It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 03, 2024
New study reveals significant risk of bankruptcy for Japanese professional football clubs
UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH
A new study has revealed that almost two-thirds of football clubs in the top two divisions of Japan's Professional Football League, also known as the J-League, could be at risk of bankruptcy.
The research, conducted by sports finance and economics experts from the University of Portsmouth and Sheffield Hallam University, found widespread financial issues across both the J1 and J2 leagues, with approximately 50 to 75 per cent of the clubs at risk.
Clubs that have played predominantly in the J1 League were found to be in poorer financial health compared to those that have played predominantly in the J2 League.
Some of the clubs at high risk include Ventforet Kofu, Omiya Ardija, Hokkaido-Consadole Sapporo and Shonan Bellmare.
This study, which is the first of its kind to investigate financial distress in Asian professional football, brings to light the pressing need for financial reforms in Japanese professional football.
Sarthak Mondal, Lecturer in Sport Management at the University of Portsmouth, and study co-author said: “Our findings highlight the financial challenges facing Japanese professional football clubs and the need for ongoing monitoring of their financial health. There are no policies that exist at a continental level in Asia to give early warning signs of financial distress to prevent businesses from going bankrupt, despite such policies being prevalent in Europe.
“The financial instability in Japanese professional football could worsen still due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The researchers used the Altman z-score, a numerical measurement that is used to predict the chances of a business becoming bankrupt in the next two years, to identify the percentage of J1 League and J2 League clubs at risk of bankruptcy. They collected data from financial figures over 10 seasons for 29 professional football clubs competing in the J1 League and J2 League between 2011 and 2020.
Their findings indicate widespread financial issues, with the potential for financial distress looming for approximately 50 to 75 per cent of the clubs. Of even greater concern is the dire financial picture of clubs that have spent between 7 and 9 seasons in J1 League. The study found there is clear evidence that these clubs are spending beyond their means to stay and compete with teams in the J1 League or get promoted to J1 League soon after relegation, thereby risking financial stability, a trend similar to football clubs in England.
Mondal said: “Notably, this occurs despite the implementation of club licensing regulations that are strictly set to ensure financial sustainability at these clubs. Despite the presence of the club licensing criteria, the J-League does not operate any version of Financial Fair Play or Financial Sustainability rules that can be seen in Europe. As a result, there is a risk of a lack of monitoring in terms of cumulative acceptable losses allowed by a football club over any given period.”
The study also highlights the crucial aspect of the ownership structure of J-League clubs, which is a mixture of private and public ownership. The research shows that clubs in public ownership, such as city corporations, are at a greater risk of financial distress as compared to clubs in private ownership.
Mondal added: “To address these financial challenges, we recommend that the J-League revisit its Club Licensing Criteria, which were designed to bring financial sustainability among member clubs, and consider implementing equitable cost-control measures. These measures could include capping acceptable losses over a specified period or restricting overall expenditures as a percentage of the club’s revenue.
“While there have been instances of more clubs conforming to the Club Licensing Criteria, the overall picture of financial health among clubs in the J1 League and J2 League paints a more negative picture. Furthermore, clubs that get relegated from J1 League spend beyond their means to achieve promotion to J2 League, thereby risking further financial instability.”
The research also suggests that examining financial conditions in other Asian and European leagues could provide a comparative understanding of whether such financial distress is widespread across different countries and continents.
Spending money is like water soaking into the sand: anticipating financial distress in Japanese professional football clubs
How does climate change affect birds?
Research staff from the UPV and the UV assess the impact of climate change on the productivity of the common reed warbler and the moustached warbler
UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA
IMAGE:
THE TWO SPECIES STUDIED WERE THE MOUSTACHED WARBLER (ACROCEPHALUS MELANOPOGON) AND THE COMMON REED WARBLER (ACROCEPHALUS SCIRPACEUS), BOTH ASSOCIATED WITH WETLANDS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST.
The work, published in the Bird Study scientific journal, is part of the PhD thesis that Pau Lucio, Associate Lecturer in the Animal Science Department at the Gandia Campus, is developing between the UPV and the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia.
The two species studied were the moustached warbler (Acrocephalus melanopogon) and the common reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), both associated with wetlands on the Mediterranean coast.
