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Clean Cities Niche Market Overview: Refuse Haulers
9/1/2011
Many niche market fleets, which operate specially designed vehicles that serve very specific functions, are ideal for the adoption of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. One prime example is the refuse hauler sector, whose 136,000 trucks average only 2.8 miles per gallon, using more than 1.2 billion gallons of fuel annually in the United States. This sector could substantially decrease its petroleum consumption through the use of alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicles. Before adopting these technologies, a refuse hauler fleet should consider both the technologies' benefits and the fleet's individual needs.
Authors: Shea, S.
A Waste-to-Wheel Analysis of Anaerobic-Digestion-Based RNG Pathways with the GREET Model
9/1/2011
This study captures results from a life cycle analysis that was conducted to quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of converting methane from animal manure into renewable natural gas (RNG) and utilizing the gas in vehicles. Several manure-based RNG pathways were characterized in the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model, and their fuel-cycle energy use and GHG emissions were compared to petroleum-based pathways as well as to conventional fossil natural gas pathways.
Authors: Han, J.; Mintz, M.; Wang, M.
U.S. Virgin Islands Transportation Petroleum Reduction Plan
9/1/2011
The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has set a goal to reduce petroleum use 60% by 2025 compared to the business-as-usual scenario. Ground-based transportation is responsible for 40% of USVI petroleum use, so the USVI and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) set up a Transportation working group (TWG) to devise a way to meet the 60% reduction goal in the transportation sector. This report lays out the TWG's plan.
Authors: Johnson, C.
Clean Cities Annual Metrics Report 2009 (Revised)
8/10/2011
Each year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) asks Clean Cities coordinators to submit an annual report of their activities and accomplishments for the previous calendar year. Data and information are submitted to an online database that is maintained as part of the Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Coordinators submit a range of data that characterizes the membership, funding, projects, and activities of their coalitions. They also submit data about sales of alternative fuels, deployment of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), idle reduction initiatives, fuel economy activities, and programs to reduce vehicle miles driven. NREL analyzes the data and translates them into gasoline reduction impacts, which are summarized in this report.
Authors: Johnson, C.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, July 2011
8/1/2011
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for July 2011 is a quarterly report on the prices of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue describes prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders between July 14, 2011 and July 29, 2011, and then averaged in order to determine regional price trends by fuel and variability in fuel price within regions and among regions. The prices collected for this report represent retail, at-the-pump sales prices for each fuel, including Federal and state motor fuel taxes.
Table 1 reports that the nationwide average price for regular gasoline has dropped 1 cent per gallon from $3.69 per gallon to $3.68 per gallon; CNG price has risen 1 cent from $2.06 to $2.07; ethanol (E85) has risen 6 cents from $3.20 to $3.26 per gallon; propane has dropped 10 cents from $3.19 to $3.09; and biodiesel has dropped 3 cents from $4.05 to $4.02 per gallon. CNG is about $1.61 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is about 92 cents more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Babcock, S.
U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry
8/1/2011
This report, generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study, is an estimate of "potential" biomass within the contiguous United States based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory and production capacity, availability, and technology. In the 2005 BTS, a strategic analysis was undertaken to determine if U.S. agriculture and forest resources have the capability to potentially produce at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, in a sustainable manner - enough to displace approximately 30% of the country's present petroleum consumption. To ensure reasonable confidence in the study results, an effort was made to use relatively conservative assumptions. However, for both agriculture and forestry, the resource potential was not restricted by price. That is, all identified biomass was potentially available, even though some potential feedstock would more than likely be too expensive to actually be economically available.
Authors: Perlack, R.; Stokes, B.
Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) Fuel Cell Bus Demonstration: First Results Report
8/1/2011
This report documents the early implementation experience for the Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) Demonstration, the largest fleet of fuel cell electric buses in the United States. The ZEBA Demonstration group includes five participating transit agencies: AC Transit (lead transit agency), Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), Golden Gate Transit (GGT), San Mateo County Transit District(SamTrans), and San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). The ZEBA partners are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the buses in revenue service.
Authors: Chandler, K.; Eudy, L.
Guide for Identifying and Converting High-Potential Petroleum Brownfield Sites to Alternative Fuel Stations
5/1/2011
Former gasoline stations that are now classified as brownfields can be good sites to sell alternative fuels because they are in locations that are convenient to vehicles and they may be seeking a new source of income. However, their success as alternative fueling stations is highly dependent on location-specific criteria, how to prioritize them, and then applies that assessment framework to five of the most popular alternative fuels?electricity, natural gas, hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel.
The second part of this report delves into the criteria and tools used to assess an alternative fuel retail site at the local level. It does this through two case studies of converting former gasoline stations in the Seattle-Eugene area into electric charge stations.
The third part of this report addresses steps to be taken after the specific site has been selected. This includes choosing and installing the recharging equipment, steps to take in the permitting process and key players to include.
