Impact of Battery Characteristics on PHEV Fuel Economy
5/12/2008
The most significant technical barrier to developing commercially viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) is the energy storage system. The challenge is to develop batteries that are able to meet both the requirements imposed by a PHEV system and market expectations of the system's cost and length of life. In this context, a vehicle systems approach is needed to investigate the operational requirements specific to PHEV technology. This paper describes work in which several tools were used to evaluate the impacts of various parameters on PHEV fuel economy. First, the impacts of the battery's energy and power were evaluated by using a global optimization algorithm. Then the impact of temperature was assessed by using two complementary approaches to evaluate battery hardware: simulation in an emulated vehicle system and actual vehicle testing.
Authors: Rousseau, A.; Shidore, N.; Carlson, Richard; Karbowski, D.
Options for Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles in Greensburg, Kansas
5/1/2008
After a devastating tornado that destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kansas in May 2007, plans were developed to rebuild the town as a sustainable community. This report focuses on outlining key success factors of infrastructure, alternative vehicles, and alternative and renewable fuels as part of an integrated energy strategy.
Authors: Harrow, G.
Biochemical Production of Ethanol from Corn Stover: 2007 State of Technology Model
5/1/2008
State of Technology Report produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This report tracks the research and development and costs involved in bench- or pilot-scale research from fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2007, which describes the current costs involved in producing cellulosic ethanol and the goals that must be met in order to reach $1.33 a gallon by 2012.
Authors: Andy Aden
Federal Tax Incentives Encourage Alternative Fuel Use
5/1/2008
The U.S. government provides several tax incentives for purchasing alternative fuel, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicles; installing alternative fueling infrastructure; and producing, selling, or using alternative fuels. The IRS has defined alternative fuels as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); compressed natural gas (CNG); liquefied natural gas (LNG); liquefied hydrogen; liquid fuel derived from coal through the Fischer-Tropsch process; liquid hydrocarbons derived from biomass including ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel; and P-series fuels. Current federal tax incentives are outlined in this fact sheet.
Fuel Ethanol: Background and Public Policy Issues
4/24/2008
This report provides background concerning various aspects of fuel ethanol and a discussion of the current related policy issues. Topics include ethanol and the agricultural economy; ethanol refining and production; fuel consumption; research and development in cellulosic feedstocks; costs and benefits of fuel ethanol; and policy concerns and congressional activity.
Authors: Yacobucci, B.
Frequently Asked Questions about Converting Vehicles to Operate on Natural Gas
4/1/2008
Many people are investigating options to retrofit or convert their car or pick-up truck to run solely on natural gas or to run as a bi-fuel vehicle on either gasoline or natural gas. This document answers basic questions regarding the conversion of light-duty vehicles including: conversion system availability; installation, service and warranty issues; costs; and available tax credits.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, April 2008
4/1/2008
The Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report for April 2008 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 and April 11, 2008, 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 44 cents from $2.99 per gallon to $3.43 per gallon; CNG has risen 11 cents from $1.93 to $2.04; and ethanol (E85) has risen 36 cents from $2.51 to $2.87 per gallon.
Authors: Laughlin, M.D.
Analysis of the Efficiency of the U.S. Ethanol Industry 2007
3/27/2008
In 2007, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) conducted a survey of US ethanol production plants to provide an assessment of the current US ethanol industry. The survey covers plant operations in both corn dry mills and wet mills. In particular, it includes plant type, ownership structure, capacity, feedstocks, production volumes, coproducts,process fuel and electricity usage, water consumption, and products transportation and distribution. The survey response was based on year 2006 data. At the request of RFA, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) has performed a statistical analysis of the survey data, as an in-kind effort, under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between ANL and RFA. During November 2007 and January 2008, ANL processed and analyzed the raw data for statistics. This extended technical memo serves as an official documentation to summarize ANL?s analysis.
Authors: Wu, May
Modeling Tomorrow's Biorefinery-the NREL Biochemical Pilot Plant
3/1/2008
The Biochemical Pilot Plant housed in the Alternative Fuels User Facility at NREL in Golden, Colorado, provides state-of-the-art laboratories to develop and improve the technologies that convert biomass to fuels, chemicals, and materials. The focus is on testing processes to create high-value products from cellulosic biomass.
