Car is doomed, energy experts warn

28 February 2008

Car travel must be cut by at least 80 per cent, road construction halted and public transport boosted if Australia is to have any hope of meeting carbon emission targets to avoid dangerous climate change, Monash University energy experts warn.

The experts say Federal and State Governments should stop spending money building new arterial roads and focus on phasing-out cars, improving the energy efficiency of public transport and making people use it.

The warnings come from Associate Professor Damon Honnery and Dr Patrick Moriarty, experts in alternative energy at Monash's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

"The car is doomed," Associate Professor Honnery says. "Ultimately, we are going to have to move to a decentralised society where most people need to travel far less. People are going to have to fundamentally change the way they think about travel and make much more use of non-motorised travel such as cycling and walking."

The researchers say the drastic changes they are proposing are needed if Australia's transport sector is to meet the 2050 CO₂ emission reduction targets advocated by the European Union and Government economic adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut.

The researchers say the community seemed to accept the need for drastic CO₂ emission reductions but the widespread perception that technical advances alone will provide the reductions needed in the transport sector is way off the mark.

"Our calculations show that not even the best combination of fuel efficiency, hybrid and electric cars, alternative fuels and car pooling could provide the reductions needed to meet the 2050 targets for avoiding dangerous climatic change," Associate Professor Honnery said.

In their research paper, Mitigating greenhouse: Limited time, limited options, soon to be published in the Energy Policy journal, the researchers say that their analysis of available technical solutions had shown that the big emission cuts needed in the transport sector required "a near-total shift from the private car to public transport."

Dr Moriarty said big reductions in air travel were also needed. "An overseas trip might become a once in a life time experience rather than an annual event," he said.

For interviews and extra information, please contact Damon Honnery (after 1pm) on +61 3 9905 1988; Patrick Moriarty on +61 3 9903 2584; or Ryan Pedler, media officer, on +61 3 9903 4842.