Authors: Johnson, C.; Hettinger, D.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2011
5/1/2011
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2011 is a quarterly report on the prices of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue describes prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders between April 1, 2011 and April 15, 2011, and then averaged in order to determine regional price trends by fuel and variability in fuel price within regions and among regions. The prices collected for this report represent retail, at-the-pump sales prices for each fuel, including Federal and state motor fuel taxes.
Table 1 reports that the nationwide average price for regular gasoline has risen 61 cents per gallon from $3.08 per gallon to $3.69 per gallon; CNG price has risen from $1.93 to $2.06; ethanol (E85) has risen 45 cents from 2.75 to $3.20 per gallon; and biodiesel has risen 55 cents from $3.50 to $4.05. CNG is about $1.63 less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis, while E85 is about 83 cents more than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.
Authors: Babcock, S.
Process Design and Economics for Biochemical Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol; Dilute-Acid Pretreatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Corn Stover
5/1/2011
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) promotes the production of ethanol and other liquid fuels from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks by funding fundamental and applied research that advances the state of technology in biomass collection, conversion, and sustainability. As part of its involvement in the program, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) investigates the production economics of these fuels.
This report describes in detail one potential biochemical ethanol conversion process, conceptually based upon core conversion and process integration research at NREL. The overarching process design converts corn stover to ethanol by dilute-acid pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, and co-fermentation. Ancillary areas-feed handling, product recovery, wastewater treatment, lignin combustion, and utilities-are also included in the design. Detailed material and energy balances and capital and operating costs were developed for theentire process, and they are documented in this report.
Authors: Humbird, D.; Davis, R.; Tao, L.; Kinchin, C.; Hsu, D.; Aden, A.;Schoen, P.; Lukas, J.; Olthof, B.; Worley, M.; Sexton, D.; Dudgeon, D.
Clean Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Engine Conversions; Final Rule
4/8/2011
EPA is streamlining the process by which manufacturers of clean alternative fuel conversion systems may demonstrate compliance with vehicle and engine emissions requirements. Specifically, EPA is revising the regulatory criteria for gaining an exemption from the Clean Air Act prohibition against tamperingfor the conversion of vehicles and engines to operate on a clean alternativefuel. This final rule creates additional compliance options beyond certification that protect manufacturers of clean alternative fuel conversion systems against a tampering violation, depending on the age of the vehicle orengine to be converted. The new options alleviate some economic and proceduralimpediments to clean alternative fuel conversions while maintainingenvironmental safeguards to ensure that acceptable emission levels from converted vehicles are sustained.
Impact of Biodiesel Impurities on the Performance and Durability of DOC, DPF and SCR Technologies: Preprint.
4/1/2011
Presented at the SAE 2011 World Congress, 12-14 April 2011, Detroit, Michigan.
An accelerated durability test method determined the potential impact of biodiesel ash impurities, including engine testing with multiple diesel particulate filter substrate types, as well as diesel oxidation catalyst and selective catalyst reduction catalysts. The results showed no significant degradation in the thermo-mechanical properties of a DPF after exposure to 150,000-mile equivalent biodiesel ash and thermal aging. However, exposure to 435,000-mile equivalent aging resulted in a 69% decrease in thermal shock resistance. A decrease in DOC activity was seen after exposure to 150,000-mile equivalent aging, resulting in higher hydrocarbon slip and a reduction in NO2 formation. The SCR catalyst experienced a slight loss in activity after exposure to 435,000-mile equivalent aging. The SCR catalyst, placed downstream of the DPF and exposed to B20 exhaust suffered a 5% reduction in overall NOx conversion activity over the HDDT test cycle. It is estimated that the additional ash from 150,000 miles of biodiesel use would also result in a moderate increases in exhaust backpressure for a DPF. The results of this study suggest that long-term operation with B20 at the current specification limits for alkali and alkaline earth metal impurities will adversely impact the performance of DOC, DPF and SCR systems.
Authors: Williams, A.; McCormick, R.; Luecke, J.; Brezny, R.; Geisselmann, A.; Voss, K.; Hallstrom, K.; Leustek, M.; Parsons, J.; Abi-Akar, H.
Project Results: Evaluating FedEx Express Hybrid-Electric Delivery Trucks
4/1/2011
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Fleet Test and Evaluation Team evaluated the 12-month, in-service performance of three Class 4 gasoline hybrid-electric delivery trucks and three comparable conventional diesel trucks operated by FedEx Express in Southern California. In addition, the tailpipe emissions and fuel economy of one of the gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles (gHEVs) and one diesel truck were tested on a chassis dynamometer. The gHEVs were equipped with a parallel hybrid system manufactured by Azure Dynamics, including a 100-kW alternating current induction motor, regenerative braking, and a 2.45-kWh nickel metal hydride battery pack. This fact sheet summarizes the results of the evaluation of the gHEVs.
