Evaluating mobility and sustainability in the transportation sector at the city level

Panel: 4. Mobility, transport, and smart and sustainable cities

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Shruti Vaidyanathan, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), USA
David Ribeiro, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, USA

Abstract

Local governments have a particularly important role to play when it comes to maximizing energy efficiency potential in the transportation sector. Cities increasingly serve as incubators for forward thinking policies and practices, particularly in light of the emergence of the “Smart City” concept. Creating smart cities with sustainable transportation systems involves a combination of policies that target vehicle efficiency, improve the range of mobility options, and integrate transportation and land use planning.

Given the wide range of policies that cities can implement, evaluating a city’s progress towards improving the efficiency of their transport sector can be a challenge. This paper will discuss the approach taken in ACEEE’s City Energy Efficiency Scorecard for evaluating local governments on their actions to improve transportation energy efficiency. It will also identify potential improvements and refinements to these methods. Finally, this paper will include a discussion of additional metrics under consideration for future versions of the Scorecard that evaluate how cities are using big data and information and communications technologies (ICT) to create smart transportation systems.