The moustached warbler is a resident/short-distance migrant listed as "vulnerable" in the Spanish Red Data Book of Birds 2021 due to its population decline in recent years. Spain is home to the largest population of this species in Western Europe.
In contrast, the common reed warbler, more generalist in its habitat preferences, is a long-distance migrant (it visits Spanish wetlands during the breeding season and spends the winter in Africa). Its conservation status is defined as of "least concern", as it is widely distributed throughout Europe.
Scientific ringing
According to Pau Lucio, the research has aimed to understand to what extent different climatic and/or geographical factors are affecting productivity, i.e. the relationship between the number born in a given year and the number of adults of both species, using a large database with 25 years of ringing in Spanish wetlands. "Specifically, we have used data from the scientific ringing programme for the monitoring of breeding bird species in Spain (PASER) between 1995 and 2021", adds Pau Lucio.
Effect of extreme weather events
The study concludes that a cumulative rainfall of up to approximately 100 mm favours the productivity of the moustached warbler, and rainfall above this threshold is detrimental to the reproduction of the species. As for temperatures, the UPV and UV team observed that high values have a negative effect.
In contrast, temperature positively affected common reed warbler productivity, while rainfall had almost no effect. However, productivity also peaked when rainfall was close to 100 mm.
"Warmer temperatures and more frequent heavy rainfall may compromise the conservation of the moustached warbler in Spain due to the adverse effect of both elements on its productivity. In contrast, higher temperatures may benefit the common reed warbler," says Virginia Garófano from the Research Institute for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (IGIC) of the UPV Gandia Campus.
Thus, the study concludes that, given the current climate emergency, it is likely that the population of the moustached warbler will decrease while the population of the common reed warbler could increase. However, further work is needed to establish the specific impact of climate change on survival and its implications for the population trends and dynamics of these two species.
Climate-sensitive periods
One of the main advances of this work has been to be able to use a large database with a large spatial and temporal distribution and also to investigate the specific period (time window) in which climate variables have the most significant impact on productivity to define climatically sensitive periods taking into account spatial variables (site, longitude, latitude and elevation) and temporal changes (year).
"This advance in the ecological modelling of trends in bird populations has been possible thanks to the use of complex data modelling techniques such as data mining, machine learning techniques and the use of genetic algorithms in the optimisation of the models," says Rafael Muñoz-Mas, researcher also linked to the IGIC of the UPV and co-author of the study.
Unravelling the link between productivity and climate for two sympatric Acrocephalus warblers across Spain
Exploring bird breeding behaviour and microbiomes in the radioactive Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
New research finds surprising differences in the diets and gut microbiomes of songbirds living in the radiation contaminated areas of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. This study is also the first to examine the breeding behaviour and early life of birds growing up in radiologically contaminated habitats.
The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (Ukrainian), also known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (Russian), is an area of approximately 2,600 km2 of radiologically contaminated land that surrounds the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The levels of contamination are uneven throughout the zone.
“The consequences of radiological contamination to wildlife are still widely unknown, especially the risks posed to wildlife in early life,” says Mr Sameli Piirto, a PhD researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. “Our hypothesis was that biodiversity in contaminated areas would be compromised leading to changes in birds breeding, diet and gut microbiome.”
To examine the effects of radiological contamination on bird development, Mr Piirto and his team investigated the breeding behaviours and physiologies of two common European songbird species, Great tit (Parus major) and Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). These were selected due to their well-studied ecologies.
Nest boxes were placed in multiple areas that belonged to two categories within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone: areas of high radiological contamination and areas of low contamination. The nestling and adult birds that used the nest boxes were then monitored, with DNA from fecal samples being used to study the birds’ diets and characterise their gut microbial communities.
Mr Piirto found that while nest occupancy rate was lower in contaminated areas, there were no other major differences in breeding ecology or nestling health between the two levels of radiation contamination for either species. Surprisingly, both species nestlings were found to actually have a higher diversity of insects in their diet in the contaminated areas.
While environmental radiation levels were not associated with bacterial diversity of the gut microbiome, radiation level was associated with the relative composition of the microbiome. “These results create an interesting background for understanding avian ecology in radiologically contaminated areas,” says Mr Piirto. “They give us valuable novel information on the effects that radiation has on juvenile birds - an area of research that has been unclear until now.”
