00AM