TRANSPORTATION ENERGY TO THE YEAR 2020

This paper addresses the question: What effect will the changing energy markets of the future have on the U.S. transportation system through 2020? The answer given is "a great deal, and very little." A great deal is explained as a tightening of the petroleum market during this period, with an attendant rise in market power of a few producers, resulting in higher prices and economic vulnerability that will heighten the need for improved efficiency and begin to generate viable markets for alternative energy sources. Also, much will have to be done to advance the technology of transportation energy use both for alternative energy sources and the efficiency of motor fuel use. Concerns about environmental quality and national security are likely to be the driving forces that will begin the transition to alternative fuels. However, the changing energy markets will have very little effect on the operational characteristics of the U.S. transportation system, for it will continue to be a system that consists of automobile-dominated personal transportation and truck-dominated freight transport, and that is experiencing expanded use of air travel.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Board Special Report 220, A Look Ahead: Year 2020, Proceedings of the Conference on Long-Range Trends and Requirements for the Nation's Highway and Public Transit Systems, June 22-24, 1988, Washington, D.C.
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• Authors:
  • Greene, David L
  • Sperling, Daniel
  • McNutt, Barry
• Conference:
  • Conference on Long-Range Trends and Requirements for the Nation's Highway and Public Transit Systems
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1988-6-22 to 1988-6-24
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 207-231
• Monograph Title: A LOOK AHEAD: YEAR 2020
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Special Report
  • Issue Number: 220
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0360-859X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternate fuels; Conferences; Economics; Energy; Impact studies; Markets; Operations; Technology; Transportation planning
• Identifier Terms: Transportation 2020
• Uncontrolled Terms: Energy efficiency
• Old TRIS Terms: Energy technology; Operational effects
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Energy; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00486287
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0-309-04702-1
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-040 656
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 31 1989 12:00AM