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Future U.S. Highway Energy Use: A Fifty Year Perspective
5/3/2001
The U.S. Transportation system as a whole and the highway mode in particular will be much different in the year 2050 compared to today. The type and number of vehicles in use and the fuels employed to power them are unknown. Yet planning for the future requires acting on the information at hand: assessing the implications of the current path and the potential benefit of alternative futures. This paper puts transportation energy issues into a long-run perspective so that informed planning can begin early enough to make a decisive difference. This paper examines the global oil supply and demand over the next 50 years to show that a transition away from conventional oil will begin. The analysis reviews the energy, economic, and environmental implications of the alternatives that are available to meet some of the anticipated gap between world conventional oil production and the liquid fuels required to support a growing world economy. This paper then describes several U.S. Transportation technology strategies with a range of efficiency improvements and fuel substitutions, and calculates their first order effects on energy use, petroleum consumption, and carbon emissions over a 50-year time horizon.
Authors: Birky, A.; Greene, D.; Gross, T.; Hamilton, D.; Heitner, K.; Johnson, L.; Maples, J.; Moore, J.; Patterson, P.; Plotkin, S.; Stodolsky, F.
Notes: This report is available on the Office of Transportation Technologies (OTT) Web site at http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/publications/hwyfuture.pdf
Taking an Alternative Route: A Guide for Fleet Operators and Individual Owners Using Alternative Fuels in Cars and Trucks
4/1/2001
DOE has prepared this guide to help you determine whether your fleet is covered by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA) and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), and to provide information on available alternative fuels and vehicles. With this information, fleets can shorten the time it takes to improve air quality and pave our nation's road to energy independence by using AFVs certified to meet EPA's Clean Fuel Fleet standards as well as the mandated EPAct requirements.
State Alternative Fuel Vehicle Incentives: A Decade and More of Lessons Learned
2/1/2001
This report assesses the effectiveness of state incentives and suggests incentives that might encourage new vehicle technologies. It does not assess whether a state should promote alternative fuel vehicles or whether such vehicles are the most effective means to reduce air pollution. Rather, the analysis analyzes the effectiveness of state incentives of the past decade and describes the characteristics of effective alternative fuel vehicle incentives and the fiscal implications for a state that is committed to support an effective alternative fuel vehicle program.
Authors: Brown, M.;Breckenridge, L.
The U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Summary of Analysis Projects 1994 - 2000
1/1/2001
The U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Program has funded a wide variety of analysis projects in support of its mission to conduct research and engineering development for the purpose of making hydrogen a cost-effective energy carrier for utility, buildings, and transportation applications. The goal of the analyses is to provide direction, focus, and support to the development and introduction of hydrogen through evaluation of the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of hydrogen technologies. This document contains summaries of 76 reports or publications of analysis work funded by the Hydrogen Program form 1994 through 2000. The purpose of this work is to help determine areas of focus for future analyses and also to provide a quick reference for studies already completed.
Authors: Ogden, J.;Strohbehn, J.;Dennis, E.
On the Road in 2020: A Life-cycle Analysis of New Automobile Technologies
10/1/2000
This report is a description of work done at MIT during the past two years to assess technologies for new passenger cars that could be developed and commercialized by the year 2020. The report does not make predictions about which technologies will be developed nor judgments about which technologies should be developedissues for the marketplace and for public policy that are not examined here.
The primary motivation for this study was the desire to assess new automobile technologies which have the potential to function with lower emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) widely believed to contribute to global warming. The GHG of most concern here is carbon dioxide (CO2), but methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) can also be important. If public policy or market forces result in constraints on GHG emissions, automobiles and other light-duty vehiclesa key part of the transportation sectorwill be candidates for those constraints since the transportation sector accounts for about 30% of all CO2 emissions in OECD countries, and about 20% worldwide.
