Reducing CO2 Emissions from Automobiles and Trucks - Term Paper Example

Reducing Co2 Emissions from Automobiles and Trucks of Table of Contents Page Introduction 4 Various strategies of reducing CO2 emissions from automobiles and trucks 5 Policy options to achieve Co2 reduction in automobiles and trucks 8 Conclusion and Recommendations 9 Annotated Bibliography 11 Appendix A 13 Appendix B 14 Appendix C 15 Introduction Carbon dioxide in automobiles and trucks is produced due to combustion of fossil fuels; contributing about 95% of the green house gases emitted in the transport sector. Globally, carbon dioxide emitted from automobiles contributes 5% of the total green house gases. Carbon dioxide emissions are one of the global challenges that contribute to the climate change which demand for collective action from both local and international cooperation. The auto industry sector is playing a leading role by proposing and embracing ways in which these emissions can be reduced in both its products and production sites. Various strategies are being used to reduce the emissions from automobiles and trucks as more research is being conducted to come up with better solutions (US DOT, 2010). This paper will discuss the current methods being used to reduce Co2 emissions from automobiles and other proposed methods that are still being reviewed. In the US, according to Dupont (2009), The National Highway Traffic safety Administration department (NHTSA) together with the Environmental Protection Agency have extended the National programme for reducing greenhouse gases emissions such as Co2 for Model years 2017 through 2025. In Europe, the automobile manufacturers have come up with practical, innovative and practical ways of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to show their commitment in achieving cost effective carbon dioxide reductions. Reduction of Carbon dioxide emissions calls for an integrated approach as no single approach can work out on its own. New developments in motor vehicle technology need to be combined with alternative sources of fuel, efficient car use and driving style, improved traffic management, and imposing carbon tax. For this to succeed, the automotive industries, fuel sector, policy makers and drivers must work t in partnership to achieve the desired results (Zachariadis, 2012). Various Ways of reducing CO2 Emissions from Automobiles and Trucks The most widespread method that is adopted is the introduction of low carbon fuels. These alternative fuel sources include bio diesel, natural gas, electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, and hydrogen. Research shows that these alternative methods apply for light-duty vehicles. Carbon dioxide reduction benefits from using renewable fuels depend on the production method of the fuel, the raw materials, carbon intensity of energy used in the production and the time frame evaluation. Research by the United States Transport Department (2010) shows use of advanced biofuels from cellulosic sources yields more benefits compared to first generation biofuels. Car engines are being adjusted in the current times and alternative fuels are being produced in large scale. Use of hydrogen in fuel could reduce about 80% of Carbon dioxide emissions per vehicle in the long term for a period of about 25 years or more. In case of electric vehicles, low carbon energy sources must be used in the battery technology in order to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the long term by about 80% (DOT, 2010). The second method that is being practiced in carbon emission reductions is increasing vehicle fuel economy. This method involves development and market introduction of advance engines and transmission models, materials that are light, improved vehicle aerodynamics with reduced rolling resistance. Currently, there are many technologies entering the market tailored for different consumer preferences, usage and driving styles. In the past more than 50 new carbon dioxide reducing technologies in vehicles have been introduced by ACEA members, reducing carbon emissions by 13% and other technologies are coming up (Bandivadeka, 2008). Hybrid vehicles are also being manufactured and fuel cell hydrogen engines which in the long term reduce carbon emissions in automobile and trucks. In the long term the trucks aerodynamic improvements, and efficient gasoline engines, and hybrid vehicles save on fuel costs which outweigh the cost incurred in developing these new technologies. However, the turnover time of the fleet limits the market penetration of these new technologies as trucks take 20 years to retire while passenger vehicles take about 15 years (Gellings, 2011). In light duty vehicles, increased fuel economy reduces carbon emissions significantly by 8-30% in advanced gasoline vehicles and by 16% in diesel cars. Hybrid electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 56% while plug in hybrid vehicles reduce the emissions by 46-75%. Heavy duty trucks that are retrofitted to use low resistance tyres and aerodynamic fairings reduce the CO2 emissions by 10 