Speed Limit Induced CO 2 Reduction on Motorways: Enhancing Discussion Transparency through Data Enrichment of Road Networks

Jan Kunkler, Maximilian Braun and Florian Kellner
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Jan Kunkler: Faculty of Business, Economics and Management Information Systems, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
Maximilian Braun: Faculty of Business, Economics and Management Information Systems, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
Florian Kellner: Faculty of Business, Economics and Management Information Systems, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Considering climate change, recent political debates often focus on measures to reduce CO 2 emissions. One key component is the reduction of emissions produced by motorized vehicles. Since the amount of emission directly correlates to the velocity of a vehicle via energy consumption factors, a general speed limit is often proposed. This article presents a methodology to combine openly available topology data of road networks from OpenStreetMap (OSM) with pay-per-use API traffic data from TomTom to evaluate such measures transparently by analyzing historical real-world circumstances. From our exemplary case study of the German motorway network, we derive that most parts of the motorway network on average do not reach their maximum allowed speed throughout the day due to traffic, construction sites and general road utilization by network participants. Nonetheless our findings prove that the introduction of a speed limit of 120 km per hour on the German autobahn would restrict 50.74% of network flow kilometers for a CO 2 reduction of 7.43% compared to the unrestricted state.

Keywords: road network analysis; CO 2 emissions; speed limits; traffic; navigation services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:1:p:395-:d:474561

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