How can we tackle the challenges of sustainable transport?

How can we tackle the challenges of sustainable transport?
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In the transportation industry, we are faced with a rapidly evolving global landscape. Rising demand, environmental regulation, urbanisation are all causing a rethink of how we can achieve more sustainable transport. But what about the short term? How can we ensure we deliver cleaner transport at a global level in the near future?

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Shell’s point of view

At Shell we’re meeting our customers’ needs for cleaner, more efficient and lower emissions transport...

We’re calling our strategy “Smarter Mobility,” and it includes smarter products (biofuels, more efficient fuels and lubricants, and lightweight plastics for use in modern vehicles), smarter use (fuel saving tips for consumers and fuel-management software for our fleet customers), and smarter infrastructure (energy efficient paving for roads).

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Closed July 13th
Bill Perkins
Monday, 27th June 2011 09.15
Shell’s efforts to tackle the challenges of tomorrow’s mobility problems sounds sensible from developing more energy efficient products to educating drivers on the total effects of their current driving habits. However I doubt Shell can tackle this problem alone. Does Shell collaborate with automotive manufacturers and others in the industry to improve technologies? If so, with whom, and on what sorts of solutions?
Shell
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 14.39
Hi Bill, You are certainly right, tomorrow’s mobility problems can’t be tackled by Shell alone so we have developed a number of relations with automotive and components manufactures. We collaborate with these partners to improve the performance of our fuels and lubricants to support their developing requirements. Some of the most significant breakthroughs come from these collaborations. For instance, we supported ZF, a driveline and chassis supplier, on a high-specification automatic transmission with the potential to deliver a 6% improvement in fuel economy. Through our partnership we were able to provide a product which met ZF’s needs and is helping ZF’s customers use less fuel. Additionally, our partnership with British-based engineering company, Gordon Murray Design (GMD), Shell engineers used the T.25 – an innovation lightweight, low-carbon city vehicle developed by GMD - as a test bed and developed an innovative concept engine lubricant which increased fuel efficiency by 6.5%.
danyboy
Tuesday, 28th June 2011 13.40
I am basede in sharja, running a diesel trading company with core focus on distillate bunkers to ships. We have a small scale manufacturing facility for wvo bio diesel and can make around 10,000 ltrs of bio diesel per day. We splash blend it with petroleum diesel at 20/80 B20, The demand is not much as most owners/operators are hesitant to take it fearing damage to their engines.(most marine engine manufacturers have approved upto B20)We are going ahead with marketing B20, as it is in line with GHG and carbon footprint reduction under Kyoto CDM
memoestefani
Tuesday, 28th June 2011 14.38
Energy is used at all levels where survival is needed. In utopy, energy shall be purposed-driven. However this not always happens and because of ignorance or negligence, many people waste it. I would like to know if anyone of the experts here know of a statistic where most of the fuels are wasted in transport (airplanes? trains?). There should be a couple which represent the most enhtropies. Then I'd focus in those activities which are less justified. where do the largest enthropies occur? How does nature deals with this? That would be a great start.
Rincker
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 11.50
Simple. Real simple. One word. Ammonia. Why is ammonia generation from renewables not agressively persued? I don't critisize if I have no solution. I'm a renewables expert. I expected much more from Shell than I see at the moment.
JohnSz
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 14.45
I think the direction for private automobiles is becoming clear. We need to design new cars that are very light, but very strong - that says composites. We have to get rid of the very heavy and energy wasting engine/transmission/differential and drive the wheels from individual electric motors. But we don't fill this car with a ton of heavy batteries. It needs a small, efficient gasoline engine and a small battery bank that will improve with new technology. I say Shell needs to publicly partner with a car manufacturer to build and continuously improve a fleet of those cars over the next 10 years. The target cost needs to be in the $20,000 range, NOT the $40,000 range. Build them somewhere other than Detroit so that a clear line of demarcation is drawn.
Shell
Monday, 4th July 2011 16.48
Hi JohnSz, Thanks. I’m not sure if you’ve read our response to Bill Perkins, but Shell has publicly partnered with ZF, a driveline and chassis supplier, on a high-specification automatic transmission with the potential to deliver a 6% improvement in fuel economy. Another project we work on is with the British-based company, Gordon Murray Design. Shell engineers used the T.25 – an innovative lightweight, low-carbon city vehicle developed by GMD – as a test bed and developed an innovative concept engine lubricant which increased fuel efficiency by 6.5%. At Shell, we continue to supply fuels to help make vehicles which are more energy efficient and emit less CO2 per unit distance travelled. We believe that fuel suppliers should develop fuels that have a lower Well-to-Wheel (WtW) CO2 intensity. We all need to play a role in educating road transport users to take fewer and more efficient journeys, encouraged by government policies that influence driver behaviour and mobility choices.
JohnSz
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 14.59
Now housing. We make a big deal about cars, but my home electric bill this month nearly hit $500 for a modest home. That makes $50 to fill up my car gas tank look insignificant. Better insulation. More efficient air conditioning systems. Cheaper and more efficient solar cells. Cheaper LED lighting. Shell should have an initiative to research all of these and to bring the most promising new technologies to market together with appropriate partners. Package that with an information program that presents the current best ideas in each of these areas and keeps it up to date in a sustained way that shows a commitment and not just a passing fancy.
Sol Shapiro
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 15.55
What role do you see for worldwide deployment of gas to liquid plants such as the Shell Qatar plant and Sasol's activity in Indonesia and Canada (and others?) and for new coal to liquid plants as bridge fuels until the world finds a solution, probably based around air, water and solar energy?
Sol Shapiro
Wednesday, 29th June 2011 16.08
Let me amplify a bit on my input related to gas and coal to liquid (gtl/ctl). An approach I am suggesting to U.S. state and federal offices to counter the volatility of the world oil market is to provide a guaranteed floor price for the products of these gtl/ctl plants related to the cost of production (which I have seen at about $65 per barrel); and to back this guarantee with a standby tax on retail fuel if the world market price goes below the floor; and to keep this support in place only until the original investors have recovered their investment with a fair return. As to the CO2 issue which the environmental community puts forth, sequester if possible and to the degree possible; but since I see this as an interim solution and not a "final" solution, the 0.4% of world's emission increase per million barrels per day produced needs to be traded off against the jobs and increased fuel supply. Also, we need to study geoengineering to offset climate change if needed.