21 OCT 2014 (FRI) | 19:00-20:00
Room 115, Knowles Building, The University of Hong Kong.
Speakers:
Prof. Robert B. Noland Professor of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; Director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, Rutgers University
Robert B. Noland is a Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and serves as the Director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center. He received his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in Energy Management and Environmental Policy. Prior to joining Rutgers University he was Reader in Transport and Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, a Policy Analyst at the US Environmental Protection Agency and also conducted post-doctoral research in the Economics Department at the University of California at Irvine. The focus of Dr. Noland’s research is the impacts of transport planning and policy on both economic and environmental outcomes. Work on economic effects has included examining behavioral reactions to changes in reliability, associations with the built environment, and trip chaining behavior. Environmental work includes impacts on safety, climate, health, and other factors associated with overall quality of life. Active research areas include developing methods to evaluate the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with building transport projects; evaluating the economic impacts of transit-oriented development; analysis of walking behavior and links to other travel behavior and the built environment; analysis of traffic and pedestrian safety using spatial analysis techniques; and, assessment of the economic effects of transport investments, in particular those associated with agglomeration externalities. Dr. Noland’s research has been cited throughout the world in debates over transport infrastructure planning and environmental assessment of new infrastructure. Dr. Noland is currently the Associate Editor of Transportation Research-D (Transport and Environment) and the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation and is Chair of the Transportation Research Board Special Task Force on Climate Change and Energy.
Abstract:
The US transportation sector is responsible for about a quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun to regulate the carbon emissions in concert with the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (NHTSA) which regulates fuel economy. These changes are starting to result in some reductions in carbon emissions as are renewable fuel policies. Yet the ability to achieve significant reductions in transportation is still a major challenge. This presentation reports on two projects that we have recently completed. In one we evaluated what policies would be needed to achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by about 2040 and evaluated what gaps will remain. The other study involved the development of a tool for estimating the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from the construction of transportation projects, as mandated by New Jersey’s Global Warming Solution Plan. I will present results of both projects and thoughts on the ability and commitment of the sector to achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Organizers:Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning, HKU (MATPP)
Institute of Transport Studies, HKU (ITS)
All are Welcome!!
