IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2013i1p50-69d31558.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Encouraging Sustainable Transport Choices in American Households: Results from an Empirically Grounded Agent-Based Model

Author

Listed:
  • Davide Natalini

    (Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK)

  • Giangiacomo Bravo

    (Department of Social Studies, Linnaeus University, and Collegio Carlo Alberto, Universitetsplatsen 1, 35252 Växjö, Sweden)

Abstract

The transport sector needs to go through an extended process of decarbonisation to counter the threat of climate change. Unfortunately, the International Energy Agency forecasts an enormous growth in the number of cars and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Two issues can thus be identified: (1) the need for a new methodology that could evaluate the policy performances ex-ante and (2) the need for more effective policies. To help address these issues, we developed an Agent-Based Model called Mobility USA aimed at: (1) testing whether this could be an effective approach in analysing ex-ante policy implementation in the transport sector; and (2) evaluating the effects of alternative policy scenarios on commuting behaviours in the USA. Particularly, we tested the effects of two sets of policies, namely market-based and preference-change ones. The model results suggest that this type of agent-based approach will provide a useful tool for testing policy interventions and their effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Davide Natalini & Giangiacomo Bravo, 2013. "Encouraging Sustainable Transport Choices in American Households: Results from an Empirically Grounded Agent-Based Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:50-69:d:31558
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/50/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/1/50/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Creutzig, Felix & McGlynn, Emily & Minx, Jan & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2011. "Climate policies for road transport revisited (I): Evaluation of the current framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2396-2406, May.
    2. Andrew Dobson, 2007. "Environmental citizenship: towards sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 276-285.
    3. Gerard de Jong & Hugh Gunn, 2001. "Recent Evidence on Car Cost and Time Elasticities of Travel Demand in Europe," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 137-160, May.
    4. Grimm, Volker & Berger, Uta & DeAngelis, Donald L. & Polhill, J. Gary & Giske, Jarl & Railsback, Steven F., 2010. "The ODD protocol: A review and first update," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(23), pages 2760-2768.
    5. Wander Jager & Marco A. Janssen, 2002. "Stimulating diffusion of green products," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 283-306.
    6. Joyce Dargay, 2008. "Personal Transport Choice," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2008(2), pages 59-93.
    7. Flachsland, Christian & Brunner, Steffen & Edenhofer, Ottmar & Creutzig, Felix, 2011. "Climate policies for road transport revisited (II): Closing the policy gap with cap-and-trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2100-2110, April.
    8. Buehler, Ralph & Pucher, John, 2011. "Making public transport financially sustainable," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 126-138, January.
    9. J. Gareth Polhill & Dawn C. Parker & Daniel Brown & Volker Grimm, 2008. "Using the ODD Protocol for Describing Three Agent-Based Social Simulation Models of Land-Use Change," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 11(2), pages 1-3.
    10. Lynne Hamill & Nigel Gilbert, 2009. "Social Circles: A Simple Structure for Agent-Based Social Network Models," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 12(2), pages 1-3.
    11. Santos, Georgina & Behrendt, Hannah & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2010. "Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 46-91.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Byrka & Arkadiusz Jedrzejewski & Katarzyna Sznajd-Weron & Rafal Weron, 2015. "Difficulty is critical: Psychological factors in modeling diffusion of green products and practices," HSC Research Reports HSC/15/10, Hugo Steinhaus Center, Wroclaw University of Technology.
    2. Xuehong Bai & Huimin Yan & Lihu Pan & He Qing Huang, 2015. "Multi-Agent Modeling and Simulation of Farmland Use Change in a Farming–Pastoral Zone: A Case Study of Qianjingou Town in Inner Mongolia, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-32, November.
    3. Scheller, Fabian & Johanning, Simon & Bruckner, Thomas, 2018. "IRPsim: A techno-socio-economic energy system model vision for business strategy assessment at municipal level," Contributions of the Institute for Infrastructure and Resources Management 02/2018, University of Leipzig, Institute for Infrastructure and Resources Management.
