Chronological Transition of Relationship between Intracity Lifecycle Transport Energy Efficiency and Population Density

Shoki Kosai, Muku Yuasa and Eiji Yamasue
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Shoki Kosai: Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Muku Yuasa: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
Eiji Yamasue: Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga 525-8577, Japan

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Interests in evaluating lifecycle energy use in urban transport have been growing as a research topic. Various studies have evaluated the relationship between the intracity transport energy use and population density and commonly identified its negative correlation. However, a diachronic transition in an individual city has yet to be fully analyzed. As such, this study employed transport energy intensity widely used for evaluating transport energy efficiency and obtained the transport energy intensity for each transportation means including walk, bicycle, automobile (conventional vehicles, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles), bus and electric train by considering the lifecycle energy consumption. Then, the intracity lifecycle transport energy intensity of 38 cities in Japan in 1987–2015 was computed, assuming that the cause of diachronic transition of intracity transport energy efficiency is the modal shifting and electricity mix change. As a result, the greater level of population density was associated with the lower intracity transport energy intensity in Japanese cities. The negative slope of its regression line increased over time since the intracity lifecycle transport energy intensity in cities with low population density continuously increased without any significant change of population density. Finally, this study discussed the strategic implications particularly in regional areas to improve the intracity lifecycle transport energy efficiency.

Keywords: metropolitan area; in-city; transport energy intensity; well to wheel; material structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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