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Hybrid Cars

Transport

Hybrid cars pair an electric motor and battery with an internal combustion engine. The combination makes them more efficient, improving fuel economy and lowering emissions.

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Rank and results by 2050 #49

Hybrid Cars

Reduced CO2: 4 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $-598.69
Net operational savings: $1,761.72 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

Under some business-as-usual projections, 23 million hybrid vehicles will be in operation in 2050, less than 1 percent of the car market. We estimate growth in 2050 to reach 6 percent of the market, or 315 million hybrid vehicles. Those additional 315 million cars can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4 gigatons by 2050, saving owners $1.76 trillion in fuel and operating costs over three decades.

Hybrid Cars

Transport

Hybrid cars pair an electric motor and battery with an internal combustion engine. The combination makes them more efficient, improving fuel economy and lowering emissions.

Worldwide, some 83 million cars rolled off the assembly line in 2013. Of those new cars, 1.3 million contained an electric motor and battery, as well as an internal combustion engine—hybrid cars hardwired for better fuel economy and lower emissions.

Hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, merge strengths. Gasoline- or diesel-powered engines excel at sustaining high speeds (highway driving) but have a harder time overcoming inertia to get moving (city driving). Electric motors are uniquely efficient at low speeds and going from stop to start. They also can:

keep a car’s air-conditioning and accessories running while idling at a traffic light;
capture the kinetic energy typically released as heat during braking and convert it back into electricity; and
boost the engine’s performance, allowing it to be smaller and more efficient.

Hybridization has been called the vanguard of a revolution, catalyzing fuel efficiency and challenging the auto industry to innovate. But that is true only if they pave the way for full-electric vehicles—only motors and no engines at all—which can run solely on clean energy.

Vs

High-speed Rail

Transport

High-speed rail is the fastest way to travel distances between 100 to 700 miles. Compared to driving or flying, it reduces emissions up to 90 percent.

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Rank and results by 2050 #66

High-speed Rail

Reduced CO2: 2 gigatons
Net cost (Billions US$): $1,038.42
Net operational savings: $368.10 billion
What do these numbers mean?

TOTAL CO2-EQ REDUCTION (GT)

Total CO2-equivalent reduction in atmospheric greenhouse gases by 2050 (gigatons)

NET COST (billions US $)

Net cost to implement

SAVINGS (billions US $)

Net savings by 2050

Impact:

If HSR construction and ridership continue at their projected pace, this solution can deliver 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions reductions by 2050. A global network of 64,000 miles of track, with an average trip length of 186 miles, could support 6 to 7 billion riders annually. Regionally, most impact will come from Asia, especially China. If HSR is concentrated between cities with heavy, short-haul flight routes, impact can be greater. Implementation comes at a steep cost of $1 trillion. Operational savings over thirty years, however, are $368 billion and $1.3 trillion over the lifetime of HSR infrastructure.

High-speed Rail

Transport

High-speed rail is the fastest way to travel distances between 100 to 700 miles. Compared to driving or flying, it reduces emissions up to 90 percent.

In 1964, Japan inaugurated the world’s first high-speed “bullet” train on the Osaka-Tokyo route, a distance of 247 miles. According to the International Union of Railways, there are more than 18,500 miles of high-speed rail (HSR) lines worldwide. That number will increase by 50 percent when current construction is completed; many more thousands of miles are planned and under consideration.

HSR is powered almost exclusively by electricity, not diesel. Compared to driving, flying, or riding conventional rail, it is the fastest way to travel between two points that are 100 to 700 miles apart and reduces carbon emissions up to 90 percent. Over time, its energy source is likely to get cleaner as renewables generate a greater share of electricity.

HSR is expensive and requires high ridership to break even. That is why only certain places in the world have sufficient population density to support HSR. China has by far the most HSR lines—more than 35 percent of the total—with Japan and Western Europe not far behind. Where adequate density exists, HSR can be an important component of a sustainable transportation system and bring vitality to city centers.

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