Book review : Towards sustainable transport and mobility : perspectives on travelling and commuting in small island states

Abstract

Public transport is the life blood of a country's economy and mobility. The chapters in this book raise concerns about the sustainability of road transport in small island development states and the issues of alternative modes of transport and sources of energy for the future. The utilisation of fossil fuels to power public transport has for long been questioned with regards to pollution and its corollary on climate change worldwide. In most countries priority is now given to hybrid and electric vehicles which seems to be the way forward for the future. Julia R. Kotzebue opens this new edited volume with a general introduction that presents relevant observations on sustainable transport in small island states (SISs). She outlines a broad overview of all chapters, whilst also offering a fair deal to all authors through her commentary. Unfortunately, none of the chapters shows the high reliance on electricity supply in the countries under study, given that power supply can often be erratic. Some projections need to be made for future consumption, in accordance with the growing demography of these countries, and a probabilistic model is also indicated for such an exercise. The view, according to Addison et al. in this very work, that “SISs endeavouring to reduce their carbon footprints would need to extensively analyse the effects of EV (electric vehicle) charging as these grids are inherently small, and small disturbances can wreak havoc on the electricity supply quality” (p. 48) is therefore timely. [excerpt]