A new challenge for the energy efficiency evaluation community: energy savings and emissions reductions from urban transportation policies

Jean-Sébastien Broc (1, 2) , Bernard Bourges (1, 2)

1 GEPEA - Laboratoire de génie des procédés - environnement - agroalimentaire
2 Mines Nantes - Mines Nantes

The energy efficiency evaluation community has a large experience about programs for industries, residential and commercial sectors. But now the largest share of the energy consumption growth is due to the transportation sector. Moreover, as the stakes related to the transport sector are considerable, relying on separate actions for technological energy efficiency improvements will not be sufficient. Therefore transport policies now support the development of more integrated approaches. All together, this raises new evaluation issues. This paper first look at what makes or would make the transport specific and different from the other “usual” sectors, as far as the evaluation of energy savings and avoided CO2 emissions is concerned. This is illustrated by a comparison between two simple action types, a car replacement for the transport sector and a boiler replacement for the building sector. Then, taking into account the change toward more integrated action plans, the common evaluation methods used for energy efficiency programs and urban transport planning are discussed, to what extent they can be applied to evaluation of urban mobility plans. Key differences between the building and transport sectors that have an influence on what evaluation methods can be used are: 1) the level of complexity for the definition of the service delivered, 2) the relative importance of variables having long term perspective (building stock) and short term perspective (mobility behaviors). The evaluation of integrated approaches raises additional issues, mainly interactions between the distinct policy measures implemented on a given territory, and causality between the measures implemented and the changes observed. Two interesting tracks stand out: - developing new portfolio approaches starting from available bottom-up methods; - adapting methods used for transport infrastructure design or transport planning. This emphasizes progress that could be achieved by crossing experiences from both scientific communities, evaluation of energy efficiency programs and transport planning.

Mots clés: Transport; urban transportation policies; urban mobility plans; territorial approach

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement; Autre

Jean-Sébastien Broc, Bernard Bourges. A new challenge for the energy efficiency evaluation community: energy savings and emissions reductions from urban transportation policies. Counting on Energy Programs - It's why evaluation matters, Jun 2010, Paris, France. pp. 1-14. ⟨hal-00507493⟩