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Global urbanization is inextricably linked with energy consumption. Smarter urban planning and transportation can reduce energy consumption and lower the demand for carbon intensive unconventional oils.
Lighter cars, more efficient electricity use, and better integrated smart grids can all help to dramatically reduce global reliance on fossil fuels and demand nothing in the way of intervention on new regulation.
The United States should consider exchanging the current federal gas tax for a 6 percent oil-security fee to fully fund the country's national infrastructure program.
Congress should reassess the national transportation program to support innovative transportation projects on a local level.
The European Union should adopt fuel economy standards for trucks and other heavy vehicles, which would both increase energy independence and reduce carbon emissions.
California is adopting a mix of policies, regulations, and incentives that together provide a coherent and durable framework for creating a more sustainable transportation system.
Emerging countries must decide if they want to follow developed, auto-dependent nations down an unsustainable path or if they will instead transform their national transportation system to encourage environmentally and economically sound choices.
As the recent freeway closure in Los Angeles draws attention to America's reliance on the automobile, it should also prompt policymakers to consider the long-term challenge of global automobile proliferation.
Billions of dollars are added to America’s national debt every year to pay for the transportation system, eighty percent of federal highway funding is allocated without oversight, and the United States ranks 23rd worldwide for quality of overall infrastructure.
America’s transportation system is failing: infrastructure is crumbling and more than $100 billion is added annually to the national deficit. Without reform, this failure poses a significant threat to America's economic, energy, and environmental security.
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