Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Kevin Heaslip

Committee

Kevin Heaslip

Committee

Paul Barr

Committee

Ryan Bosworth

Committee

Ziqi Song

Committee

Michael D. Thomas

Abstract

Transportation is one of the major energy consuming sectors in the United States. The continued growth in fuel consumption not only increases dependency on foreign oil but also causes environmental issues due to the emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG). High gasoline consumption in the US transportation sector not only raises concerns regarding national energy security, but also poses many questions regarding the resulting environmental impacts of greenhouse gases emissions. Improvement in automobile fuel economy, increase the use of natural gas vehicles and electric vehicles have been proven to be as the policies in controlling oil demand and GHG emissions in transportation sector around the world.

The core of this research is to conduct the feasibility and efficiency of policies and their effects on key transportation parameters. The major question on which this research focuses is: “How do fuel efficiency improvement, natural gas vehicles and electric vehicles affect key transportation parameters?” Modeling is accomplished in support of the Washington State Department of Transportation. Addressing this question effectively requires the ability to investigate the following issues:

  • What will be the adoption rates of natural gas vehicles?
  • What is the impact of natural gas vehicles on VMT
  • What is the impact of higher fuel efficiency on vehicle emissions and fuel tax revenue?
  • What are the effective factors on electric vehicles adoption?

Checksum

f1850a11cdb0816e13b3999a6501ce29

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .