carbon-info.org
Press Release
Cutting transport emissions the SMART way
2nd April 2006
A group of students from the McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario have developed a new environmental emissions indicator ‘The SMART Factor’, which measures the tonnes of green house gases (GHG) that could be saved in a year based on fuel wasted by vehicles stuck in the urban sprawl.
The five man research team, lead by Bob Hicks, has published their findings in a new report released in April 2006. Though the research is based on Canadian data, their findings and the SMART Factor can be applied to any country.
The SMART factor is based on actual annual world inventory of vehicles, by community and the fuel efficiency rating for each vehicle. Estimating the time individual vehicles sit idle in traffic, it is possible to determine the tonnes of GHGs that could be saved in for example Canada each second, if the entire Canadian vehicle population did not get stuck at intersections, in queues or other delaying traffic situations.
The SMART Factor for Canada is 6.099 tonnes of GHGs, while the world SMART Factor is estimated to be 300,000 tonnes of saveable GHGs.
Bob Hicks said, "Our research has wide ranging implications for the automotive industry as well as road and traffic planners. The SMART Factor shows just how wasteful we are with fuel resources and most of us is not even aware of it."
A second report is expected from the same research team in the near future. Further work will focus on calculating the SMART Factor for a wide range of Canadian cities.
“It is wonderful to see how young scientists are contributing to the global warming debate and proposing new solutions,” said Carbon-info’s chairman Flemming Bermann. “In the UK transport alone generates 35% of annual CO2 emissions. Taking the SMART Factor into consideration, it would be possible to reduce this figure substantially. For example, a more staggered approach to the daily rush-hour would therefore have an immediate impact.”
The SMART Factor report can be downloaded in PDF from: http://opirg.org/mcmaster/SMART.pdf