Life-Cycle Assessment of Energy and Greenhouse Gas Effects of Soybean-Derived Biodiesel and Renewable Fuels
3/1/2008
The life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas (GHG)emission impacts of three soybean-derived fuels were studied by expanding, updating, and using Argonne National Laboratory's Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model. The fuels studied included biodiesel produced from soy oil transesterification; renewable diesel produced from hydrogenation of soy oil by using two processes (renewable diesel I and II); and renewable gasoline produced from catalytic cracking of soy oil. Four allocation approaches were used to address the co-products: a displacement approach; two allocation methods, one based on energy value and one based on market value; and a hybrid approach that integrates both the displacement and allocation methods. Each of the four allocation approaches generated different results and demonstrate the importance of the methods used in dealing with co-product issues for these renewable fuels.
Authors: Huo, H.; Wang, M.; Bloyd, C.; Putsche, V.
Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles and the Vermont Grid: A Scoping Analysis
2/15/2008
The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the earth?s atmosphere is creating changes in the world?s climate. Reducing GHG emissions has become a national and international priority. Combusting carbon in the transportation sector contributes more than 28 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions (EPA, 2006). Within the transportation sector, light duty vehicles comprise about 60 percent of the GHG emissions footprint.
GHG emissions from the transportation sector are the fastest growing source of GHG emissions in the United States (EPA, 2006). In Vermont, the transportation sector is the largest in-state contributor of GHG emissions. One strategy to reduce transportation?s GHG emissions (primarily carbon dioxide, CO2) is to switch to lower carbon fuels. Because of Vermont?s low carbon electricity supply, switching some portion of the state?s light duty vehicle fleet to electricity could reduce GHG emissions.
This research report specifically examines the CO2 and NOx emissions of switching a significant number of Vermont vehicles from gasoline to electricity. In addition to the environmental and social impacts, the reliance on petroleum to fuel Vermont vehicles impacts the state?s economy and the pocket-books of consumers. Drivers in Vermont spent more than $1.1 billion to fuel vehicles in 2007, an increase of about $500 million dollars from 2002. Changing the fuel in Vermont vehicles can address both emissions and economic issues. Advances in electric drive systems and energy storage devices have made plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) a reality. Building on the success of hybrid electric vehicles, PHEVs allow the consumer to charge the vehicle?s battery pack directly from the electric grid rather than from the vehicle?s gas engine.
Authors: Letendre, S.; Watts, R.; Cross, M.
Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change
2/7/2008
Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products.
Authors: Searchinger, T.; Heimlich, R.; Houghton, R.; Dong, F.; Elobeid, A.; Fabiosa, J.; Tokgoz, S.; Hayes, D.; Yu, T-H.
Notes: Originally published in Science Express on 7 February 2008, Science 29 February 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5867, pp. 1238 - 1240DOI: 10.1126/science.1151861
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - January 2008
1/1/2008
The January 2008 Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report is a quarterly report keeping you up to date 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 Jan. 21 and Jan. 31, 2008, 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 illustrates that the nationwide average price for regular gasoline has risen 23 cents to $2.99 per gallon; CNG has risen 16 cents to $1.93; and ethanol (E85) has risen 11 cents to $2.51 per gallon.
Authors: Laughlin, M.D.
BAE/Orion Hybrid Electric Buses at New York City Transit
1/1/2008
This report is part of a series of evaluation from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) at NREL. The role of AVTA is to bridge the gap between research and development and the commercial availability for advanced vehicle technologies that reduce petroleum use while meeting air quality standards.
DOE/NREL evaluated the original 10 prototype diesel-hybrid buses from Orion and BAE Systems operated by the New York City Transit Co. (NYCT) The next report focused on 10 new compressed natural gas (CNG) and 10 next generation diesel hybrid electric buses. In the present evaluation, the focus is on hybrid-electric transit buses (equipped with BAE Systems' HybriDrive propulsion system) purchased by NYCT in an order group of 200 (Gen II), and their performance during their first year of service.
Authors: Barnitt, R.
A Renewable Energy Community: Key Elements
1/1/2008
This report assesses the feasibility of developing renewable energy communities in the U.S. to reduce the use of fossil fuel. Key elements necessary for such communities include sustainable design, solar/zero energy buildings, advanced transportation as well as power generation and load management.
Authors: Carlisle, N.; Elling, J.; Penney, T.