Fuel efficiency in transportation systems

Abstract

Transportation of people and of goods plays an important role in modern life. It is a major source of anthropogenic CO2. This chapter, after introducing some fundamentals of natural climate fluctuations as described by Milankovitch cycles, describes the causes and consequences of man-made climate change and the motivation for increased fuel efficiency in transportation systems. To this end, contemporary and future ground-based and air-based transportation technologies are discussed. It is shown that concepts that were already given up, such as turbine-driven cars, might be worthwhile for further studies. Alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ethanol and biofuels, and alternative power sources, e.g., compressed air engines and fuel cells, are presented from various perspectives. The chapter also addresses the contribution of CO2 emissions of the supply chain and over the entire life cycle for different transportation technologies.