Impact of Power and CO2 Emissions on Parking Sustainability: Comparative Analysis Between Automated and Traditional Systems

Advances in technology and automation are bringing forward vast opportunities for reduction in cost and increase in efficiency in many areas. For example, using autonomous parking systems that rely less on manpower are becoming more popular. However, where some problems are solved, others unfold. This study employs simulations to compare the power consumption and CO2 emissions between an automated parking system and a traditional one, where both gasoline cars and electrical cars are considered. Results showed that with both types of cars the traditional model uses less energy than the automated model. A performed sensitivity analysis showed that for the automated parking to be more energy efficient, 26% less power should be used by the cars’ elevators and 32% by the cars’ platforms for the case of gasoline cars. These percentages increase to 43.7% and 55.9% respectively for the case of electrical cars. Different factors combinations for the reduction of CO2 emission in the automated parking are also presented at the end of the study. The main contribution of the study is a better understanding of the needed efforts to reach an acceptable sustainability level for new automated parking systems.