Exploring decarbonization pathways for USA passenger and freight mobility

Christopher Hoehne, Matteo Muratori (), Paige Jadun, Brian Bush, Arthur Yip, Catherine Ledna, Laura Vimmerstedt, Kara Podkaminer and Ookie Ma
Additional contact information
Christopher Hoehne: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Matteo Muratori: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Paige Jadun: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Brian Bush: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Arthur Yip: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Catherine Ledna: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Laura Vimmerstedt: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Kara Podkaminer: U.S. Department of Energy
Ookie Ma: U.S. Department of Energy

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Passenger and freight travel account for 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions today. We explore pathways to reduce transportation emissions using NREL’s TEMPO model under bounding assumptions on future travel behavior, technology advancement, and policies. Results show diverse routes to 80% or more well-to-wheel GHG reductions by 2050. Rapid adoption of zero-emission vehicles coupled with a clean electric grid is essential for deep decarbonization; in the median scenario, zero-emission vehicle sales reach 89% for passenger light-duty and 69% for freight trucks by 2030 and 100% sales for both by 2040. Up to 3,000 terawatt-hours of electricity could be needed in 2050 to power plug-in electric vehicles. Increased sustainable biofuel usage is also essential for decarbonizing aviation (10–42 billion gallons needed in 2050) and to support legacy vehicles during the transition. Managing travel demand growth can ease this transition by reducing the need for clean electricity and sustainable fuels.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42483-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42483-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42483-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().