Fueling the Future:
Transportation Energy in
California Department of Transportation
Division of Transportation
Planning
Office of Policy Analysis and Research
1 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The Transportation Energy Project is a seminal
study of the energy situation in today's transportation planning context. This report intends to provide a series of
interrelated discussions that present information on transportation energy
reflecting the heightened energy interest nationally as well as currently
within California and the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans). The report compiles
information across a broad spectrum of issues under the direction of the Office
of Policy Analysis and Research, a division of Caltrans.
By undertaking the Transportation Energy Project,
Caltrans aims to compile existing information in an effective way and generate
new information to underline relationships between the transportation energy
infrastructure, transportation systems, energy markets, and the California
economy. The report seeks to provide a
framework for development of coherent, sustainable energy policies and
practices that are consistent with current requirements for federal, state and local
transportation planning. It also aims to
develop an information base and expertise in order to formulate educational
programs on the linkages between transportation energy and statewide
transportation planning efforts. The
report should serve as a reference tool for transportation planners and policy
makers, which assists in the analysis of transportation energy efficiency and
conservation, specific to transportation planning and the decision-making
process.
2 TRANSPORTATION ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN
California’s transportation system includes
28 million registered vehicles and almost 170,000 miles of roads maintained by
local, state and federal governments.
The state’s motor vehicle fleet includes private passenger cars as well
as buses, motorcycles, and light and heavy trucks which are used for passenger
and freight movement. In addition to
road transportation, the state has 5,861 miles of class 1 railroad track, 286
miles of inland waterways and 42 airports certified for air carrier operations.
|
Basic Transportation Statistics for California |
|
|
Conversion
Factor[1] |
|
|
Barrels of Oil (bbl) to US gallons |
42 |
|
US gallons to Barrels of Oil (bbl) |
0.0238095 |
|
Maintained
transportation facilities, 2000[2] |
|
|
All public roads |
168,076 miles |
|
Interstate |
2,453 miles |
|
Road bridges |
23,672 |
|
Class I railroad trackage |
5,861 miles |
|
Inland waterways |
286 miles |
|
Public use airports |
257 (42 certificated) |
|
Vehicle
miles of travel (VMT), 2000[3] |
163,557 million miles |
|
Number of
registered vehicles, 2000[4] |
28,146,424 |
|
Automobiles registered[5] |
17.3 million |
|
Light trucks registered |
8.9 million |
|
Heavy trucks registered |
119,000 |
|
Buses registered |
47,000 |
|
Motorcycles registered |
449,000 |
|
Rail transit systems |
4 commuter, 2 heavy, 5 light |
|
Numbered boats |
905,000 |
|
Transportation
fuel consumption, 1999[6] |
530,445,000 barrels |
|
Gasoline consumption |
335,633,000 barrels |
|
Diesel consumption |
64,078,000 barrels |
|
Percent
of U.S. motor-fuel consumption, 2000[7] |
10.4% |
All of these transportation services consume
transportation fuel. Within the United
States, oil represents 39 percent of energy consumption making gasoline and
diesel fuels the most significant sources of energy. Over half of the country's oil consumption,
or about $100 billion per annum, is from imported sources, with a quarter of
these imports from the Persian Gulf. The
United States represents 5 percent of the world's population, yet it consumes
25 percent of the world's oil production, making it the largest consumer of
energy in the world and a controversial player in the global climate change debate. Oil and transportation energy consumption is
an increasingly prominent issue in national and international security
considerations.
California has one of the world's highest
rates of transportation energy demand and one of the world's largest economies,
with energy playing an important role in this economy. Given the size of the
state's transportation energy market, improved transportation energy efficiency
has great potential to provide economic savings as well as improving
environmental performance and contributing to urban vitality. Energy efficiency
and conservation also play an important role in reducing the state's
susceptibility to supply or price volatility, and addressing energy security
concerns.
Since the 1970s, substantial improvement in
transportation energy efficiency has come primarily through technological
developments aimed at improving fuel economy and reducing emissions. The size
of this improvement is lessened by a number of economic and other barriers to
transportation energy efficiency and conservation. Economic barriers reflect
the low cost of petroleum-based fuels, high sunk costs in the existing energy
market, and the high cost of implementing alternative fuel technologies at a
commercial scale. These barriers limit the market potential for more efficient
vehicles and more conservative travel patterns. As a result, efforts to improve
transportation energy efficiency are countered by the consumer trend toward
purchasing larger vehicles and increasing vehicle miles of travel. Land use and
infrastructural barriers reinforce these travel patterns by requiring high
levels of vehicular travel to reach destination and access basic services and
opportunities in many areas of the state.
3 STRUCTURE OF THE TRANSPORTATION ENERGY
PROJECT
As transportation energy becomes an
increasingly important issue at a state and national level, there is a need for
compilation and comparison of information on the broad spectrum of
transportation energy issues. The
Transportation Energy Project includes documents on nine inter-related
transportation energy topic areas. These
include: 
1. Critical Review Of Current Energy Policies
2. Economics of Transportation Energy
3. Energy Supply And Demand
4. Transportation Fuel Projection
5. Long Range Systems Impact On Energy Use
6. Technological Change
7. Growth, Infrastructure, Land Use And Development
8. Transportation Planning and Energy
9. Transportation Energy: The Environment,
Sustainability, Financial Implications, and California's Economy
For each transportation energy topic there
is:
1. an Executive Summary (ES),
2. a Key Issues and Policy Options Paper (KIPOP), and
3. a Technical Analysis Report (TAR).
The Executive Summary piece provides a
concise summary of the key issues and policies identified in each chapter. The Key Issues and Policy Options Paper is
the core section of each chapter and includes a comprehensive but easy-to-read
analysis and discussion of key issues and policies that effect or have the
potential to effect transportation energy and conservation. This paper is targeted at California state,
metropolitan and local transportation planners.
Finally, the Technical Analysis Report is a reference document for
technicians and other interested parties seeking more detailed information,
focusing on the subject matter identified in the Key Issues and Policy Options
Paper for each chapter. Each Technical
Analysis Report also includes a bibliography of pertinent literary sources for
each chapter, therefore offering reference for further research.