Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 28% of the total share. With broad-scale decarbonization efforts in motion and the target dates approaching fast, it is necessary to address mobility bottleneck issues ranging from infrastructure and supply chain considerations to financial factors and policy.
The University of Houston Division of Energy and Innovation’s “The Future of Mobility:Promises and Bottlenecks” symposium, the latest in the Critical Issues in Energy Symposium Series hosted by UH Energy, offered an insightful discussion about the many challenges and opportunities to advance sustainable, affordable and universally accessible transportation.
Margaret Kidd, associate instructional professor and director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Technology Program (undergraduate) at UH, served as moderator.
The panel included Ben Shapiro, manager of the carbon-free transportation team at Rocky Mountain Institute; Mary Holing, vice president of transportation electrification at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator; and Catherine McCreight, director of transportation planning at the Texas Department of Transportation(TxDOT).
Discussion focused on several aspects of reducing transportation emissions. In particular, the group examined success stories of electric vehicle adoption, the need for collaborative efforts, environmental impact and potential hurdles and bottleneck issues that could impede progress.
“Transportation electrification is a key lever for starting to address some of these issues. It is not a silver bullet, but it’s a significant opportunity that we can expand on,” Shapiro said. “We’re making a lot of progress but we’re not there yet. It’s taking us too long to build out charging infrastructure, put simply. There’s a lot of opportunity for us to do so quickly.”
He emphasized the need to address consumer concerns and educate people about electric vehicles.
“Electrification is new, and not a lot of consumers have ever been in an electric vehicle nor do they trust the technology,” Shapiro said. “We have to educate people on this, and we shouldn’t make light of that being a challenge we have to grapple with.”
McCreight’s vision of the next generation of transportation relies on two pillars: technology and infrastructure. She spoke of TxDOT’s efforts to relieve traffic congestion and personalize mobility options, highlighting that highways themselves also need significant investment to pivot with the evolution of transportation, especially as it relates to city sprawl and the need to addressnenvironmental justice concerns.
“Legislators at the federal and state level need to rethink how we maintain and manage our roads and deliver transit. We need to think about all aspects of change, especially in terms of how we can be agile in responding to challenges,” McCreight said. “We need to provide better connectivity. The current system does not recognize the demand for emerging activity. We have challenges for providing transportation. If you are just using a data-driven approach, and you’re just looking at where current demand is leading you, then you’re going to miss the boat.”
The panelists agreed opportunities and solutions are available and the transportation sector is advancing, but time is of the essence. Without immediate action, transportation issues will continue to persist.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in this sector, and it’s an exciting time to be working on all of this and thinking about how we can move people and goods around in a cleaner and more efficient way,” Holing said. “We have the resources in place to continue making those investments, but we have no time to waste when it comes to reducing our emissions and transportation is such a large part of that equation. We have the funding available, we have the policies at our fingertips, but now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road."