Project Summary

Terrascope 2025 was challenged to solve the problem of “sustainability and equity in global transportation” over the span of a one-semester class. We recognized that this issue was much more complex than it seemed, and began the project by seeking to understand how global transportation works. We analyzed the prevalence of different types of transportation (trains, ships, trucks, and planes) and their respective benefits and disadvantages through reading analyses by scholars and reaching out to experts. We then looked at how transportation systems connect to transport a product from one part of the world to another. Through our research, we decided that the most pertinent issue in transportation was air pollution. Thus we arrived at the following problem statement:

How can we improve the long-distance freight transport process to reduce air pollution, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x), Sulfur Oxides (SO_x), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Particulate Matter (PM), while balancing equity and economic concerns?

Our primary technology comparisons and calculations were conducted for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄), and cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, warming the climate. ^[1] “The Greenhouse Effect | UCAR Center for Science Education.” Accessed November 22, 2021. https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/how-climate-works/greenhouse-effect. Our GHG emissions calculations used CO₂ and CO₂-equivalents (CO₂-eq), a measure which describes the emissions of other GHGs such as methane by equating their effect to that of an amount of CO₂. ^[2]“Glossary:Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.” Accessed November 22, 2021. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Carbon_dioxide_equivalent.

Through our initial research, we found that ships and trucks carry most of the world’s freight and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.^[3]Tiseo, Ian. “Global Transport CO2 Emissions Breakdown 2020,” Statista, November 9, 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1185535/transport-carbon-dioxide-emissions-breakdown/. ^[4]“Logistics and Transportation Spotlight.” Logistics & Transportation Industry | SelectUSA.gov. International Trade Administration. Accessed November 16, 2021. … Continue reading While planes and rail also contribute to emissions and play a role in transporting goods, we recognized that trying to solve every aspect of transportation in one semester would be near impossible and chose to focus solely on ships and trucks. Since ships were particularly important in intercontinental bulk shipping, while trucks were particularly important for transcontinental long-distance shipping as well as last mile shipping, we thought covering these two modes of transportation would cover a significant portion of trading routes. Given our focus on ships and trucks, we found it natural to investigate ports and the current inefficiencies in transferring cargo from trucks to ships. The inefficiency in ports increases the time for cargo to be shipped, adversely affects the economy, and also creates more air pollution.^[5]Goodman, Peter S., and Erin Schaff. “’It’s Not Sustainable’: What America’s Port Crisis Looks like up Close.” The New York Times. The New York Times, October 10, 2021. … Continue reading ^[6]“Shore Power Technology Assessment at US Ports.” United States Environmental Protection Agency, March 2017. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-05/documents/420r17004-2017-update.pdf. As such, we approached our problem statement from these three specific parts of the transportation sector: ships, trucks, and ports.

We then dived into finding solutions to the problems we saw. In addition to our analysis of GHGs, we assessed the impacts of our potential solutions on other air pollutant emissions relevant to ships, ports, and trucks, respectively. These air pollutants included Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x), Sulfur Oxides (SO_x), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Particulate Matter (PM). In the group researching ships, after looking into different types of ship fuels, we decided that methanol was the best option. This was because methanol can be produced without harmful emissions using green hydrogen, and the cost of modifying ships to use it is relatively low-cost (see Why Methanol for more analysis). In the group researching ports, we decided to investigate ways to reduce energy consumption and congestion at ports. This improves port efficiency, especially as the volume of cargo handled by ports increases. In the group researching trucks, after researching multiple types of zero-emission vehicles, we decided that our goal was to switch diesel trucks to electric-battery trucks because of their low rates of emissions and low lifetime costs (see Why Electric for more analysis). We sought to create policy proposals to achieve these goals that were realistic, economically feasible, and equitable to all those involved, using rebates, taxes, subsidies, and regulations. We analyzed the costs and benefits of such solutions through doing calculations and analyzing expert reports and studies. Through these methods, we came up with a comprehensive policy proposal of which this website is a report of.