Prospects for Energy Usage and Carbon Dioxide that Affect European Transportation Sector

The objective of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and the European Union's (EU's) fossil energy dependence are two factors that require political and industrial decision makers to set priorities for energy and environmental strategies. Despite the achieved efficiency in modern vehicles, increasing patterns of private car usage, together with a high dependence on oil, place transportation as the most resilient sector in this period of environmental and energy consciousness. The aim of this research was to disaggregate the existing European transportation energy data and use them to build a model of the current situation. With the model, several scenarios evaluated the well-to-wheel energy and carbon dioxide (CO₂) impacts that resulted from improvements in energy efficiency, uptake of biofuels, and electric mobility, as well as a modal shift into collective modes. Analysis of the European study of the Joint Research Centre Biofuel Programme and each member state's national strategy [National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs)], published in 2010, allowed characterization of the transportation energy situation by 2020 (consumption, efficiency, and new energy). The analysis of mobility surveys from major member states permitted characterization of urban areas within the passenger mobility sector, and the results were integrated into the developed model. The expected improvements in energy efficiency through the Biofuel Programme and the planned increase in biofuel blends and electrified vehicles through the NREAPs combined with an increase in passenger mobility by 2020 resulted in the following 2020 predictions: a 16% reduction in tank-to-wheel and a 12% reduction in well-to-wheel CO₂ emissions in the EU's passenger mobility sector compared with 2007 levels.