to 15%. In response, combined power train and resistance reduction technologies are being employed in new trucks to reduce the emissions per vehicle by 10-30% by the year 2030 (US DOT, 2010). Improving the efficiency of the transport system is another option that significantly reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This strategy focuses on optimizing the design, construction, operation and use of transportation networks. One of the methods that nations are using is ensuring that the National Highway speed is lowered, which yields immediate benefits as the carbon emissions are reduced by two percent. This method heavily relies on the level of compliance and enforcement of these regulations (Greene, German & Delucchi, 2009). Managing traffic congestion reduces the levels of emission by decreasing the rate of fuel consumption as traffic jams are a major source of carbon emissions. According to research by the Texas transportation Institute, nearly 3 billion gallons of fuel is wasted each due to congestion. Better road designs also reduce the rolling resistance which reduces the carbon emission by up to 5% (Peter & Jeffrey, 2006). Eco-driving is changing the driving styles with steps such as switching off the engine at short stops, shifting into a higher gear earlier, maintaining a steady speed in highest gear, removing unused weights from the car, regularly adjusting the tyre pressure and making good use of energy saving devices such as onboard computers and dynamic navigators. According to a research by the European Climate Change Programme, this method is highly effective and reduces the fuel consumed by automobiles and trucks and reduces the potential of CO2 emissions. Eco-driving requires comprehensive training of the drivers and may be introduced in the learners’ package (UNEP, 2010) Reducing carbon intensive travel activities contribute in the reduction of carbon emissions in automobiles and trucks. This reduces the miles travelled by a vehicle on road by minimizing the need to travel, increasing vehicle occupants and directing travels to other alternative methods that emit less green house gases. In the United States, the total impact of these measures would reduce the emission of CO2 to 17% by 2030 or 6 -21 % by 2050. A second measure under this category is the strategy in transport pricing. Introducing fee to vehicles per mile travelled of about 5% per mile, increasing the automobile fuel taxation by a dolar, or event the pay as you drive insurance encourage use of public transport. This reduces the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon by 3% which may increase as years go by (US DOT, 2010). In urban areas, expansion in urban transit services such as pedestrian and bicycle improvements has a capacity to generate modern reductions of 2-5% of carbon emissions by 2030. This would increase to about 10% as these patterns continue growing which comes with other benefits such as reducing the household transport cost, increase mobility, health benefits and improved national economies (Bandivadeka et al, 2008). Transportation planning and investment is one of the strategies can be integrated with other methods to reduce carbon emissions from automobiles and trucks. Here low carbon alternatives are funded, travel distances reduced and the operational efficiency of the general transport network is improved. Making good decisions on land use and coordinating the transport sector well with investments enhances effectiveness and lowers the cost in the sector (Dupont, A. 2009). Planning strategies such as building residential homes with hospitals, shopping malls, schools, recreational facilities and efficient transport such as electric train to serve the cities play a big role in reducing the total amount of carbon into the environment. As stated in MWCOG (2009), this lowers dependence of households on oil as the distances to hospitals and malls are shorter and even children can walk or drive to school as parents use minimum transport to work. This encourage biking, walking, use of public transport or other options such as train which has significantly reduced the total amount of carbon emitted in countries such as Japan and China. Price carbon has three mechanisms that can be applied to reduce carbon emissions. These are; increasing motor fuel tax to discourage emissions of CO2, Cap and trade system that allows trading in only a limited amount of CO2 to cap overall emissions in all economic sectors and carbon tax. Carbon tax gives consumers and business people an incentive to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the cost of carbon emitting products (UNEP, 2010). CO2 based tax on vehicles and alternative fuel sources significantly reduce carbon emissions by shaping the consumer demand and setting economic incentives for fuel suppliers and vehicle manufacturers. This method has much influence on the consumers as seen in some European Union countries such as Sweden, Netherlands and UK (Black, 2010). Carbon policy affects all the other methods adopted to reduce emissions by encouraging energy