This week the government announced £5 million funding for projects to reduce air pollution from local buses in urban areas. The scheme will compliment existing plans to upgrade 900 London buses to tackle poor air quality.

While most energy policies for the UK's transport sector are focused on urban cities, like London, in reality transport emissions per head in the capital are lower than those of populations in rural areas, where communities are much more reliant on motor vehicles to get around. "The very carbon dependent culture of nonurban areas is the most problematic," says Dr Caralampo Focas, researcher in transport studies at the University of Oxford. The UK is looking to cut emissions by at least 80% by 2050. What role does transport play is achieving this goal? Aircraft, agriculture and shipping sectors are unlikely to make major contributions in reductions, according to Professor Julia King, the UK Low Carbon Business Ambassador. With cars and vans contributing to 73% of UK surface transport emissions, road transport is a clear focus. "The UK government is really pushing its faith predominately in technological improvements in motorisation itself i.e. increasing the number of efficient vehicles through European regulations in new cars," says Peter Headicar, researcher in transport planning at Oxford Brookes University. The idea is that it will progressively reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, if we don't tackle car use, improvements in technology will be counteracted by growth in traffic. ONS projections show that London alone is expected to grow by more than a million people in less than a decade, hitting nine million in 2020. To date, the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) has been slow. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), out of the 948,666 new cars registered in the UK in the past 12 months, only 1,284 them were electric – not even 1%. Will it pick up in the future? It's hard to tell at this stage. In the UK there are a number of grants available to encourage people to switch to EVs, like the £5000 incentive, but they still come out expensive compared to conventional vehicles.

"With electric vehicles at the moment, the business case is not necessarily there, unless you are in London and you have to pay congestion charge," says Marcello Constantible, researcher in energy policy and technology at Imperial College London. It's also important to note where the electricity is coming from. If we continue burning fossil fuels, what's the point? To the dismay of many, the bid to include a decarbonisation target for 2030 in the Commons energy bill was voted down earlier this week.

There isn't a single answer to reducing energy consumption in transport. There are a number of strategies that, collectively, will make a difference. According to Dr Focas we need to place more important in urban planning to reduce energy consumption in car use. Constructing a massive supermarket in the outskirts of a town, for example, does little to deter people from using their cars. Local councils need to adopt a strategic approach to new housing and service locations, together with the consideration of jobs and public transport. Philippa Oldham, head of transport and manufacturing at IMechE, points out that businesses also have to take more responsibility for their effect on consumer energy consumption. "Tesco recently opened a massive depot on the M4 corridor in Reading, but no link between the depot and the Reading train link. All their goods are still distributed by large goods vehicles (LGVs)." This is a clear failure to integrate the depot into existing transport infrastructure. Earlier this year, the UK government launched the 'Door to door' strategy to make it easier for people to get from A to B using sustainable transport, as opposed to cars. Similar strategies should be developed for businesses and industry.

We can reduce car transport by better understanding current use, and highlighting inefficiencies in transport systems. "Setting energy reduction targets is a very positive policy step towards creating a sustainable future," says Dr Focas. "However these targets are not accompanied by a road map of how they are to be reached. There is no debate and detailed research of the policy requirements and behavioural change that would be required for their attainment." We have started making our cars more efficient, and steps are being taken to provide cleaner electricity. Now, we need a substantial change in transport use. The next post in this series will look at school education in energy conservation. Are UK children being taught how to consume energy sustainably? How important do you think the subject should be in school curriculums?