Thailand: The Potentials of Making Transport More Energy Efficient

Abstract:

Set in the context of rapid increases in global oil prices, high dependence on oil imports, and the growing concern over the issue of energy security and climate change, this study addresses the question of how Thailand could make the transport sector more energy-efficient. It assesses the energy efficiency performance of the transport sector, analyses where the inefficiencies lie and proposes future directions to improve land transport energy efficiency.
Improved energy sustainability is an imperative for Thailand’s national energy security and continued economic prosperity. However, historical trends show that Thailand has not been performing well in terms of energy efficiency. Thailand’s total energy intensity and transport energy intensity have been high compared to other countries and stayed largely unchanged over the last 25 years.

To date, transport’s energy efficiency has been inhibited by several characteristics of the transport sector such as domination of road transport in the country’s modal split, inefficient vehicles, absence of fuel economy standards and relatively low fuel prices.

The paper identifies key policy options which demonstrate the potential for significant improvement in transport energy efficiency. Various policy options to improve energy use in the transport sector are explored and broadly quantified by assessing each option’s potential contribution to energy savings/GHG emissions reduction against their cost-effectiveness and implementation difficulty.

The paper concludes that several fuel, technology, and transport policy options can be adopted to make Thailand transport more energy efficient. These policy options can contribute significantly to energy savings and climate change mitigation efforts. The pricing mechanism can be used to more effectively induce behavioral changes and sectoral adjustment by making it in the interests of firms, government enterprises, logistics providers, and households to carefully consider the lifecycle energy consumption of modal and vehicle choices. Institutional and political impediments also need to be overcome to implement the policy options identified.