Placing Transportation in Urban Metabolism

Stephanie Pincetl, PhDUniversity of California, Davis - April 5, 2013

A COLLABORATION AMONG:

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• Cities are complex systems of flows directed by human decisions within institutional contexts such as planning and administration

• Urban metabolism is a way to describe the flows that sustain cities

• Our research updates traditional urban metabolism and pilots a novel combination of data and methods in Los Angeles County including:

• Economic flows • Ground up data for the first time in a UM analysis• Transportation analysis is a big component of the flows and we introduce

transportation LCA to UM • Embedded energy in urban fabric indicators

Overview of our research: Establishing the Urban Metabolism of Los Angeles County. CEC

PIER funded research

Stephanie Pincetl, Ph.D.DirectorCalifornia Center for Sustainable CommunitiesInstitute of the Environment & SustainabilityUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Mike McCoy*Executive DirectorStrategic Growth CouncilState of California

Paul Bunje*Senior DirectorPrize Development, Ocean HealthX Prize Foundation

Giovanni Circella, Ph.D.Post Doctoral ResearcherUrban Land Use and Transportation Center (ULTRANS)Institute of Transportation StudiesUniversity of California, Davis

Patrick BurnsSenior ResearcherEconomic Roundtable

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Project Research Partners

Funding by the California Energy Commission’s PIER Program

* denotes former researcher partners

Mikhail Chester, Ph.D.DirectorAssistant ProfessorCivil, Environmental, and Sustainability EngineeringAffiliate Faculty, School of SustainabilityArizona State University

Dan FlamingPresidentEconomic Roundtable

Zoe ElizabethProgram ManagerCalifornia Center for Sustainable CommunitiesInstitute of the Environment & SustainabilityUniversity of California, Los Angeles

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• An Urban Metabolism approach builds a picture of the complex urban system and its energy underpinnings – the inputs that support the system, and the waste produced.

With this understanding, urban sustainability policies, programs and practices can emerge.

Urban Metabolism (UM)

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• We are capturing embedded energy and emergent energy use and the creation of new path dependencies

• For example: energy impacts of alternative transportation modes and land use

• We should be in a position to show how infrastructure design leads to emergent behaviors across a city, and sets path dependencies.

Urban Metabolism for LA and Beyond

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• UM to date has been at a high level, using aggregated data.

• To get to greater sustainability UM needs disaggregated, granular data about what is going on in the system: who is using what where, to do what, and producing what wastes.

• It also needs to take into consideration the embedded energy already there in the urban fabric.

• Equity impacts and public health are results of UM that need consideration too.

Urban Metabolism 2.0

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• Use of IMPLAN data (PECAS), and Carnegie-Mellon EIO/LCA data adjusted for California

• Life Cycle cradle-to-grave for certain infrastructures (buildings and transportation)

• Some social and environmental health impacts employment sectors and transportation mode trade-offs

• Equity impacts will be evaluated – who uses how much of what where

Data Sources Including Granular Data

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• Theoretical – improve UM as a way to quantify and understand what is the material basis of urban systems and their complexity.

• Practical – to provide data and analysis to policy makers, agencies and others to enable them to target investments in energy/water, efficiency & conservation; for climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience. And to ensure equity and health considerations of different choices are understood.

Our Aims

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• Understand the part that transportation plays in LA’s urban metabolism beyond VMTs and GHGs.

• Chester et al have been applying Life Cycle Analysis to several of the important transportation sectors of the city.

• Comparing the full Life cycle of bus rapid transit, light rail and the passenger car with 1 person (SOV).

• Also evaluating the embedded energy in the County’s roadways and parkades.