This research can help to provide insights into the long-term effects of nuclear accidents on wildlife health. “Radiological contamination creates an additional stressor that organisms must cope with, leading to a myriad of consequences that are not yet fully understood,” says Mr Piirto. “Studying the effects of it is crucial if humanity is to pursue an even more nuclear future.”
This research is being presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Prague on the 2-5th July 2024.
Low-cobalt, high-performance lithium-ion batteries achieved by rational design
SCIENCE CHINA PRESS
IMAGE:
SCHEMATIC ILLUSTRATION OF THE DYNAMICS AND STABILITY EVOLUTION MECHANISMS FOR LINI0.6CO0.2MN0.2O2 (NCM622) (A), LINI0.6MN0.4O2 (NM64) (B) AND CO-MODIFIED LINI0.6MN0.4O2 (CO-NM64) (C).
Researchers from Hunan University have designed a layered oxide cathode for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that achieves fast-charging performance, long life, and high safety using only an ultra-low amount of cobalt. The study was published in the journal National Science Open.
In recent years, lithium-ion secondary batteries have played a crucial role in the rapid increase of electric vehicles worldwide. Typically, lithium-ion battery cathodes contain cobalt to ensure fast-charging capabilities. However, the surging demand for cobalt and its limited supply have significantly increased the cost of lithium-ion battery materials. The primary challenge has been to reduce cobalt usage while maintaining fast-charging performance.
To address this issue, the researchers synthesized a rational structure composed of a robust conductive protective layer, gradient Li+ ions conductive layer and stable bulk phase by optimizing the distribution of cobalt in high-nickel layered oxide cathode particles. Analysis showed that the robust conductive protective layer, gradient Li+ ions conductive layer significantly enhanced the ionic and electronic conductivity of the material. Consequently, this structure exhibited excellent rate performance (fast-charging) even with an ultra-low amount of cobalt. Additionally, the bulk phase with moderate cation mixing and the surface conductive protective layer effectively ensured material stability, achieving outstanding cycling stability and safety. In terms of battery performance, the designed cathode has doubled in rate performance (5 C) and retained 90.4% capacity after 300 cycles at high voltage in the full cell. These advantages suggest that the designed cathode has great potential for practical applications.
“Our study provides strong evidence that rational structural design can significantly reduce cobalt content while maintaining high rate performance and long life in batteries,” said Professor Lu of Hunan University, the study’s senior author. “This offers new insights for developing low-cost, high-performance lithium-ion battery materials.”
Furthermore, for cathode materials with good structural stability but poor kinetic performance, the study demonstrates that simultaneously designing surface crystal structure and bulk phase is an effective way to ensure excellent electrochemical performance at a lower cost.
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. For more details, please refer to the latest issue of National Science Open.
###
See the article:
Surface Cobaltization for Boosted Kinetics and Excellent Stability of Nickel-rich Layered Cathodes
A NEW FORM OF BATTERY FROM PROF. Y. SHIRLEY MENG’S LABORATORY FOR ENERGY STORAGE AND CONVERSION - A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE UCHICAGO PRITZKER SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR ENGINEERING AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO’S AIISO YUFENG LI FAMILY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND NANO ENGINEERING - BRINGS INEXPENSIVE, FAST-CHARGING, HIGH-CAPACITY BATTERIES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND GRID STORAGE CLOSER THAN EVER.
“Although there have been previous sodium, solid-state, and anode-free batteries, no one has been able to successfully combine these three ideas until now,” said UC San Diego PhD candidate Grayson Deysher, first author of a new paper outlining the team’s work.
The paper, published today in Nature Energy, demonstrates a new sodium battery architecture with stable cycling for several hundred cycles. By removing the anode and using inexpensive, abundant sodium instead of lithium, this new form of battery will be more affordable and environmentally friendly to produce. Through its innovative solid-state design, the battery also will be safe and powerful.
This work is both an advance in the science and a necessary step to fill the battery scaling gap needed to transition the world economy off of fossil fuels.
“To keep the United States running for one hour, we must produce one terawatt hour of energy,” Meng said. “To accomplish our mission of decarbonizing our economy, we need several hundred terawatt hours of batteries. We need more batteries, and we need them fast.”