efficient vehicles, fuels that emit low carbon, reduction of travel demand and improvement in the transport sector. Lower carbon alternatives include; use of public vehicles instead of few passenger vehicles, telecommuting, carpooling, using low carbon fuels in automobiles, purchasing vehicles that are fuel efficient and coming up with compact developments that reduces the need to travel from one place to another (Zachariadis, 2012). Policy options to achieve Co2 reduction in automobiles and trucks In the transport sector, the commonly applied policies as indicated by IPCC (2007) are ; fuel economy, transport demand management, planning land use and transportation, non climate degrading policies that reduce green house gases and realizing co-benefits and ancillary benefits (Dupont, 2009). For each of the above discussed strategies to be implemented and achieve the goal of CO2 reduction, these policies must be involved. Policies in the transportation industry should work towards reducing CO2 emissions at the same time ensuring economic growth, transport availability and environmental sustainability. These policies are different as each nation sets its own for instance the United States has set efficiency standards in the transport sector. These standards advocate for efficient fuel consumption by encouraging citizens to incorporate fuel saving in their purchase. This policy has moderately played a part in the reduction of CO2 emission in the United States (US DOT, 2010) For countries to implement the carbon reduction strategy, a low carbon fuel standard is necessary. This is to encourage vehicle manufacturers and fuel suppliers to use technologies that reduce carbon emissions in their products. Another standard is setting lower speed limit on highways which has direct benefits in reduction of CO2 emissions. Apart from new technology, public policy support for innovations lead to more fuel efficiency and introduction of green vehicles like in the case of Singapore where the government has intervened in reducing private car ownership (UNEP, 2010). This makes it clear that promotion of public transport reduce the need for light duty vehicles as citizens get alternative transport sources. International cooperation must be supported by all nations working towards reduction of CO2 automobiles for sharing of knowledge, ideas and clean technology. People need to be educated on the impacts of their mode of transport as this could make them more receptive to environmental friendly use of automobiles. Trucks and trailer strategies have a challenge in implementation because of ownership form. This calls for a coordinated implementation between the entities and the government like in weight reductions and aerodynamic improvements. One of the Federal Policy approach in the US to make this possible is undertaking demonstration projects and disseminating information for advanced trucks, trailers and engine designs and offering low interest loans to owners to retrofit the old trucks (Black, 2010). Incentives should be adopted to change the human behavior regarding use of automobiles and trucks. These should not only be limited to economic incentives such as subsidies and pollution charges but should be broad enough to influence citizens, government and other stakeholders’ decisions. Behavior changes are seen in use of public transport, biking, walking, cleaner fuels and accepting green vehicles. This limits harmful emissions of carbon as well as encouraging research and innovations (MWCOG, 2009). Conclusion and Recommendations Various regulatory, economic and persuasive measures and policies have been discussed in the paper for reducing the levels of carbon emissions by automobiles and trucks. Regulatory measures discussed include fuel economy, carbon pricing and vehicle emission standards. Economic measures include tax on fuel, reducing price of cleaner fuels, planning transport and investment, carbon tax and managing traffic and congestion. Persuasive measures are those that encourage use of environmental friendly means such as walking, biking, car sharing, using Public vehicles and creating awareness. One of the measures that work well and is recommended especially for developing countries is congestion pricing and increasing parking fees. This discourage use of private cars which is at the rise and reduce fuel consumption reducing CO2 the emissions as seen in Seoul in South Korea. Local governments should encourage people to walk or use bicycles for short distances which is successful for instance the Marikina bikeways in Manila. Automobiles that use alternative sources of fuel are encouraged in order to have a significant reduction of CO2 emissions. The European Union has come up with a comprehensive set of measures for cutting CO2 emissions from automobiles instead of relying on voluntary statements. These measures are recommended as they encourage fuel efficiency improvements that are affordable aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 10% by 2020. In France there are penalties for purchasing high CO2 emitting vehicle and rebates too those opting for low CO2 emitting cars. This is recommended for other nations as it encourages low carbon vehicles and also the manufactures will have to change their products overall reducing carbon emissions. The strategy of fuel economy improvement such as the US CAFÉ standard is recommended whereby manufacturers are expected to meet a given target in manufacturing their vehicle products failure to which they are fined. Annotated Bibliography Bandivadeka et al. (2008). On the Road in 2035: Reducing Transportation’s Petroleum Consumption and GHG Emissions. Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, Report No. LFEE 2008-05 RP, Massachusetts Institute of Technology A current report on how alternative sources of fuel can be used to reduce reliance on petroleum thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Black, W. R. (2010). Sustainable transportation: Problems and solutions. New York: Guilford Press. The book focuses mainly on the US and this narrow down the information. Dupont, A. (2009). An American solution for reducing carbon emissions, averting global warming, creating green energy and sustainable employment. Falls Church, VA: Dupont Group. Gellings, C. W. (2011). Saving energy and reducing CO₂ emissions with electricity. Lilburn, GA: Fairmont Press. A very informative article on how electric vehicles significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Greene, D. L., J. German and M. A. Delucchi (2009). “Fuel Economy; The Case for Market Failure” In Reducing Climate Impacts in the Transportation Sector. Springer. Useful journal but the information has a limited scope. MWCOG (2009). Transportation Emission Reduction Measure Analysis Report: FY 2006-2008. Prepared for Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments by LDA Consulting, CIC Research, Inc., ESTC, and Center for Urban Transportation Research, January 27, 2009. http://www.mwcog.org/. This report has been very informative in giving figures and estimates. Peter N. and Jeffrey K. (2006) “Urban Design to Reduce Automobile Dependence”, An International Journal of Suburban and Metropolitan Studies: Vol.2: The author covers clearly the topic of urban planning well and shows clearly how it reduces Co2 emissions. Robert R. (2012), Global carbon dioxide emissions- facts and figures, Consumer Energy Report. NY. Educative article showing current trends in levels of Co2 emissions globally UNEP (2010) Reducing emissions from private cars; incentives measures for behavioral change, Prepared for Economics and Trade Branch, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, United Nations Environment Programme. A very informative report on how Co2 emissions from private cars can be reduced. US Department of Transport (2010) Transportations Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Volume 1 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting, Cambridge Systematics, Inc. This is an important report that has in-depth information regarding Co2 emission reduction strategies. Zachariadis, T. I. (2012). Cars and carbon: Automobiles and European climate policy in a global context. Dordrecht: Springer. This journal lists the European regulations in vehicle manufacturing that reduces the emissions of green house gases. Appendix A: A graph showing the global rate of growth in Carbon emission from 1965 to 2011 The rate of carbon emission is growing at a high rate in the past decate as compared to the previous ones an indication that that CO2 emissions is on the rise. Transport being the second leading in carbon emissions need to be adressed in order to implement those strategies that reduce the emissions. Source(Consumer Energy Report, 2011) Appendix B Table 1: A projection of CO2 emissions reduction in the US by fuel efficiency strategy as compared to conventional vehicle by the Year 2030 Strategy Per Vehicle GHG Reduction Compared to Conventional Vehicle, 2030 On-Road Light-Duty Vehicles Advanced Conventional Gasoline Vehicles 8—30% Diesel Vehicles 16% Hybrid Electric Vehicles 26—54% Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles 46—75% On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicles Retrofits of heavy-duty trucks to use aerodynamic fairings, trailer side skirts, low-rolling resistance tires, aluminum wheels, and planar boat tails 10—15% Power train and Resistance Reduction for New Trucks 10—30% Transit hybrid electric buses 10—50% Alternative fuel vehicles such as Hybrid Electric and Plug-In vehicles reduce carbon emissions. Efficient use of fuel is one of the strategies found to significantly reduce fuel emissions if well implemented. Source (US Department of Transport, 2010). Appendix C: List of Acronyms ACEA: Association des Constructeurs Européans dAutomobiles DOT, US: Department of Transport, United States MWCOG: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments UNEP: United Nations Environmental Programme US CAFÉ: United States federally mandated standard of average minimum miles-per gallon fuel consumption for all the cars produced by an automobile manufacturer in a given year. Read More