An Assessment of Potential Energy Savings and Other Benefits from Alternative Fuel Utilization and Employer Trip Reduction Programs
Ronald E. Goodwin and Carol A. Lewis, Texas Southern University, April 2000, 48 pp. (466070-1)
By passing the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) our government intensified efforts to improve the declining air quality in many of our nation’s cities. The passage of the CAAA also signaled the acknowledgment that American commuters must modify travel patterns and behavior. Areas defined as non-attainment by the Environmental Protection Agency must improve their air quality to satisfactory levels or face possible punitive sanctions imposed by the federal government.
In response to the changing demands of urban mobility, city and transportation officials aggressively began pursuing alternative fuels programs in fleet vehicles as a means to improve air quality. In addition to the successful conversions of vehicle fleets to alternative fuels, transportation officials proceeded to influence home-to-work trips thereby improving air quality through the employer trip reduction programs. While air quality improvements are the impetus for increasing alternative fuels technology and trip reduction, there are other unexpected benefits that are beginning to be realized. This research seeks to establish parameters for the measurements of such ancillary benefits beyond alternative fuels and employer trip reduction programs.
Keywords: Alternative Fuels, Clean Air Act Amendments, Urban Mobility, Air Quality, Employer Trip Reduction Program
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