Energy consumption by the Mexican transportation sector during the period 1990-2001

Summary

Energy consumption by the Mexican transportation sector rose by 25% during the period 1990-2001.

The greatest increase, 77%, was in national maritime navigation, while in national aviation the increase was 53% and in automotive transportation the increase was 24%. In rail transport, the consumption fell by 22%.

The fuels that were used were gasoline and diesel for automotive transportation, kerosene for aviation, diesel and fuel oil for maritime navigation and diesel for railway. It is estimated that in 2001 the energy consumption for international transport represented 15% of the total consumption for the air and maritime sectors. In international transport, the fuel mostly used was kerosene for aviation.

Carbon dioxide emissions were calculated by the sectoral method for each type of fuel consumed in the transportation sector, in both national and international transport. In the case of gas emissions other than carbon dioxide, first-level methodology was used for the railway and maritime sectors, and a second-level methodology was used for the aviation and automotive transportation sectors. In order to calculate automotive transportation emissions, a methodology was used with base-fuel emissions factors, in which an emission factor weighted for the entire number of vehicles is multiplied by the national fuel sales. In the case of aviation, emission factors were calculated for a fleet that was representative of the main Mexican airlines in both national and international operations. The IPCC spreadsheet was used for level 1 calculations for all gases, except for the case of sulfur dioxide. This spreadsheet was also used to estimate aviation emissions by the level 2 method. In the case of sulfur dioxide emissions, it was necessary to divide up the consumption for the sector according to the type of fuel, given the difference in sulfur content for fuels consumed in Mexico over the period 1990-2001.

The total carbon dioxide emissions for the transportation sector were 106,206 Gg in 2001, which represented an increase of 21% from 1990. Of course, this increase is directly related to the increase in energy consumption for this period. Methane emissions in 2001 for this sector were 26 Gg, which represents a decrease of 29% from 1990. For nitrous oxide, the emissions were: 8 Gg, 260% above those for 1990. This increase is related to the introduction of catalytic convertors in private automobiles beginning in 1991. In the case of international transportation, carbon dioxide emissions for 2001 were 1671 Gg, which represents an increase of 64% from 1990; those corresponding to methane showed a reduction of 69% and those for nitrous oxide increased 71%, although these last two emissions are less than 1 Gg.