    4. Mehdizadeh, Milad & Nordfjaern, Trond & Klöckner, Christian A., 2022. "A systematic review of the agent-based modelling/simulation paradigm in mobility transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Scheller, Fabian & Johanning, Simon & Bruckner, Thomas, 2019. "A review of designing empirically grounded agent-based models of innovation diffusion: Development process, conceptual foundation and research agenda," Contributions of the Institute for Infrastructure and Resources Management 01/2019, University of Leipzig, Institute for Infrastructure and Resources Management.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. AlSabbagh, Maha & Siu, Yim Ling & Guehnemann, Astrid & Barrett, John, 2017. "Integrated approach to the assessment of CO2e-mitigation measures for the road passenger transport sector in Bahrain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 203-215.
    2. Maggi,Elena & Vallino,Elena, 2017. "An Agent-Based Simulation of Urban Passenger Mobility and Related Policies. The Case Study of an Italian Small City," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201708, University of Turin.
    3. Bhardwaj, Chandan & Axsen, Jonn & Kern, Florian & McCollum, David, 2020. "Why have multiple climate policies for light-duty vehicles? Policy mix rationales, interactions and research gaps," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 309-326.
    4. Huber, Robert & Bakker, Martha & Balmann, Alfons & Berger, Thomas & Bithell, Mike & Brown, Calum & Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne & Xiong, Hang & Le, Quang Bao & Mack, Gabriele & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Millingt, 2018. "Representation of decision-making in European agricultural agent-based models," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 143-160.
    5. Iris Lorscheid & Bernd-Oliver Heine & Matthias Meyer, 2012. "Opening the ‘black box’ of simulations: increased transparency and effective communication through the systematic design of experiments," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 22-62, March.
    6. Pietro Lanzini & Andrea Stocchetti, 2017. "The evolution of the conceptual basis for the assessment of urban mobility sustainability impacts," Working Papers 02, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    7. Chion, Clément & Lamontagne, P. & Turgeon, S. & Parrott, L. & Landry, J.-A. & Marceau, D.J. & Martins, C.C.A. & Michaud, R. & Ménard, N. & Cantin, G. & Dionne, S., 2011. "Eliciting cognitive processes underlying patterns of human–wildlife interactions for agent-based modelling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(14), pages 2213-2226.
    8. Ruzzenenti, Franco & Basosi, Riccardo, 2017. "Modelling the rebound effect with network theory: An insight into the European freight transport sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 272-283.
    9. Perera, Loshaka & Thompson, Russell G. & Wu, Wenyan, 2021. "Toll and subsidy for freight vehicles on urban roads: A policy decision for City Logistics," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Hans, Michiels & Carolien, Beckx & Liesbeth, Schrooten & Stijn, Vernaillen & Tobias, Denys, 2012. "Exploring the transition to a clean vehicle fleet: From stakeholder views to transport policy implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 70-79.
    11. Haywood, Luke & Jakob, Michael, 2023. "The role of the emissions trading scheme 2 in the policy mix to decarbonize road transport in the European Union," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 99-108.
    12. An, Li & Grimm, Volker & Sullivan, Abigail & Turner II, B.L. & Malleson, Nicolas & Heppenstall, Alison & Vincenot, Christian & Robinson, Derek & Ye, Xinyue & Liu, Jianguo & Lindkvist, Emilie & Tang, W, 2021. "Challenges, tasks, and opportunities in modeling agent-based complex systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 457(C).
    13. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Hirte, Georg, 2012. "Should subsidies to urban passenger transport be increased? A spatial CGE analysis for a German metropolitan area," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 285-309.
    14. Zhengxia He & Yanqing Zhou & Jianming Wang & Cunfang Li & Meiling Wang & Wenbo Li, 2021. "The impact of motivation, intention, and contextual factors on green purchasing behavior: New energy vehicles as an example," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1249-1269, February.
    15. Emiliano Alvarez & Volker Grimm, 2024. "The added value of using the ODD Protocol for agent-based modeling in Economics: go for it!," Working Papers 307, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    16. Zimmer, Anne & Koch, Nicolas, 2017. "Fuel consumption dynamics in Europe: Tax reform implications for air pollution and carbon emissions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 22-50.
    17. Xiao-Yi Li & Bao-Jun Tang, 2017. "Incorporating the transport sector into carbon emission trading scheme: an overview and outlook," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 88(2), pages 683-698, September.
    18. Tomaschek, Jan, 2015. "Marginal abatement cost curves for policy recommendation – A method for energy system analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 376-385.
    19. Lutsey, Nicholas, 2012. "Regulatory and technology lead-time: The case of US automobile greenhouse gas emission standards," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 179-190.
    20. Schall, Dominik L. & Mohnen, Alwine, 2017. "Incentivizing energy-efficient behavior at work: An empirical investigation using a natural field experiment on eco-driving," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1757-1768.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:50-69:d:31558. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.