Sustainability and sodium
The lithium commonly used for batteries isn’t that common. It makes up about 20 parts per million of the Earth’s crust, compared to sodium, which makes up 20,000 parts per million.
This scarcity, combined with the surge in demand for the lithium-ion batteries for laptops, phones and EVs, have sent prices skyrocketing, putting the needed batteries further out of reach.
Lithium deposits are also concentrated. The “Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia holds more than 75% of the world’s lithium supply, with other deposits in Australia, North Carolina and Nevada. This benefits some nations over others in the decarbonization needed to fight climate change.
“Global action requires working together to access critically important materials,” Meng said.
Lithium extraction is also environmentally damaging, whether from the industrial acids used to break down mining ore or the more common brine extraction that pumps massive amounts of water to the surface to dry.
Sodium, common in ocean water and soda ash mining, is an inherently more environmentally friendly battery material. The LESC research has made it a powerful one as well.
Innovative architecture
To create a sodium battery with the energy density of a lithium battery, the team needed to invent a new sodium battery architecture.
Traditional batteries have an anode to store the ions while a battery is charging. While the battery is in use, the ions flow from the anode through an electrolyte to a current collector (cathode), powering devices and cars along the way.
Anode-free batteries remove the anode and store the ions on an electrochemical deposition of alkali metal directly on the current collector. This approach enables higher cell voltage, lower cell cost, and increased energy density, but brings its own challenges.
“In any anode-free battery there needs to be good contact between the electrolyte and the current collector,” Deysher said. “This is typically very easy when using a liquid electrolyte, as the liquid can flow everywhere and wet every surface. A solid electrolyte cannot do this.”
However, those liquid electrolytes create a buildup called solid electrolyte interphase while steadily consuming the active materials, reducing the battery’s usefulness over time.
A solid that flows
The team took a novel, innovative approach to this problem. Rather than using an electrolyte that surrounds the current collector, they created a current collector that surrounds the electrolyte.
They created their current collector out of aluminum powder, a solid that can flow like a liquid.
During battery assembly the powder was densified under high pressure to form a solid current collector while maintaining a liquid-like contact with the electrolyte, enabling the low-cost and high-efficiency cycling that can push this game-changing technology forward.
“Sodium solid-state batteries are usually seen as a far-off-in-the-future technology, but we hope that this paper can invigorate more push into the sodium area by demonstrating that it can indeed work well, even better than the lithium version in some cases,” Deysher said.
The ultimate goal? Meng envisions an energy future with a variety of clean, inexpensive battery options that store renewable energy, scaled to fit society’s needs.
Meng and Deysher have filed a patent application for their work through UC San Diego’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization.
Citation: “Design principles for enabling an anode-free sodium all-solid-state battery,” Deysher et al, Nature Energy, July 3, 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01569-9
Funding: Funding to support this work was provided by the National Science Foundation through the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) grant no. 2044465
Anode-free schematics and energy density calculations
a) Cell schematic for carbon anodes, alloy anodes, and an anode-free configuration. b) Theoretical energy density comparison for various sodium anode materials. c) Schematic illustrating the requirements for enabling an anode-free all-solid-state battery.
Design principles for enabling an anode-free sodium all-solid-state battery
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
3-Jul-2024
COI STATEMENT
A patent application for this work has been filed by G.D. and Y.S.M. through UC San Diego’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization.
Eco-friendly solution for battery waste: new study unveils novel metal extraction technique
SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
A new study led by researchers in Canada introduces a novel process for the extraction and separation of metals from spent alkaline batteries, offering a promising solution for efficient recycling of critical materials.
As global energy demands continue to rise, the role of batteries is becoming increasingly critical. However, the improper disposal of spent batteries poses significant environmental hazards due to their metal content. Recycling these metals not only mitigates environmental risks but also provides a sustainable source of valuable materials.
Noelia Muñoz García, a Researcher at the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada, and lead author of the study, explained the significance of the research. ‘We focused on the extraction of the main minerals present in alkaline batteries because they represent more than 70% of the volume of spent batteries in North America. This research supports the principles of the circular economy, where materials are reused and recycled, creating a closed-loop system. This reduces waste and can lead to long-term economic sustainability by maximising the utility of resources, which is one of the main objectives in current treaties such as the Paris Agreement.’
