Nokia Green Mobility Business Project: Eco-driving most potential for reducing carbon emissions
14.05.2012
The results of the Nokia Green Mobility Project conclude that applications of the 11 countries analysed USA has the largest potential for reducing carbon dioxide emissions via the uptake of mobile. Also the CO2 abatement potential is globally significant.
In addition there is significant potential in Finland. The most potential for reducing CO2 emissions appears to be in eco-driving, public transport and car sharing.
ICT and mobile applications help to reduce CO2 emissions of road transport
In the Green Mobility Business Project three students of the Aalto University School of Economics examined for Nokia how ICT and mobile applications could help in reducing CO2 emissions of road transport.
According to the results, potential for ICT solutions to help in reducing carbon emissions is underlined by the fact that the implementation of mobile ICT solutions is faster than renewing the entire car fleet. Renewal of the fleet takes on average 10.7 years in Finland. Mobile applications can, for example, influence travel decisions, such as the choice of travel modality, before driving.
- The project gave a good start to exploring the area of ICT’s potential in reducing emissions of road transport although the limitations of available data generate uncertainty in this kind of assessment covering global impact and extending to 2020, says Nokia Sustainability Innovations Manager Harri Paloheimo.
Data from 11 countries analysed
The students compared alternative passenger vehicle transport modalities and analysed data from 11 countries including Finland and the USA. They also calculated the potential of improvement, which was estimated from assumed rates of behaviour changes that could be caused by the uptake of ICT and mobile applications.
The alternative passenger vehicle transport modalities that were analysed included ridesharing, public transport, carpooling and eco-driving, to change people’s traffic behaviour and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The project, carried out in the Customised Business Project format co-ordinated by Tommi Vihervaara from Aalto University School of Economics, was supervised by researcher Merja Penttinen from VTT and Aalto University School of Science. The project owner from Nokia was Sustainability Innovations Manager Harri Paloheimo. The participating students were Yu Chen, Tiina Landau and Patrick Lees from the School of Economics.
A paper is to be submitted by Penttinen and Paloheimo about the project to the World Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems. The participating students are included in the paper as co-authors.
Read more about Aalto University Customized Business Projects
