Transport and Energy

The main opportunities for carbon reductions from transport in the near term lies in reducing energy use, through a combination of increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles and in the longer term via innovations in the use of cleaner and alternative fuels and improved and new vehicle design.

Research challenges include; continued improvements to petrol and diesel engines; hybrid vehicles; 2nd & 3rd generation bio-fuels; emission mapping methods and instrumented vehicles to study the ‘real-world’ impact of alternative fuels; hydrogen powered vehicles and fuel cells; engine tribology, fuel economy via tribochemistry and engine friction modelling; surface engineering- nanocomposite/nanostructured coatings; fundamental engine combustion characterisation of new fuels. In the aviation sector the critical research themes are; fuel economy of the aviation fleet; reduced CO2 and NOx emissions; biofuels (kerosene from biomass); hydrogen produced from renewable sources and applications in fuel cells as replacements for auxiliary power units;development of graphical-statistical methods for detecting and quantifying aircraft emissions in pollutant time series data; models for aircraft emission impacts.

For further details please see the Institute for Transport Studies website.