Importantly, efficient recycling of battery materials is critical to mitigating harmful environmental impacts. ‘The main problem of improper disposal of spent alkaline batteries is that compounds of potassium, zinc and manganese can leach into the soil and pollute groundwater, posing threats to the environment and human health, such as ecotoxicity and abiotic depletion,’ noted García.
The technique hinges on a process called hydrometallurgy, which uses aqueous solutions to extract the metals – known as ‘leaching’. Hydrometallurgy can be carried out at room temperature, making it more energy-efficient than methods that require high temperatures.
The novelty of the process developed in this study lies in the use of three separate steps for the extraction of the metals. In other hydrometallurgical processes, all metals can be extracted in one leaching step producing a complex leachate composition that is costly to separate out into its components.
By removing the metals in three phases using different leaching agents, the researchers were able to produce higher quality leachates, lowering the costs of downstream purification. Overall, the process resulted in a total extraction efficiency of 99.6% for zinc and 86.1% for manganese. Antonio Avalos Ramirez, a Researcher at the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada and corresponding author of the study commented on these high extraction efficiencies. ‘The most important factor was to find a suitable leaching agent (in this case sulfuric acid) and a reducing agent (hydrogen peroxide), which increased the extraction of these minerals.’
The researchers are now looking ahead to scaling up their extraction technique. Ramirez noted, ‘the next steps will be to develop separation and purification units for obtaining zinc and manganese at a quality good enough to introduce them to the market and use them in the production of new goods. Further research is needed to address the scalability of the process at an industrial/commercial scale.’
Extraction and separation of potassium, zinc and manganese issued from spent alkaline batteries by a three-unit hydrometallurgical process
KIER develops 'viologen redox flow battery'
to replace vanadium’ Large-capacity ESS redox flow battery without fire risk... 'viologen' active material applied to replace expensive vanadium. Like fitting assembly blocks, inserting functional groups into viologen molecules to enhance stability and solubility
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A RESEARCHER IS ASSEMBLING AN ORGANIC MATERIAL-BASED FLOW BATTERY
CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF ENERGY RESEARCH
A technology has been developed to replace the active material in large-capacity ESS 'redox flow batteries' with a more affordable substance.
*Redox Flow Battery: A term synthesized from Reduction, Oxidation, and Flow. It is a battery that stores electrical energy as chemical energy through oxidation and reduction reactions of active materials in the electrolyte at the electrode surface and converts it back to electrical energy when needed. It is capable of large-scale storage, can be used long-term through periodic replacement of the electrolyte, and its major advantage is the absence of fire risk.
Dr. Seunghae Hwang’s research team from the Energy Storage Research Department at the Korea Institute of Energy Research has successfully enhanced the performance and cycle life of redox flow batteries, a prominent large-capacity energy storage device, by introducing functional groups* that replace the active materials and improve solubility and stability.
*Functional group: A group of atoms within an organic compound that determines the properties of the compound and plays a role in defining its characteristics.
To expand the use of renewable energies such as solar and wind power, a long-term energy storage system is needed that can store electricity generated during favorable weather conditions for more than 8 hours and reuse it when necessary. Among these, redox flow batteries, which have a lower fire risk and a long cycle life of over 20 years compared to commonly used lithium-ion batteries, are being actively researched globally. The Republic of Korea is also focusing on developing* low-cost, high-efficiency technologies for widespread adoption around 2030.
*Energy Storage Industry Development Strategy (October 2023), Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy
Although vanadium is currently commercialized as the active material in redox flow batteries, its limited reserves have spurred recent research into alternatives. Organic compounds such as viologens, made from naturally occurring elements like carbon and oxygen, are particularly notable for their affordability and potential to replace vanadium. However, viologens have the disadvantage of low solubility, which reduces the overall energy density, and their instability when they repeat charging and discharging, necessitating the development of technologies to overcome these issues.
To address these issues, researchers have introduced functional groups into viologens. These functional groups fit into the viologens like assembly blocks, enhancing their solubility and stability.
To increase the solubility of viologens, researchers introduced sulfonate and ester functional groups, which have water-friendly properties. These two functional groups generate attractive forces between molecules through interactions with water (electrolyte) molecules on the surface of the viologens, facilitating the dispersion of viologens in water.
