Sustainable mobility calls for clear framework
Sustainable mobility cannot be achieved without building a framework in which mobility, and the automotive industry in particular, can develop its own solutions without being isolated in an innovation process that doesn't work.
My definition of sustainability is development that does not consume resources but uses and reuses them, ideally endlessly. The word conjures up a vision of the future which is not compromised by an unsustainable present. But the term often fails to offer suggestions on how to avoid or how to measure the sustainability of different choices we make now.
However, closed loop management of resources highlights a route towards sustainability, and allows us to measure the grade of sustainability from different choices, based on whether or not we are able to avoid the consumption of resources. It also allows us to rate the choices and the kind of resource consumption we want.
There are five pillars for sustainability in the mobility sector, which is closely linked to the energy sector. These are:
Renewability of energy resources.
Efficiency in energy conversion, distribution, use.
Lowering of environmental impact.
Increasing of energy accessibility.
Tailor making of energy systems on local social-economic-environmental conditions.
If all of these five conditions are satisfied, then energy and mobility choices can be defined as sustainable.
An era of energy vectors
The necessity of using renewable resources opens up a key role for energy vectors, energy carriers that are renewable and can be used to replace current fossil energy carriers, for example oil with hydrogen.
A new energy era – the one that will follow the current 'fossil fuels period' – cannot be based on a single energy source. If energy-using technologies are standardised, this will need to accommodate a number of different energy vectors from different sources that they can be used without emissions by the end user. Two excellent energy vectors that allow this system to be put in place are electricity and hydrogen.
Beyond smart grids: the intelligent energy system
Our towns and regions are becoming more and more 'intelligent', and the same is going to happen for energy and mobility systems.
Smart electricity distribution grids are already being developed, but they are not the final solution. To effectively use the vectors in the energy and mobility system, a larger and more complete intelligent energy system is needed, where local production and storage of renewable energy through the appropriate energy vector (for example, electricity and hydrogen in a Toyota Prius) can be managed by the overall energy and mobility system in order to ensure that the five pillars of energy sustainability are being followed.
Something very interesting is also happening thanks to the diffusion of smartphones. Apps – small, simple, easy-to-use codes that can be downloaded at a very low cost by a very large number of users – are changing the how we do things. Energy and mobility can take advantage from the increasing use of smartphones and growing connectivity. The connected environment can accelerate the spread of the 'right energy in the right place' and of the 'right mobility at the right moment' ideas.
A clear vision of sustainability, together with a transparent use of resources, vectors and related environmental impacts, can drive us to the best solution: sustainable mobility based on renewable resources and intrinsically useful to the economic development of any region.
Fabio Orecchini is co-ordinator of the energy and mobility systems section of CIRPS - the Inter-university Research Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Rome
Fabio will be part of the panel for a debate on the future of mobility on 14 November. Guardian Sustainable Business will be live streaming the discussion. To register for a reminder, or to submit a question to the panel, please complete the form below.
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