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Reduced Carbon and Energy Footprint in Highway Operations: The Highway Energy Assessment (HERA) Methodology

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Abstract

Global demand for mobility is increasing and the environmental impact of transport has become an important issue in transportation network planning and decision-making, as well as in the operational management phase. Suitable methods are required to assess emissions and fuel consumption reduction strategies that seek to improve energy efficiency and furthering decarbonization. This study describes the development and application of an improved modeling framework – the HERA (Highway EneRgy Assessment) methodology – that enables to assess the energy and carbon footprint of different highways and traffic flow scenarios and their comparison. HERA incorporates an average speed consumption model adjusted with a correction factor which takes into account the road gradient. It provides a more comprehensive method for estimating the footprint of particular highway segments under specific traffic conditions. It includes the application of the methodology to the Spanish highway network to validate it. Finally, a case study shows the benefits from using this methodology and how to integrate the objective of carbon footprint reductions into highway design, operation and scenario comparison.

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Acknowledgments

The HERA tool forms part of the OASIS project funded by the CENIT research program (CEN-20081016) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. The authors would also like to thank the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), the AP-66 toll motorway operator AVASA, the Institute for Automobile Research (INSIA) for their contribution in obtaining the on-board measurements, and all reviewers for their valuable comments.

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Correspondence to Natalia Sobrino.

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Sobrino, N., Monzon, A. & Hernandez, S. Reduced Carbon and Energy Footprint in Highway Operations: The Highway Energy Assessment (HERA) Methodology. Netw Spat Econ 16, 395–414 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11067-014-9225-y

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