Transportation Analysis in our Project – Mike Chester, ASU

Los Angeles MetroOrange & Gold Lines Energy and Life Cycle Assessment

Encino Station Canoga Park Station

ORA

NG

EG

OLD

SED

AN

Pasa

dena

San Fernando Valley

The Transportation “System”

Vehicle

Infrastructure

Energy Production

Background image source: American Institute of Architects, 1997 Environmental Resource Guides

Extraction of Raw Materials

Manufacturing

Operation / Maintenance

End-of-life

Raw Fuel Extraction Transport Processing / Refining

DistributionElectricity Generation

Extraction of Raw Materials

Construction

Operation / Maintenance

Decommissioning

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Syst

em B

ound

ary

Life Cycle Grouping Sedan Orange Line Gold LineVehicle      Manufacturing Sedan

Transport to Point of Sale Bus Transport to Point of Sale

Train Transport to Point of Sale

Operation Propulsion Idling

Propulsion Idling

Propulsion Idling

Maintenance Typical Sedan Maintenance

Tire Replacement Battery Replacement

Typical Bus Maintenance Tire Replacement Battery Replacement

Typical Train Maintenance Train Cleaning Flooring Replacement

Insurance Sedan Liability Bus Liability Operator Fringe Benefits

Train Liability Operator Fringe Benefits

Infrastructure      Construction Roadway Construction Roadway Construction

Station Construction Track Construction Station Construction

Operation Roadway Lighting Herbicide Use

Road and Station Lighting Herbicide Use Control and Signaling

Track, Station, and Parking Lighting

Herbicide Use Train Control Miscellaneous

(Escalators, Equipment)Maintenance Roadway maintenance is

the result of heavy duty vehicles and thus not charged to the sedan.

Road and Station Maintenance

Track and Station Maintenance

Parking Curbside Parking Dedicated Parking Dedicated ParkingInsurance Road Workers Fringe

Benefits Non-vehicle Workers

Fringe Benefits Infrastructure Liability

Non-vehicle Workers Fringe Benefits

Infrastructure LiabilityEnergy Production      Extraction, Processing, & Distribution

Gasoline Extraction, Processing, & Distribution

Natural Gas Extraction, Processing, Distribution, & Compression

Raw Fuel Extraction and Processing, Electricity Generation, Transmission & Distribution

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• Energy

• Air Emissions• SO2 Respiratory irritant, acid deposition• CO Asphyxiant• NOX Respiratory irritant, smog• VOC Photochemical smog, cancerous• PM Respiratory and cardiovascular damage

• Greenhouse Gases• CO2, CH4, N2O

Environmental Indicators

Energy Inputs

Process

Emission Outputs

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• There is not one optimal solution

• BRT and light rail both produce less criteria pollutants and GHGs than SOV when the full life cycle is taken in to account (even at present ridership levels), even with the prospect of much more efficient automobiles due to new CAFE standards.

Results for Transportation Modes

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Sedan

Orange BRT

Gold LRT

- 50 100 150 200

Vehicle Operation Vehicle Inactive OperationVehicle Manufacturing Vehicle MaintenanceVehicle Insurance Infrastructure Construction

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Preliminary Results Particulate Matter InventoriesPM Emissions in mg per Passenger Mile Traveled

Sedan

Orange BRT

Gold LRT

- 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Life cycle PM10 emissions are dominated by:1) Asphalt aggregate production for

sedan and Orange line infrastructure.

2) Steel, iron, and aluminum for vehicle manufacturing.

Life cycle PM2.5 emissions are dominated by:1) Steel and aluminum production

furnace emissions for vehicle manufacturing.

2) Supply chain diesel truck use.

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Preliminary Results Ozone Precursor InventoriesEmissions in mg per Passenger Mile Traveled

Sedan

Orange BRT

Gold LRT

Vehicle Operation Vehicle Inactive OperationVehicle Manufacturing Vehicle MaintenanceVehicle Insurance Infrastructure Construction

Sedan

Orange BRT

Gold LRT

- 100 200 300 400 500 600

Life cycle NOX emissions are dominated by:1) Orange line tailpipe @ 19 grams/VMT

Range: 8.2 to 73 grams/VMT.2) Supply chain diesel truck use.

Life cycle VOC emissions are dominated by:1) Vehicle fluids (steering, brake,

transmission, coolants, etc.).2) Vehicle manufacturing and truck

transport.3) Volatile organic diluents in asphalt.

