Publications

Find publications about alternative transportation, including alternative fuels, advanced vehicles, and regulated fleets.

Search Results | 6 publications
Title Author Date Category
Federal Tax Incentives Encourage Alternative Fuel Use 5/1/2008 Brochures & Fact Sheets

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado

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.

Sorting Through the Many Total-Energy-Cycle Pathways Possible with Early Plug-In Hybrids Gaines, L.; Burnham, A.; Rousseau, A.; Santini, D. 12/1/2007 Conference Papers & Proceedings

Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois; Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois; Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois; Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois

Using the "total energy cycle" methodology, the report compares U.S. near term (to about 2015) alternative pathways for converting energy to light-duty vehicle kilometers of travel (VKT) in plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), hybrids (HEVs), and conventional vehicles. For PHEVs, we present total energy-per-unit-of-VKT information two ways: (1) energy from the grid during charge depletion; (2) energy from stored on-board fossil fuel when charge sustaining. The report examines incremental sources of supply of liquid fuel such as oil sands, Fischer-Tropsch diesel via natural gas, and ethanol from cellulosic biomass. The report compares such fuel pathways to various possible power converters producing electricity, including new coal boilers;integrated, gasified coal combined cycle;existing natural gas fueled combined cycle;existing natural gas combustion turbines;wood-to-electricity;and wind/solar. Also considered was a simulated fuel cell HEV and a plug-in hybrid fuel cell vehicle.

Mobility Chains Analysis of Technologies for Passenger Cars and Light-Duty Vehicles Fueled with Biofuels: Application of the GREET Model to the Role of Biomass in America's Energy Future (RBAEF) Project Wu, May; Wu, Ye; Wang, Michael 5/30/2005 Reports

Argonne National Laboratory

The Role of Biomass in America?s Energy Future (RBAEF) is a multi-institution, multiple-sponsor research project. The primary focus of the project is to analyze and assess the potential of transportation fuels derived from cellulosic biomass in the years 2015 to 2030. For this project, researchers at Dartmouth College and Princeton University designed and simulated an advanced fermentation process to produce fuel ethanol/protein, a thermochemical process to produce Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD) and dimethyl ether (DME), and a combined heat and power plant to co-produce steam and electricity using the ASPEN Plus? model. With support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) conducted, for the RBAEF project, a mobility chains or well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis using the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model developed at ANL. The mobility chains analysis was intended to estimate the energy consumption and emissions associated with the use of different production biofuels in light-duty vehicle technologies.

Well-to-Wheels Analysis of Advanced Fuel/Vehicle Systems - A North American Study of Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Criteria Pollutant Emissions Brinkman, Norman; Wang, Michael; Weber, Trudy; Darlington, Thomas 5/30/2005 Reports

General Motors Corporation; Argonne National Laboratory; Air Improvement Resource, Inc.

An accurate assessment of future fuel/propulsion system options requires a complete vehicle fuel-cycle analysis, commonly called a well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis. In this WTW study, we analyzed energy use and emissions associated with fuel production (or well-to-tank [WTT]) activities and energy use andemissions associated with vehicle operation (or tank-to-wheels [TTW])activities. Energy resources, such as petroleum, natural gas (NG), coal, and biomass, as well as the energy carrier, electricity, are considered as feedstocks to produce various transportation fuels, including gasoline, diesel fuel, hydrogen (H2), ethanol (EtOH), compressed natural gas (CNG), methanol (MeOH), and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesel. The propulsion systems evaluated were spark-ignition (SI) engines, compression-ignition (CI) engines, hydrogen fuel cells, and fuel processor fuel cells, all in non-hybrid and hybrid electric configurations.This study updates and supplements a previous (2001) North American study, conducted by GM and others (General Motors [GM] et al. 2001), of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with advanced vehicle/fuel systems (GM Phase 1 North American study). The primary purposeof this Phase 2 study is to address criteria pollutant emissions, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 10 microns (PM10), and sulfur oxide emissions (SOx). We also updated the vehicle modeling for energyconsumption with the latest powertrain maps and added some additional propulsion systems, such as hydrogen internal combustion engines (ICEs).As in the previous study, the vehicle modeled was a 2010-model-year, full-sized GM pickup truck. The truck was selected because it is a high seller among light-duty vehicles (cars and trucks) in the U.S. market, and light-duty trucks account for a large proportion of the fuel used in the U.S. vehicle fleet. In our study, we attempted

Yosemite Waters Vehicle Evaluation Report: Final Results Eudy, L.; Barnitt, R.; Alleman, T. 8/1/2005 Reports

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Golden, Colorado

This study was a joint effort between the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The overall goal of the project was to evaluate the use of gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel in combination with passive catalytic regenerative particle filters in real-world service and characterize regulated and unregulated exhaust pollutant emissions from GTL fuel in comparison to petroleum-derived diesel fuel.

A Full Fuel Cycle Analysis of Energy and Emissions Impacts of Transportation Fuels Produced from Natural Gas Wang, M.;Huang, H. 12/1/1999 Reports

Argonne National Laboratory

Because of its abundance and because it offers significant energy and envirnomental advantages, natural gas has been promoted for use in motor vehicles. A number of transportation fuels are produced from natural gas: each is distinct in terms of upstream production activities and vehicle usage. In this study, researchers evaluated eight fuels produced from natural gas - compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, hydrogen, dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and electricity - for use in five types of motor vehicles - spark-ignition vehicles, compression-ignition vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, battery-powered electric vehicles, and fuel-cell vehicles. Because of great uncertainties associated with advances in both fuel production and vehicle technologies, near-term and long-term fuels and vehicle technologies were evaluated separately. The study reveals that, in general, the use of petroleum-based fuels reduces energy use and emissions relative to use of petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel, although different natural gas-based fuels in different vehicle technologies can have significantly different energy and emissions impacts.

Notes: This document is available on the Argonne National Laboratory Transportation Technology Research and Development Center Web Site - http://www.transportation.anl.gov/ttrdc/pdfs/TA/13.pdf