Author(s)

Shyi-Min Lu^1*, Ching Lu², Yu-Shun Huang³

¹Energy Research Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei city.
²Department of Internal Medicine, Hsin-Chu Branch Hospital, Hsin-Chu.
³Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei city.

Transport is the lifeblood of a nation’s economy. Since the fossil fuels are being gradually depleted and the global warming phenomena are more and more serious, this article is to construct a low-carbon transport infrastructure for Taiwan by the implementation of energy-saving measures. First of all, via data collection and analysis, we found that the small passenger cars and the large trucks are the largest energy users in the transport sector, due to their high energy intensities and large transport volumes. Therefore, their energy-conserving potentials are the focuses of this study. According to “Top-Down” methodology, the most effective and economical energy-saving strategies for Taiwan’s transport sector are the significant adoptions of rail transport and electrification mode. Whereby, under a maximal energy-saving scenario, comprising of delicate shift of transport volumes, the energy saving potential in the land transport sector of Taiwan is 4914 MLOE (million liters of oil equivalent), which is equivalent to greenhouse gas reduction of 10.56Mt-CO_2e approximately with a scale of 45.3% or crediting for 4.1% reduction of national GHG emissions. Finally, we suggest the green transport infrastructure of Taiwan should be mainly comprised of rail transport, electric motorcycles, MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), and EV (Electric Vehicles).

Land Transport Sector; Low-Carbon Infrastructure; Energy Conservation

Lu, S. , Lu, C. and Huang, Y. (2013) Green Transport Infrastructure of Taiwan. Open Journal of Energy Efficiency, 2, 16-21. doi: 10.4236/ojee.2013.21003.