The document discusses sustainable energy and transportation practices. It covers 6 key points: 1. Current energy sources like fossil fuels have unaccounted environmental and economic costs, and alternatives need government support through policies and subsidies. 2. Cities and organizations can reduce emissions through commitment, planning, and long-term climate action. 3. Transitioning to 85% renewable electricity and phasing out coal is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. 4. Pursuing efficiency, electrification, and renewable strategies together through approaches like "carbon wedges" can significantly reduce emissions. 5. Making transportation more sustainable involves new technologies, charging full costs, and better accessibility over increased mobility.

1. Sustainable Energy
&
Transportation

2. Sustainable Energy Practices
Fossil fuels store energy well, are available upon demand,
and are inexpensive—yet they have many unaccounted
costs (environmental, social, and economic).
Further, the oil industry has been provided with many
subsidies or tax incentives not available to other energy
industries.
To change the way we use energy, goals need to be set,
plans made, and policies set.
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3. Sustainable Energy Practices
The National Wildlife Federation developed six steps that
universities could take to reduce carbon emissions (these
could be used for cities as well):
1. Commitment to emissions reduction
2. Institutional structures and support
3. Emissions inventory
4. Developing the plan
5. Launching the plan
6. Climate action planning over the long haul
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4. Sustainable Energy Practices
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), holding temperature rise below 1.5°C will
mean global emissions of CO2 will need to decline by 45%
from 2010 levels by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050.
To keep this goal within reach, renewables will need to
provide some 85% of global electricity by the same year,
while the use of coal will have to be nearly eliminated.
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5. Sustainable Energy Practices
The Wedge Approach combines current strategies:
Efficiency & Conservation
 Increased transport efficiency
Fossil-Fuel-Based Strategies
 Fuel switching (coal to gas)
Nuclear Energy
 Nuclear electricity
Renewables and Biostorage
 Wind-generated electricity
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6. Sustainable Energy Practices
Climate action plans are one way to go about this:
 City of San Diego's Climate Action Plan
 San Diego's CAP deemed inadequate
 San Diego County is still without a CAP
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Here’s an example
of how
Massachussetts’
CAP helped reduce
green house gas
emissions (GHGs)
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Sustainable Energy Practices
Sustainable solutions must also make economic sense
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9. Sustainable Energy Practices
The types of technologies that won’t cost more to
implement are primarily energy conservation and efficiency
technologies: reducing energy use to avoid waste, save
money, and reduce the environmental impact.
Conservation is inexpensive but involves modifying human
behavior and this can be challenging to do.
To cut phantom load, people can plug home electronics into
a "smart" power strip, and reduce energy use by 10%.
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11. Sustainable Energy Practices
Energy can be saved in transportation through innovative
alternative vehicle technologies, improved internal
combustion engines, exhaust gas recycling, variable valve
timing, vehicle downsizing, lightweighting, and behavior.
Government policies could also make the cost of driving
evident through full amortization, fuel/road tax, and
insurance costs.
Active transportation could help with its focus on travel by
bicycle, foot, and public transit.
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12. Sustainable Transportation
There are three main approaches to making transportation
more sustainable:
1. inventing new technologies
2. charging people the full costs of travel
3. planning better so we increase accessibility but not
mobility
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13. Sustainable Transportation
Derived demand: the demand for transportation is derived
from other, non-transportation activities (going to work or
school, running errands, etc.)
To understand transportation sustainability, we have to
understand the spatial relationship between where we are,
where we want to go, and the infrastructure and vehicles
that can help get us there.
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14. Sustainable Transportation
There are three main limitations to sustainable
transportation:
1. energy inputs:
a. what powers our transportation system?
2. emissions:
a. particulates and green house gases
3. social impacts:
a. should there be bus service for schools?
b. where are schools or business parks located?
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15. Sustainable Transportation
Energy Inputs:
Peak oil is the theorized point in time when the maximum
rate of extraction of petroleum is reached. With fracking
and other technologies, some believe that peak is much
further in the future than previously believed.
 “No Peak Oil For America Or The World”
Other alternative fuels are gaining popularity.
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16. Sustainable Transportation
Emission and Outputs:
Making new vehicles more efficient would help
However, since the early 1980s, increasing horsepower has
proven to be easier than improving miles per gallon.
MPG requirements have met with challenge and
controversy in the past several years.
 “The Facts on Fuel Economy Standards”
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17. Sustainable Transportation
Producing more fuel-efficient vehicles is not enough unless
we address the energy “embodied” in the car along the way.
Embodied energy is the energy used to make a car: the
metal, plastic, and electronic parts are manufactured around
the globe and are then shipped to an assembly plant.
Similarly, electric cars generate zero carbon emissions in daily
use. Given that most U.S. energy comes from coal, emissions
savings are only about 30%.
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18. Sustainable Transportation
Economic growth has long been coupled with
transportation growth. Instead, we can:
 substitute telecommunication for travel, work at home,
or shop online
 produce the goods we use locally rather than shipping
them across the globe (this will both reduce resource use
and emissions and create jobs at home)
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19. Sustainable Transportation
We can address the relationship between accessibility
(measuring the ease with which people are able to get
places they want or need to go) and mobility (the ability to
move or to get around).
We can increase accessibility without increasing mobility by
make it possible for mixed uses to exist on the same street
or in the same building, rather than clustering all similar
land uses in one place.
 This is usually a permitting and planning concern.
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20. Sustainable Transportation
While new technologies could make transportation more
sustainable, it’s unreasonable to wait for future inventions
to address our sustainability problems and not address our
current technologies.
Moreover, we don’t know how people will use the new
technology:
 Car and jet travel changed people’s travel patterns with
serious environmental effects
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21. Sustainable Transportation
Charging for the full cost of transportation, rather than
eschewing them as externalities, is another solution.
 Commuters who drive into the city every day don't
breathe the polluted air produced by their cars (urban
residents do)
 Charging the full cost of travel (via gas or insurance tax,
tolls, etc.) could cover the cost of children's
hospitalization for asthma caused by polluted air
Higher costs could thus change demand and behavior.
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22. Sustainable Transportation
Rather than planning based on “predict and provide,” which
may just lead to more traffic/use of a free resource, we
could take a “deliberate and decide” approach.
Involving all stakeholders, we could change travel patterns
by installing bike lanes instead of more parking and locating
retail next to housing, or investing in transit instead of
highways.
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