Environmental measures for automobiles are focused only on reducing carbon dioxide emissions during driving, but Shigemi Kagawa, chief of the Graduate School of Economics, Kyushu University, said that extending the product life has a great effect on reducing carbon dioxide. A research group led by a professor and a lecturer, Yuya Nakamoto, Faculty of Economics, Oita University, found out.
According to Oita University and others, the lifespan of automobiles includes the physical lifespan from manufacturing to disposal and the economic lifespan from purchase to replacement.By combining these two lifespans, the research group has developed a model that calculates the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted at every stage of an automobile, from resource mining to material / parts production, product production, product utilization, and disposal.
Using that model, we investigated the physical lifespan of Japanese passenger cars, the economic lifespan of new cars, and the economic lifespan of used cars. , 3 megatons, 10 megatons can be reduced.
The research group says that extending the life of a car is effective in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, designing it to be easy to repair and use for a longer time, enhancing after-sales service to activate the maintenance market, and using a car with excellent fuel economy for a long time. Awareness is needed.
Paper information:[Journal of Industrial Ecology] A generalized framework for analyzing car lifetime effects on stock, flow, and carbon footprint
