Article

You can also reduce emissions - uCARe

Studying drivers behavior to reduce emissions: Efforts to reduce emissions of CO2 and pollutants from cars has resulted in significant technological advances and the replacement of old vehicles. However, pollution levels remain high, requiring new effective measures. The EU funded uCARe project will propose measures based on the collection of dispersed high-quality data and by studying motorists’ behaviour. It will also analyse the impact of user-related reduction measures and possibilities to improve existing pollutant emission legislation and policies. It will create easy to use instruments based on measures targeting the reduction of emissions. The project will develop information campaigns through stakeholders and provide technical data for the improvement of emission legislation.

Objective

Since technology and renewal of the vehicle fleet do not lower the level of pollutant emissions or improving air quality fast enough, uCARe develops specific, simple and effective measures targeted at users to further reduce pollutant emissions. These measures are based on the aggregation of scattered high quality data already collected by the consortium, supplemented with results of additional measurement campaigns, and knowledge on the behavior and underlying motivation of users. uCARe sets the following objectives:

  • To identify all user-influenced emission aspects (such as driving behavior and component choice) and the reduction potential of these aspects. The reduction potential is determined with an in uCARe developed emission model
  • A toolset consisting of the emission model as well as measures to reduce emissions. This toolset forms the basis for intervention strategies, in which measures are translated to desired behavior. The tools are made available in such a way that they can easily be used by stakeholders (such as cities and consumer organizations) outside of the project. Through this, anybody can set up local initiatives at limited cost.
  • The deployment of awareness campaigns and pilot projects via (already committed) stakeholders, tuned towards specific users and their motivation, to show that proposed measures are effective and feasible.
  • An impact assessment of user-related reduction measures, accompanied with technical evidence and options to improve pollutant emission legislation and policy.

uCARe aims to be complete in the coverage of user-related emissions aspects and types of pollutants. By also implementing, monitoring and evaluating proposed measures, uCARe ensures that these are the most effective. When these effective reduction measures are implemented, pollutant emissions reductions for an individual vehicle as high as 50% are envisaged.

Source: uCARe - European Commission

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Icon image: uCARe - logo