Potential reduction in CO2 emission through the use of rail transport: a case study in Brazil
The cargo transport sector strongly depends on non-renewable energy resources in Brazil, resulting in high greenhouse gas emission (GGE). Considering this aspect, the rail mode is environmentally more sustainable than the road one and also may conduct to lower logistic costs. The present s...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Universidade de Brasília (UnB) |
| Repositorio: | Revista Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa em Engenharia |
| Idioma: | portugués |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/26701 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/ripe/article/view/26701 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | CO2 emissions. Rail transport. Road transport. Transport and environment. Emissões de CO2. Transporte ferroviário. Transporte rodoviário. Transporte e meio ambiente. |
| Sumario: | The cargo transport sector strongly depends on non-renewable energy resources in Brazil, resulting in high greenhouse gas emission (GGE). Considering this aspect, the rail mode is environmentally more sustainable than the road one and also may conduct to lower logistic costs. The present study aimed to evaluate the potential reduction in CO2 through the use of cargo rail transport in comparison to the current equivalent emissions from the road transport, making use of a case study in an important section of grain transport to exportation in Brazil. The emissions were calculated considering three sorts of locomotives and two kinds of trucks, according to the use of average loading of a conventional train and the conversion, in an equivalent way, in cargo to road vehicles, allowing a compatible comparison between the results. The emissions were determined as the relation between the fuel consumption and the equivalent emission (CO2 emission factor from IPCC). As result, it was observed a greater energy efficiency for the rail transport in all the cases, with the reduction up to 37% in the emissions if compared to the road transport. Moreover, the rail transport also showed an estimated cost 40% cheaper than the road transport. Such findings corroborate the previous studies and reiterate the relative sustainability of the rail transport compared to the road one, considering the cargo transport in terms of CO2 emissions. |
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