Source Notes 26

(Institute of Transportation Studies, 10/27/2008)

Summary:

The Institute of Transportation Studies out of the University of California Berkeley published a graph on October 17, 2008 showing the greenhouse gas emissions per mile traveled of various forms of transportation.  This is an important source because it gives another reason (environmental friendliness) for the government to be interested in high-speed rail.

Topic:

High-Speed Rail

Category:

Academic Research

What is it?

a graph

Publication Information:

The name of the publication is the Institute of Transportation Studies.  The graph was published in October 17, 2008 in Berkeley, California.

Author:

no author listed

Location:

http://www.its.berkeley.edu/newsbits/fall2008/lcaemissions.html

Accessed:

March 3, 2009

Support:

Mikhail Chester, a former Civil and Environmental Engineering grad student

Arpad Horvath, a CEE Associate Professor

Cristiano Facanha, another Berkeley student with the Institute of Transportation Studies

Mikhail Chester created the report on the greenhouse gas emissions of different forms of transportation.  He says that without the expected high-volume ridership, the California high-speed Rail project’s environmental performance will worsen.  Arpad Horvath helped Chester create the report.  Cristiano Facanha created a related report with Horvath about the efficiency of high-speed freight travel.

Audience and Agenda:

The Review of the Institute of Transportation Studies has an unspecified readership of 5,000.  Its readers are mostly other academics looking for informational sources on transportation studies.  They expect professional articles geared toward people with previous subject knowledge.

The Institute of Transportation, which published the graph, is funded by the University of California Berkeley.  They are trying to give information to other transportation specialists, and affect policy.

Usefulness:

The graph is in a global context, analyzing different forms of transportation used by the entire planet and using information from pre-existing high-speed rail routes in Europe.  It shows how efficient high-speed trains around the world have been.

It was created by a student to affect policy and give professionals a criterion for high-speed rail to be affective.  It is addressing an audience of transportation specialists, and also politicians having a hard time deciding if high-speed rail is worth the investment.  The graph makes the argument that high-speed rail is more environmentally friendly than cars or planes, but the report says that only applies if ridership is maximized.

Surprisingly, it leaves out information about the efficiency of the northeast corridor.  That might be because the California corridor will use an electrified train, unlike the Acella train from Boston to Washington.

Focusing on high-speed rail technology, this source relates to Source Notes 13, Source Notes 18, and Source Notes 24.  Being an image, this source relates to Source Notes 23, Source Notes 20, Source Notes 17,  and Source Notes 24.

Works Cited:

“Institute of Transportation Studies.”  University of California Berkeley.  <http://www.its.berkeley.edu/>

“NewsBITS.”  Institute of Transportation Studies.  <http://www.its.berkeley.edu/newsbits/fall2008/lcaemissions.html>

“Ulrichsweb.com.”  Ulrich’s Periodical Directory.  <http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/>

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Filed under: Academic Research