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Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility.

ABSTRACT: Interest and investment in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs), commonly known as flying cars, have grown significantly. However, their sustainability implications are unclear. We report a physics-based analysis of primary energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of VTOLs vs. ground-based cars. Tilt-rotor/duct/wing VTOLs are efficient when cruising but consume substantial energy for takeoff and climb; hence, their burdens depend critically on trip distance. For our base case, traveling 100?km (point-to-point) with one pilot in a VTOL results in well-to-wing/wheel GHG emissions that are 35% lower but 28% higher than a one-occupant internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV), respectively. Comparing fully loaded VTOLs (three passengers) with ground-based cars with an average occupancy of 1.54, VTOL GHG emissions per passenger-kilometer are 52% lower than ICEVs and 6% lower than BEVs. VTOLs offer fast, predictable transportation and could have a niche role in sustainable mobility.

SUBMITTER: Kasliwal A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6456499 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility.

Kasliwal Akshat A Furbush Noah J NJ Gawron James H JH McBride James R JR Wallington Timothy J TJ De Kleine Robert D RD Kim Hyung Chul HC Keoleian Gregory A GA

Nature communications 20190409 1

Interest and investment in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs), commonly known as flying cars, have grown significantly. However, their sustainability implications are unclear. We report a physics-based analysis of primary energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of VTOLs vs. ground-based cars. Tilt-rotor/duct/wing VTOLs are efficient when cruising but consume substantial energy for takeoff and climb; hence, their burdens depend critically on trip distance. For our base case, ...[more]

PMID: 30967534

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Project description:Background:Research has shown that the use of power mobility devices is safe and beneficial for motor and cognitive development in children with motor disabilities; nevertheless, strong evidence of the benefits for social skill development is limited. This study aimed to examine the effects of combining ride-on car training with an adult-directed, social interaction program in a hospital-based environment on mobility and social functions in young children with motor disabilities. Methods:This study used a prospective, nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design. Twenty-nine young children with motor disabilities, aged between 1 and 3?years, were recruited from local hospitals in Taiwan. The treatment group (n?=?15) underwent 2-h ride-on car training sessions twice per week for a total of 9?weeks in the hospital environment. The control group (n?=?14) underwent a 9-week home education program (mean: 200?min/week) focusing on mobility and social skills training. The Chinese version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, Parenting Stress Index, and Goal Attainment Scaling were administered to all participants before and after the intervention, and at the end of the 9-week follow-up phase. Results:Mobility and social functions significantly improved in both groups after the 9-week intervention, but this improvement was not maintained at the follow-up phase. The treatment group showed significantly better improvement in social function, parenting stress levels, and goal achievement than the control group at posttest. Conclusion:This two-group design study showed the benefits of combining a ride-on car use with a family-centered, structured, social interaction program for positive impacts on mobility, social function, and parenting stress levels. The combination of a modified ride-on car and a social training program has the potential to enhance socialization in young children with motor disabilities. Clinical Trial Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02527499.

Project description:BackgroundEffective conservation management of highly mobile species depends upon detailed knowledge of movements of individuals across their range; yet, data are rarely available at appropriate spatiotemporal scales. Flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.) are large bats that forage by night on floral resources and rest by day in arboreal roosts that may contain colonies of many thousands of individuals. They are the largest mammals capable of powered flight, and are highly mobile, which makes them key seed and pollen dispersers in forest ecosystems. However, their mobility also facilitates transmission of zoonotic diseases and brings them in conflict with humans, and so they require a precarious balancing of conservation and management concerns throughout their Old World range. Here, we analyze the Australia-wide movements of 201 satellite-tracked individuals, providing unprecedented detail on the inter-roost movements of three flying-fox species: Pteropus alecto, P. poliocephalus, and P. scapulatus across jurisdictions over up to 5 years.ResultsIndividuals were estimated to travel long distances annually among a network of 755 roosts (P. alecto, 1427-1887 km; P. poliocephalus, 2268-2564 km; and P. scapulatus, 3782-6073 km), but with little uniformity among their directions of travel. This indicates that flying-fox populations are composed of extremely mobile individuals that move nomadically and at species-specific rates. Individuals of all three species exhibited very low fidelity to roosts locally, resulting in very high estimated daily colony turnover rates (P. alecto, 11.9 ± 1.3%; P. poliocephalus, 17.5 ± 1.3%; and P. scapulatus, 36.4 ± 6.5%). This indicates that flying-fox roosts form nodes in a vast continental network of highly dynamic "staging posts" through which extremely mobile individuals travel far and wide across their species ranges.ConclusionsThe extreme inter-roost mobility reported here demonstrates the extent of the ecological linkages that nomadic flying-foxes provide across Australia's contemporary fragmented landscape, with profound implications for the ecosystem services and zoonotic dynamics of flying-fox populations. In addition, the extreme mobility means that impacts from local management actions can readily reverberate across jurisdictions throughout the species ranges; therefore, local management actions need to be assessed with reference to actions elsewhere and hence require national coordination. These findings underscore the need for sound understanding of animal movement dynamics to support evidence-based, transboundary conservation and management policy, tailored to the unique movement ecologies of species.

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Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility.

Publications

Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility.

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