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Preliminary Results SO2 InventoryEmissions in mg per Passenger Mile Traveled

Sedan

Orange BRT

Gold LRT

- 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Vehicle Operation Vehicle Inactive OperationVehicle Manufacturing Vehicle MaintenanceVehicle Insurance Infrastructure Construction

Life cycle SO2 emissions are dominated by:

Direct and supply chain electricity use

Gold line uses LADWP (39% coal).

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• Transportation is a part of the larger urban metabolism.

• It requires infrastructure that has not only present costs, but life cycle costs and it embodies huge energy and materials investments.

• Transportation systems are often creators of path dependencies and are then created by those same path dependencies.

• True costs are rarely evaluated. UM can start doing so.

Transportation and UM Implications

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• Add embedded energy in all the roadways and parkcades of the County.

• Look at land use and transportation alternatives• Future TOD sites• Embedded energy in construction types and alternatives• Gentrification potential in different TOD types and locations

Next Steps For Transportation Analysis

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• Mapping Flows• Electricity Water and Gas at customer billing level by customer

class and billing cycle (LADWP)• Solid waste flows for Los Angeles City and County

• Analyzing use patterns by:• Sociodemographic characteristics (census)• County parcel assessor data• Land use type (zoning)• Building shell and age• Climate zones

UCLA Emphasis: Bottom Up Data

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• Data from directly from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

• Obtained Southern California Edison and the Gas Company data but only by an NDA with the PUC.

Energy and Water Mapping

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First Interactive LA Electricity Map

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• DWP interested in climate impacts on energy use• Potentially in targeting investments in conservation, efficiency and distributed generation relative to climate impacts

• Interested in rates and income generally and seasonally given tiered pricing and warm season pricing

• Targeting messages to different ethnic communities• Understanding energy use by different economic sectors

Energy Analysis

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• Collaboration with Terri Hogue, Colorado School of Mines and Diane Pataki University of Utah

• How much water is used for outdoor irrigation in the city of Los Angeles?

• DWP interested for rates and for conservation – sociodemographic profiles and water use.

• We will add County Assessor parcel information.

• We are using satellite imagery of NDVI coupled with ground up water use to estimate water use in the different parts of the city.

• Existing outdoor irrigation models are contradictory and there is no good, as yet, way to estimate. We are contributing to this attempt.

Water Analysis

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Residential Water Consumption Patterns• Average Single-Family

Residential (SFR) per Census tract for 2000-2010

Average per Census tract= 387 gal/SFR customer/day

• Data provided by Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

• Terri HogueColorado School of Mines

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• Unlike energy, water is distributed by over 100 different entities in the county. LADWP is the biggest entity, but there are lots of others.

• Some success in getting data from the other MOUs.

• Analysis will include how much can be conserved without harming major vegetation like trees.

• Analysis will also address water/energy nexus.

Water Use

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• Statewide jurisdictions only report a single value to the state. LA has a little more data.

• “Commercial” includes large multi-family properties in addition to non-residential properties, blurring the category.

• Real volumes are unknown from either commercial or residential sectors.

• No way to know, across the landscape, who is generating what kind or amounts of waste.

• Waste has unquantified embedded energy and resources.

Waste Flows

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Waste Collection in Unincorporated Los Angeles County

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Waste collection in the City of Los Angeles

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• Accretionary • Opportunistic • Political• Obdurate• Interdependent and path dependent• Fossil energy underlies modern urban systems and must be better accounted for and understood.

Urban Metabolism is a result of complex urban systems that are:

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• Preliminary• Difficult & complex• Different methods and scales• Perhaps too ambitious

• Embedded energy• Energy flows• Use of energy• Energy impacts

• Transportation is an important component and driver and of keen interest by the state given GHGs. But we see it as both an artifact of the system and a driver of patterns.

Our Research

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Dr. Stephanie Pincetl: spincetl@ioes.ucla.edu

California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLAInstitute of the Environment and Sustainability

Website: californiasustainablecommunities.com

Email: info@californiasustainablecommunities.com

Phone: (310) 825-3778

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