Alternate Fuel Vehicles

Strategic Charging Infrastructure Deployment for Electric Vehicles

Shen, Max
Li, Meng
He, Fang
Jia, Yinghao
2016

Electric vehicles (EV) are promoted as a foreseeable future vehicle technology to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional vehicles. This paper proposes a data-driven approach to improving the electrification rate of the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by a taxi fleet in Beijing. Specifically, based on the gathered real-time vehicle trajectory data of 46,765 taxis in Beijing, we conduct time-series simulations to derive insight for the public charging station deployment plan, including the locations of public charging stations, the number of...

Reducing Emissions through Monitoring and Predictive Modeling of Gate Operations of Idle Aircraft: A Case Study on San Francisco International Airport

Rakas, Jasenka, PhD
Achatz Antonelli, Pietro
Walia, Chanan
Rouzbahani, Parham
Gikas, George
2023

The use of airport gate electrification infrastructure in the form of ground power (GP) and preconditioned air (PCA) systems can reduce energy and maintenance costs, emissions, and health risks by limiting the use of aircraft auxiliary power unit (APU) engines at the gate. However, their benefits can only be gained when they are actually being used; otherwise, pilots keep APUs on to fulfill their aircraft’s demands for electrical power and air conditioning. GP and PCA systems require a large initial infrastructure investment to increase energy efficiency, and they are installed with the...

Vehicle Manufacturing Futures in Transportation Life-cycle Assessment

Chester, Mikhail
Horvath, Arpad
2011

Vehicle manufacturing effects are critical life-cycle components in the total costs of vehicle travel and future manufacturing processes should be evaluated for travel forecasts. With efforts to introduce lightweight materials, increased fuel economy, and new technologies such as electric vehicles, understanding the energy and environmental effects of these expected vehicles is critical. Current vehicle manufacturing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are summarized from existing research for passenger (conventional gasoline vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, aircraft, high-speed...

Hydrogen Can Have a Much Lower Carbon Intensity than Fossil Fuels But This Largely Depends on How It Is Produced and Distributed

Lipman, Timothy, PhD
Horvath, Arpad, PhD
Collins, Stephanie
Kendall, Allisa, PhD
Fulton, Lewis, PhD
Busch, Pablo
2022

As interest in hydrogen as an energy carrier has increased, the various ways that hydrogen is made are being categorized as “green,” “blue,” “gray,” and other colors in relation to their environmental impact. While these categorizations are somewhat useful to indicate the environmental and climate change impacts of different production pathways, they are not especially useful for policy making or industry decisionmaking purposes because they are subjective. For example, most definitions of green pathways for hydrogen production only include electrolysis from renewable electricity sources;...

The Expansion of California’s Freeway Service Patrol Program is Delivering Benefits to Motorists and the Environment

Mauch, Michael
Skabardonis, Alexander
McKeever, Benjamin
2019

The Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) program has the goal of reducing congestion by using fleets of roving tow and service trucks to quickly clear disabled vehicles and address other minor accidents on California’s freeway. The FSP program is jointly managed by Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol (CHP), and regional transportation agencies. Approximately $21.25 million in State transportation funds are provided each year to eligible regional transportation agencies for the FSP program using a formula-based allocation. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1) directs an...

The Producer Surplus Associated with Gasolne Fuel Use in the United States

Sun, Yongling
Delucchi, Mark A.
Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia L.
Ogden, Joan M.
2019

Estimating the producer surplus – the revenue above the average long-run cost – is an important part of social cost-benefit analyses of changes in petroleum use. This paper estimates the producer surplus associated with changes in gasoline fuel use in the United States, and then applies the estimates of producer surplus to two kinds of social cost-benefit analyses related to petroleum use: (1) estimating the wealth transfer from consumers to producers as a result of policies that affect oil use and oil imports to the US, and (2) comparing the actual average cost of gasoline with the...

Cruel Seas: World War 2 Merchant Marine-Related Nautical Fiction from the 1930s to Present

Krummes, Daniel C
2015

Cruel Seas is an annotated bibliography of fiction in English that involves civilian steamships of the merchant marine in works set during World War Two (or slightly before). While the subtitle states "1930s to Present," the last entry was added in 2008, and the work will not be updated. The entries include novels, novellas, and short stories, but exclude poetry, theater plays, and fiction written for juveniles (unless the work can appeal to adults as well). Many of the works involve ships in convoy across the Atlantic.An earlier version of Cruel Seas was published in softcover edition in...

Life-cycle Energy and Emissions Inventories for Motorcycles, Diesel Automobiles, School Buses, Electric Buses, Chicago Rail, and New York City Rail

Chester, Mikhail
Horvath, Arpad
2009

The development of life-cycle energy and emissions factors for passenger transportation modes is critical for understanding the total environmental costs of travel. Previous life-cycle studies have focused on the automobile given its dominating share of passenger travel and have included only few life-cycle components, typically related to the vehicle (i.e., manufacturing, maintenance, end-of-life) or fuel (i.e., extraction, refining, transport). Chester (2009) provides the first comprehensive environmental life-cycle assessment of not only vehicle and fuel components but also...

Biofuel Boundaries: Estimating the Medium-Term Supply Potential of Domestic Biofuels

Jones, Andrew
O'Hare, Michael
Farrell, Alexander
2007

We estimate the physical supply potential of biofuels from domestic municipal solid waste, forestry residues, crops residues and energy crops grown on existing cropland using optimistic assumptions about near-term conversion technologies. It is technically feasible to produce a significant amount of liquid biofuel (equivalent to 30-100% of 2003 gasoline demand) without reducing domestically produced food and fiber crops or reducing the total calories available as domestic animal feed. Most of this supply can be attributed to the potential of energy crops, with the combination of municipal...

A Low-Carbon Fuel Standard for California Part 1: Technical Analysis

Farrell, Alexander E.
Sperling, Daniel
Arons, S.M.
Brandt, A.R.
Delucchi, M.A.
Eggert, A.
Farrell, A.E.
Haya, B.K.
Hughes, J.
Jenkins, B.M.
Jones, A.D.
Kammen, D.M.
Kaffka, S.R.
Knittel, C.R.
Lemoine, D.M.
Martin, E.W.
Melaina, M.W.
Ogden, J.M.
Plevin, R.J.
Sperling, D.
Turner, B.T.
Williams, R.B.
Yang, C.
2007

Executive Order S-1-07, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) (January 18, 2007), calls for a reduction of at least 10 percent in the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuels by 2020. It instructed the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate activities between the University of California, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and other state agencies to develop and propose a draft compliance schedule to meet the 2020 Target. This report is the first of two by the University of California in response. This first study assesses the low-carbon...