In Future Drive, Daniel Sperling addresses the adverse energy and environmental consequences of increased travel, and analyzes current initiatives to suggest strategies for creating a more environmentally benign system of transportation. Groundbreaking proposals are constructed around the idea of electric propulsion as the key to a sustainable transportation and energy system. Other essential elements include the ideas that:
improving technology holds more promise than large-scale behavior modification
technology initiatives must be matched with regulatory and policy initiatives
government intervention should be flexible and incentive-based, but should also embrace selective technology-forcing measures
more diversity and experimentation is needed with regard to vehicles and energy technologies
Sperling evaluates past and current attempts to influence drivers and vehicle use, and articulates a clear and compelling vision of the future. He formulates a coherent and specific set of principles, strategies, and policies for redirecting the United States and other countries onto a new sustainable pathway.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Transportation as If People Mattered
Chapter 2. Sifting the Wheat from the Chaff
Chapter 3. Toward Electric Propulsion
Chapter 4. Neighborhood Electric Vehicles
Chapter 5. Fuel Cells
Chapter 6. Hybrid Vehicles: Always Second Best?
Chapter 7. Accelerating Regulatory Reform
Chapter 8. Technology Policy for Sustainable Transportation
