Urban sprawl, commuting and travel energy consumption

Commuting to and from dense urban centres is often believed to be more energy efficient than commuting from more suburban areas. However, quantitative evidence is lacking. In this context, this paper investigates the interactions between the spatial structure of the territory and transport energy consumption for commuting. Based on empirical surveys carried out every 10 years in Belgium, a quantitative method was developed and applied to assess energy efficiency of home-to-work and home-to-school travels. Our main findings highlight that urban structure acts upon travel energy consumption for commuting and that major cities present low energy consumption. However, a local-scale approach is useful for refining these observations, and this approach highlights the existence of secondary suburban and rural cores that also are characterized by low transport energy consumption. In this respect, the distance from home to a destination is paramount, whereas the mode of transport used has a lower impact. The method is parameterised and reproducible in other territories.