The Real (Sustainable) Superhighway?

What’s Sustainability? Sustainability Environmental Economic Social Enviro- Economic Socio- Economic Sustainability Socio- Environmental

Continuation of recent trends (middle of band) leads by 2100 to temperatures not reached since the Eocene (25-35 million years ago), when sea level was m higher. A2 B1 Source: Professor John Holdren, Harvard University Why is environmental sustainability important?

Finding the right balance Costs Enviro- socio

Source: DfT

Sustainability is complex!

Health Warning!  My (not so) secret weapon is ignorance  Accuracy has been sacrificed on the altar of simplicity

How do we measure sustainability? Exergy is the part of energy that is useful to society It is calculated from a knowledge of the chemical composition of compounds Can be used to measure both resource consumption and the environmental impacts of emissions Can add together the effects of different pollutants

Transport accounts for almost 40% of all UK exergy consumption

The consumption of exergy by air transport has increased by over 250% since 1970

Statistics are like a swimsuit: what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital

Road transport accounts for more than 70% of all transport exergy consumption

PJ/Gt kmRelative to Rail Road Rail Air Water Road transport is more than five times less efficient than rail transport

Transport accounts for more than 25% of all UK environmental impacts

Emissions from air transport have increased by more than 300% since 1970

Road transport accounts for more than 70% of all transport emissions

PJ/Gt kmRelative to Rail Road Rail Air Water Road transport has 7½ times greater impact on the environment than rail

Connectivity the economic and social key? What if we could travel by rail between – Edinburgh and Glasgow in 10 minutes – Dundee and Glasgow or Edinburgh in 20 minutes – Aberdeen and Edinburgh or Glasgow in 35 minutes – Edinburgh or Glasgow and London in 1½ hours?

Connectivity the economic key? – Edinburgh and Glasgow would be a single city – Dundee would be a suburb of Gladinburgh or Edingow – The travel to work region of Aberdeen would encompass 4m people – Commuters could live in Gladinburgh and work in London

Connectivity the economic key? – The City of Scotland would be the second largest in the UK and the fourth largest in Europe – It would have a tourist industry twice the size of London – It would have the second largest life sciences cluster in the UK – There would be a need for only one international airport – The UK centre of financial services might move to the City of Scotland

Biting the Chinese Bullet

Connectivity the economic and environmental key? What if we could – step off a bus at every railway station in the City of Scotland – step off a train at the City of Scotland’s international airport – transfer freight directly from ships to trains?

Connectivity the economic and environmental key? We would – reduce the amount of road traffic – increase our exports – reduce journey times – increase the number of tourists – reduce the amount of carbon emissions

Transport, the environmental key? What if we: –made everyone pay the full cost of travel, including the cost of damage to the environment –made all public transport free –made it illegal to carry freight long-distance by road?

Transport the environmental key? We would: –reduce carbon emissions at a stroke –need no new roads (or bridges!) –save enormous sums on road maintenance –reduce the need for petrol stations –make more friends?

If we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got

The best way to create the future is to invent it

With thanks to: And especially to the Dundee team: Alex Gasparatos Doug Forbes Mohamed El-Haram