1. Transportation and Urban Form: Energy Use and Climate Change Considerations
Visions of Transportation and Urban Form in the
Greater Toronto Area
June 13, 2005
Peter Reilly-Roe - Office of Energy Efficiency
Natural Resources Canada

2. Transportation and Sustainability in Urban Areas
Challenge: Provide access to jobs and services while increasing economic welfare and enhancing attractiveness of the city
Five main action areas
Provide/maintain transport infrastructure
Provide greenspace, protect environmentally sensitive areas
Improve air quality
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Relieve congestion
Integrated transport and land use planning can help

3. Integrated Transportation and Land-Use Planning Challenges
Three levels of government share the responsibility for transportation
Transportation is a derived demand and a land-use affected by the growth of our economy
There is an assumption that each group of users is entitled to a certain level of mobility and choice
People are choosing:
Car ownership is at the level of 550 vehicles/1000 Canadians
More and bigger housing to suburbs and satellites
Employment in distributed locations
How to balance transportation system efficiency, within and between modes while maintaining city competitiveness?

4. The Transportation and Land-Use Connection
Transportation is a land use.
Land use planning will influence future travel demand and automobile dependency.
Smart Growth/New Community Design:
promotes the integration of transportation and land use decisions and aims to maintain a level of mobility for a community.
Ontario’s Places to Grow Act
Can good planning attract population to these smart growth areas and reduce desire to sprawl?
Need imagination – tradeoffs not necessarily negative from increased density
-Ontario’s Places to Grow Act, is a smart growth long term strategic plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe areas, that if passed would allow the provincial gov’t to identify an area of land anywhere in Ontario as a growth plan area.
-Any development on these designated lands would have to meet the plan’s objective. The overall objectives of curbing sprawl, more efficient use of urban lands and infrastructure, protecting green lands, enhancing quality of like, reducing gridlock and auto-dependence and create more liveable, walkable transit supportive communities. It’s principles acknowledge that well-service, compact communities with higher levels of transit attract a more educated workforce.
-This is an excellent example of a plan that has been developed in coordination with the Province and the municipalities in the GGH. It is integrated with other planning and provincial documents (Green belt Plan, and the Niagara Escarpment Plan) and illustrates an effort to plan across municipal borders an important approach especially for transportation issues particularly in terms of travel between urban centres.

5. GTA Urban Growth Pattern 1966-2000
1976
1971
1986
2000
1981
GTA Urban Growth Pattern
Canadian Urban Land Use Survey
(CUrLUS)
Water
Residential
Commercial/Industrial
Quarries/Dump
Urban Recreational
Transitional
Forest
Agricultural
Grass/Herbaceous
Bare Rock/Sand
Emergent Wetland
Woody Wetland
Transportation
Urban Open Land
These maps are a result of a project by NRCan’s Earth Sciences Sector, the model is called CUrLUS (Canadian Urban Land Use Survey) it has taken data from various sources in order to produce these basic representations of the growth patterns and land-use from the mid 1960’s until This is the GTA over this time period. We can see that commercial/industrial areas moved further from the downtown core, residential also began to increase around these areas.

6. Growth in Vehicle Travel
Cars HDVs and MCs 30

7. The Transportation Planning Challenge

8. Some actions are helping significantly

9. Mobile Source Emission Forecast32

10. Mobile Source Emission Forecast32

11. Transportation Energy Use
The transportation sector accounts for 34% of Canada’s GHG emissions from secondary energy use and has been a major contributor to smog in urban areas
Energy efficiency improvements in freight and passenger travel limited growth in transportation energy use to 23% between 1990 and 2002, without these improvements, transportation energy use would have increase by 32% over the same period
The demand for transportation services has outstripped our efforts to improve energy efficiency
Within the context of climate change, efficiency is a subset of energy consumption. The three determinants of consumption are energy technologies, fuels and activity

12. Factors Affecting Fuel Use in Cities
Technology
vehicle efficiency and type of fuel
Economics/Demographics Prices and Incomes
Population and age structure
Urban Transportation Fuel Use
Infrastructure Provision for different modes and levels of service
Urban Form Density, residential centrality
Newman and Kenworthy, 1999

13. Factors Affecting GHG Emissions from Automobile Use
Socio-economic variables: # of vehicles in the household, # of people per household, # of adults, household employment income.
Locational Variables: Distance to the employment areas, land use mix, local transit service.
Neighbourhood variables: Housing density moderately decreases vehicle ownership and increases transit ridership, road layout and type, services located in the neighbourhood, infrastructure for non-motorized transport.

