ABSTRACT
The transport sector is the third largest final energy demand sector after the industrial and residential sectors in Asia. Between 1980 and 2013, transportation energy demand increased several fold in every country in the region. It accounted for 16.5% of the total final energy consumption in the region in 2013. Energy consumption for transportation is one of the main contributors to local air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the region. This chapter analyses the status and trends of transportation energy demand in Asian countries and determines the main factors driving the demand over the last 33 years since 1980. In so doing, we quantify the impacts of population growth, income growth, and improvements in vehicle technology and driving conditions on the transport sector energy consumption in 14 Asian countries. An identity approach that splits the growth of transportation energy demand into various components, such as economic development, population growth and changes in transportation energy intensity, is used as an analytical tool. This chapter shows that population and income growth are the main factors that contributed to the rapid increase of energy consumption for transportation in Asia during the study period. Transportation energy demand would have increased further had the transport sector energy intensity not declined over the period.
