Transportation absorbs large enough energy consumption, where more than 94% energy use in the transportation sector in Indonesia comes from fuel. Meanwhile, Indonesia has become net oil importer since 2004, coupled with the potential deficit of other fossil energy sources, such as gas and coal.
According to the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology’s projection in Energy Outlook 2018, it is estimated that Indonesia will be a net gas importer in 2028, and become net coal importer in 2032. Therefore, strategies of energy efficiency in the transportation sector are needed to maintain national energy security while reducing fiscal risk.
Akmilatul Maghfiroh, the researcher at the Center for Engineering Studies at Gadjah Mada University at PWYP Knowledge Forum (PKF) which took place (23/1), said that the large proportion of fuel use for transportation was also followed by a large number of government subsidies for fuel. “Data from 2006-2011 shows that the realization of fuel subsidy is always larger than the budget,” said Akmilatul Maghfiroh, who usually called Mila. If this continues, it certainly will be risky to the fiscal.
Mila added, the final energy consumption data showed that 23% of energy consumption was used for the transportation sector, which was dominated by privately owned vehicles.
In her research, Mila conducted modeling of Vehicle Feet Model Cycle Analysis, to see how the relationships among variables such as the vehicle population growth and driving cycle (speed, acceleration, and road topography) to fuel consumption.
Mila explained some of the findings, first, the growth rate of the vehicle population closely correlated with GDP/capita, and the country’s economic growth. “Indonesia includes in the category of the highest of vehicle ownership acceleration, which is ± 10% or almost twice the economic growth[1],” said Mila.
Second, traffic jams in Jakarta also affect the amount of fuel consumption. According to the start-stop index 2014, Jakarta holds the highest record of traffic congestion in the world. The rate of vehicle population which is much higher than the speed of road construction has doubled fuel consumption. Not surprisingly, the study said that of economic losses from the traffic congestion in Jakarta alone is up to 67.5 trillion (Bappenas, 2017).
Mila explained that the burden of fiscal due to the fuel import and subsidy for transportation of private vehicle was increasing. Policy interventions are needed to break the middle-income trap, by encouraging the sustainable mobility policy.
[1]3.000 USD < GDP/capita < 10.000 àacceleration of car ownership ± 2times economic growth.
Several policies on sustainable mobility in the European Union that have been running are, first, encourage the initiative program and start-up business in the field of sustainable mobility. For instance, there are reward points for the use of non-motorized mobility (or mobility without motorized vehicles, such as bicycles and walking), and public transportation.
Second, transportation and traffic system that prioritize non-motorized mobility and public transportation. In the Netherlands for examples, the traffic system where cyclists are the highest priority on the highway. The traffic system is supported by the road infrastructure dedicated to bicycles, as well as safe and comfortable pedestrians.
In addition, in the European Union, the utilization of renewable energy is indeed more massive. For instance, for the mix of electrical energy derived from wind and solar energy in the structure of Economic Dispatch[2] of electricity generation. For wind turbines, the European Union even invests in launching the ADM-Aeolus satellite which serves to measure the mid-latitude wind speed to predict more accurate the wind power generation. Also, Desertec project plan for solar power, which is estimated to be able to meet the electricity needs of the European Union.
To adopt the transportation system with sustainable mobility, policy intervention in Indonesia is needed, especially to prioritize the safe and comfortable public transportation. By doing so, the public is expected to choose public transportation over private vehicles. This policy will be followed by restrictions on the ownership of individual vehicles. Besides, the government needs to revoke the fuel subsidy policy and convert to renewable energy subsidy or instead allocate them for development of public transportation.
[2]Economic dispatch is the short-term determination of the optimal output of a number of electricity generation facilities.