UNEP DTIE Energy Branch: Activities

Promoting Energy efficiency in Vehicles

Automobile fuel economy, especially actual in-use fuel economy, is currently worsening in most countries around the world. As vehicles get larger and heavier, improvements in technologies that could yield net efficiency improvements are overwhelmed, and the fuel consumption per kilometer of driving is rising. However this need not be the case as the European Union and Japan have shown in the past 10 years with strong policies in this area. China has also recently adopted strong fuel economy policies that many other developing countries are keen to learn more about and possibly replicate - or modify to suit their own situations. The key barriers are lack of Political will is also an issue in some places.

UNEP has been promoting fuel economy improvement efforts working with a number of public and private sector partners in raising awareness and enhance the understanding of low cost technology options, the policy options available and their likely impacts.

Promoting environmentally friendly vehicle air conditioning

UNEP is working with vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers, and governments on an effort to overcome liability concerns so that CO2 based systems can enter the market. The project started in 2006 and the report on test methodology developed is being finalized. The main replacement for CFC-12 in Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) systems in most countries is HFC-134a, a potent greenhouse gas. Alternative systems are being developed that use carbon dioxide as the refrigerant. Although these have environmental benefits in terms of their lower Global Warming Potential and better energy efficiency, they do present safety concerns for repair technicians.

For more information, see OzonAction Programme.

Past Activities

Partnership with Michelin during Challenge Bibendum events:

Energy Efficiency Through Better Car Components - focusing on New fuel economy opportunities that are not matched by the test cycles, 2006 in Paris. It was aimed at better understanding the full potentials of saving energy use by improving component efficiency of light-duty vehicles and in addition, to facilitate developing countries deal with rapid private motorization and including components at an early stage in their policy packages, standards and regulations
Workshop on Automobile C02 Reduction and Fuel Economy Improvement Policies , 2004 in Shanghai. This event disseminated the latest technical developments and advances in vehicle technologies and improved road safety systems available to tackle the energy, environmental and safety issues associated with freight and individual mobility.