Estimation of Carbon Dioxide from Transportation Sector Based on Urban Data Availability

Abstract

One source of potential carbon dioxides in most developing countries is the transportation sector. The calculation of carbon dioxides is therefore, important as a part of policy making on carbon management in the region. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculation method which were often used require large and complete data. This is a problematic for developing countries due to the availability of data are not in accordance or sufficient with the IPCC method. This study examined the alternative calculation methods that are tailored to the available data in most developing countries. Two alternative methods are proposed for calculating carbon dioxide emissions; the first method is based on data of the number and types of vehicles, and the second method is based on the data and the length of the road class. The results show that both alternative methods are reliable to estimate specific emission factor (SEF) and emission estimates that are close to the IPCC calculation methods. The alternative of second method provides results that are closer to the IPCC calculation method with the correlation value of 0.997 and the standard error of 2.8 ton CO2/years, as compared to the results of alternative first method (correlation value of 0.990 and the standard error of 4.7 ton CO2/years).