Notes: Copies of this document can be downloaded from the MIT Laboratory for Energy and Environment Web site at: http://lfee.mit.edu/publications/PDF/el00-003.pdf.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report
5/1/2000
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report provides regional alternative and conventional fuel prices for biodiesel, compressed natural gas, ethanol, hydrogen, propane, gasoline, and diesel. The Alternative Fuel Price Report is a snapshot in time of retail fuel prices. Alternative fuel fleets can obtain significantly lower fuel prices than those reported by entering into contracts directly with local fuel suppliers.
Limited Progress in Acquiring Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Reaching Fuel Goals
2/1/2000
with the first deadline approaching for EPAct's petroleum replacement goals the GAO was asked to review progress towards achieving EPACT goals. gao was asked to determine the progress made in acquiring alternative fuel vehicles and using altnerative fuels to meeting the act's fuel replacement goals. Also, GAO determined the impediments to using alternative fuel vehicles and the measures that can be taken to address those impediments in order to reach the act's replacement goals.
Alternative Fuel Vehicles: Real-World Perspectives from the Federal Fleet
7/1/1998
Vehicles that run onfuels other than gasoline, or "alternative fuel" vehicles (AFVs), offer great promise for improving air quality and lessening our nation's dependence on imported oil. But if they are to fulfill this promise and replace traditional gasoline vehicles on a large scale, they must meed the needs of the people using them, and consumers must have access to"real-world" information about them. Do they drive as well as gasoline vehicles? Are their refueling stations as convenient as the corner gas station? Can we expect the same reliability that we've come to expect from our gasoline vehicles? How better to answer these questions than to ask the people who are actually running the AFVs? So in 1996, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national labortory, designed a nationwide study to capture the opinions of federal fleet managers and drivers onthe performance, reliability, driveability, and acceptability of AFVs. NREL put together this short brochure to serve as a "quick look" summaryof the surveys and their results.
Authors: Whalen, P
Fuel Economy Test Procedures Alternative-Fueled Automobile CAFE Incentives and Fuel Economy Labeling Requirements - Environmental Protection Agency - 40 CFR Part 600
10/1/1995
This final rule amends the fuel economy regulations to include alternative-fueled automobiles. The Alternative Motor Fuels Act (AMFA) of 1988 includes 1993 model year and later alternative-fueled automobiles (passenger automobiles and light trucks) in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program on a favorable basis to encourage the manufacture of these vehicles. The AMFA provides these CAFE "credits" for automobiles designed to be fueled with methanol, ethanol, other alcohols, natural gas, or dual-fueled automobiles designed to operate on one or more of these alternative fuels and gasoline or diesel fuel. Under the AMFA, these credits are only available for automobiles that meet certain requirements regarding: alternative fuel content (e.g., for alcohol fuels, a minimum of 85 percent by volume alcohol), energy efficiency, and driving range. Neither the AMFA nor the final rule will affect automobiles that do not meet these requirements; such vehicles would not receive the favorable CAFE treatment. Alternative-fueled automobile labeling requirements are also specified in the AMFA. This final rule codifies the requirements of the AMFA in 40 CFR part 600. Recently, AMFA was amended by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, to extend the CAFE credit to automobiles designed to operate on additional types of alternative fuels. However, this final rule does not include these additional alternative fuel types, as they were not included in the CAFE program at the time the NPRM was published and the final rule was developed.
Notes: Text of final rule to be published in the Federal Register
Clean Fuels Paving the Way for America's Future: A Source for Information on Clean Burning Alternative Transportation Fuels
4/1/1995
With so many alternative fuels being promoted by various groups, it is important for legislators, the public and all interested parties to understand the different fuels that are available, how they are made, how they are used and their impact on the environment. This brochure is intended to help legislators at all levels to make informed decisions and for the media, with a responsibility of informing the public, to be educated on these issues. The fuels covered in this brochure include: ethanol, ethyl tertiary butyl ether, methanol, methyl tertiary butyl ether, biodiesel, gasoline additives and combustion modifiers, electric vehicles, natural gas and propane. It also summarizes regional and state clean fuel policies and regulations.