Viologens are structured like a sandwich, consisting of two molecular layers. During charging, these layers frequently combine, changing into a structure that can no longer store energy. To address this, researchers introduced alpha-methyl functional groups that act as obstacles. These functional groups introduce a twist into the layered structure and generate repulsion between molecules, suppressing side-reactions and thereby enhancing the efficiency and stability of energy storage.
As a result of applying the active material developed by the researchers to redox flow batteries, it was confirmed that the energy density improved by more than twice compared to vanadium redox flow batteries. Additionally, after 200 cycles of charging and discharging, the batteries demonstrated 99.4% coulombic efficiency (discharge capacity relative to charge capacity) and 92.4% capacity retention, indicating enhanced performance and stability.
Dr. Seunghae Hwang, the first author of the paper containing the research results, stated, 'In response to climate change and to expand the use of renewable energy, it is necessary to facilitate energy storage through the development of redox flow batteries that have both price competitiveness and long cycle life.' She added, 'This research enables the design of active materials that achieve both affordability and longevity, contributing to the early commercialization of redox flow batteries.
The research results were published in the prestigious materials science journal 'ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (IF 9.5)', and the study was conducted with the support from the KIER.
A researcher is assembling an organic material-based flow battery-2
The researchers are holding the organic active material they developed.
Integration of Functional Groups to Enhance the Solubility and Stability of Viologen in Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries
True scale of carbon impact from long-distance travel revealed
The reality of the climate impact of long-distance passenger travel has been revealed in new research from the University of Leeds.
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
The reality of the climate impact of long-distance passenger travel has been revealed in new research from the University of Leeds.
Despite only accounting for less than 3% of all trips by UK residents, journeys of more than 50 miles (one way) are responsible for 70% of all passenger travel-related carbon emissions.
The disparity is even greater when international travel is singled-out: international journeys are only 0.4% of total trips but are responsible for 55% of emissions.
Whilst the number of long and short distance domestic journeys by car have fallen slightly over the last 25 years, international air travel has increased significantly, driven by an increase in trips for leisure and visiting friends and family.
Dr Zia Wadud from the University’s Institute for Transport Studies and School of Chemical and Process Engineering and who led the research, said: “The scale of the impact of long-distance travel is very large indeed. That just less than 3% of our trips are responsible for around 60% of miles and 70% of emissions shows how important long-distance travel is in the fight to combat climate change.
“Worryingly, long distance trips, especially flights, have been growing; however, they offer opportunities too.”
Using a new metric they have created, called emission reduction sensitivity, the research team has calculated which types of travel could be changed to maximise a reduction in carbon emissions from passenger travel whilst affecting as few people or trips as possible.
Greater potential from reducing long-distance travel
The research found that if all car journeys under eight miles were shifted to walking or cycling, there would be a 9.3% reduction in carbon emissions. However, around 55% of all journeys would need to be shifted to achieve this, as most travel is done locally and in cars.
Calculated by dividing the carbon reduction percentage by the percentage of journeys altered, the emission reduction sensitivity for this change would be just 0.17 – the lowest recorded in the study.
By contrast, if all flights of less than 1,000 miles were moved to rail, there would be a 5.6% reduction in emissions but only 0.17% of journeys would be affected – resulting in a sensitivity value of 33.2.
At the top end, theoretically limiting everyone who flies now to one return flight abroad per year would have a value of 158.3, as so few journeys would be affected.
The researchers stress that the potential changes are only suggestions meant to make us realise and reassess the impact of our long-distance travel, rather than concrete policy proposals.
Dr Muhammad Adeel, a co-author now at the Centre for Transport and Society at the University of the West of England, added: “Whilst efforts to move local journeys to more sustainable modes of transport are really positive, by omitting aviation emissions from national statistics – as is the case at the moment in nearly all countries – we are not getting a holistic picture and ignoring a large part of the problem.”
A call to rethink our travel’s carbon impact
The researchers also hope that their findings can act as a driver for policymakers to look at changes in how effort is assigned when dealing with the impact of travel on the environment.
The data was collected from the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey, and the International Passenger Survey, which is organised by the Office for National Statistics.
The research also offers the public an insight into the impact that changing their behaviour could have.
Dr Wadud added: “The important thing both at the policy and personal level is that we prioritise the relatively fewer longer distance trips – especially flights – in order to realize the largest reductions.”
