Road transport energy conservation in Costa Rica.

Greene, David L. Araya Jacome, Antony. Kowalski, Robert.

1987

127
SEPARATA

Transportation is typically the largest petroleum-using sector in less developed countries and is generally dominated by road transport. Despite this fact, energy planning and conservation assistance have concentrated on other sectors, partly because of a lack of experience with transport-energy conservation in less developed countries. Studies of short-term energy conservation in taxi and bus fleets under actual operating conditions in San Jose, Costa Rica, have shown that efficiency improvements in the order of 10 percent are obtainable. Training in fuel-efficient driving strategies reduced taxi-fuel use by 14 percent and bus fuel use by 3 percent on the average. Implementation of fuel efficiency maintenance practices reduced bus-fuel consumption by an average of 6 percent. Radial tires were ineffective and possibly counter-productive in saving fuel. Because of the complex experimental design, the results were not readily perceived by vehicle operators. Future demonstrations should concentrate on showing monetary saving to vehicle operators.

Presenta tbls.

COSTA RICA; SECTOR TRANSPORTE; TRANSPORTE POR CARRETERA; USO RACIONAL DE LA ENERGIA; TAXIS; AUTOBUSES;