Estimating Vehicular CO2 Emissions on Highways Using a “Bottom-up” Method

This chapter considers the transport sector and evaluates the methodological possibilities for estimation of vehicular CO₂ emissions on a major highway in Brazil – D. Pedro. I Highway. The analysis of the methodological possibilities for the vehicular CO₂ emissions estimation on a major highway via the bottom-up methodology should allow identifying the parameters that could increase the estimate accuracy. Emission factors should be defined for vehicles that are differentiated according to the category, model, manufacture year, and type of used fuel. In order to accurately determine the fleet volume and the average distance traveled per year, it is necessary to divide the highway into sections, considering the fluctuation behavior of the fleet along the route and the different volumes of vehicles that can be observed in the different sections. For sections that count at both ends, it is reasonable to consider the average between the values obtained at both ends as a circulating fleet volume proxy.