14. Instruments and Areas of Influence
Federal activities
Policies, programs, education and awareness, voluntary agreements, fiscal measures, technology and innovation and leading by example.
Important Municipal Areas of Influence
Planning and zoning: transit orientated development, pedestrian friendly development, infill/brownfield development, mixed-use high density developments.
Implementation of growth boundaries
Parking pricing and policy, road pricing/congestion charging.
Federal ability to influence SUT as:
a regulator of safety, fuel consumption and environmental standards.
Retain broad authority over taxation, and influence over investment decisions and consumer behavior via fiscal incentives.
Ability to transfer funds to municipalities via provinces.
Providers of funds for R&D in transportation technologies, and tools to raise public awareness.
Canada’s largest landlord.

15. Federal Activities
New Deal for Cities ($5 billion over 5 years) and communities as well as the additional support for public transit ($800 million over 2 years).
Infrastructure Canada programs, Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund(CSIF), Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund(MRIF), Border Infrastructure Fund (BIF).
FCM-Green Municipal Funds (renewed for $300 million).
Transport Canada’s: Freight Efficiency and Technology Initiative (FETI), Freight Efficiency Program (FEP), Freight Incentive Program (FIP), Urban Transportation Showcase Program (UTSP), Moving on Sustainable Transportation (MOST), Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
MOU between the Government of Canada and the Auto Industry on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2010.
Project Green (Partnership Fund, Climate Fund, One Tonne Challenge).
Clean Vehicle and Fuel Regulations (Tier II)
Knowledge Base: R&D, surveys, workshops, model development, etc.
Details on Project Green if needed:
Climate Fund (to purchase domestic and international GHG reduction credits) Mt
Partnership Fund (agreements with Provinces and Territories for strategic investments based on mutual priorities) Mt get info on agreements signed to date Large Final Emitters (reduction of GHG emissions by LFE’s) 45 Mt
(oil and gas, thermal energy, mining and manufacturing, adopting upgrades, purchasing of emission reductions)
GHG Reduction Programs (review of existing programs and re-allocation of resources based on most effective measures an opportunity to develop new approaches) upto 45Mt
Carbon Sinks (based on currently forestry practices carbon can be stored in our soils) 30Mt
Renewable Energy (financial support of Wind Power and the other renewable sources like solar, small hydro and biomass) 15 Mt.
Consumer Action (increase in technical advice and OTC) 5Mt
Automotive Industry (MVFE) 5.3 Mt
Green Government (reallocating of existing funds for GoC to reduce its emissions by 1/3)

16. Some of NRCan’s Transportation Programs
Motor Vehicle Fuel Efficiency: voluntary agreement
Personal Vehicles: Energuide label, education and awareness campaigns (Anti-Idling, Tire Smart)
Commercial Fleets: information, workshops, technical demonstrations and training programs on fuel-efficient practices for fleet vehicles.
Alternative transportation fuels development and use of alternative and future fuels in Canada, through reports, brochures and public events. Ethanol Expansion, Future Fuels Initiative, Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance (CTFCA), Biodiesel Initiative

17. Comparison of Standards
Reducing New Vehicle Fuel Consumption and GHG Emissions
Comparison of Standards
Comparison of World Fuel Consumption/GHG Emission Standards
*Adapted from a chart by Feng An and Amanda Sauer

18. Changing Fuels: Lifecycle analysis
Lifecycle CO2eq Emissions
Materials in vehicles
600
Vehicle assembly and
transport
Emissions displaced
500
by co-products
CH4 and CO2 leaks
and flares
400
Land use changes and
cultivation
Percentage of CO2eq Emissions Associated With Each Stage
300
Feedstock and
fertilizer production
Feedstock transport
200
Fuel production
100
Fuel storage and
distribution
Fuel dispensing
RFG
Hybrid RFG
CNG
Diesel
Diesel Hybrid
H2 FC SMR
E10 (W0/G100)
Vehicles
C in end-use fuel from
-100
CO2 in air
Vehicle operation

19. Concluding Remarks The Federal government has a catalytic role to:
provide tools and resources (data collection, monitoring and research);
lead by example in order to foster informed decision making by promoting the integration of the best available data. (including ensuring that land-use and transportation are considered as inter-related/co-dependant elements);
work in partnership with provinces, municipalities and stakeholders;
Ensure effective public participation and communication to raise awareness and acceptance of policies and initiatives.