Private Vehicles for Personal Transportation

1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Amann
Keyword(s):  
Electric Propulsion ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Definitive Evidence ◽  
Personal Transportation ◽  
Future Emissions

In the United States, private personal transportation has become dominated by the automobile, a platform supported on four wheels and propelled by an internal combustion engine (ICE). Some of the reasons why this combination has emerged as the preferred choice are reviewed. Since urban air quality has become an issue, the ICE has kept pace with progressively more stringent exhaust-emissions regulations. Future emissions standards will encourage the use of alternative fuels and battery-electric propulsion. Looking far into the future, the depletion of fossil-fuel resources and/or definitive evidence that greenhouse gases are actually changing the global climate would foster a shift toward nuclear and solar energy. The automobile platform is compatible with such a shift. The ICE and the electric motor remain as potential motive sources, although they would face some difficult challenges.

scholarly journals American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Hsun Cheng ◽  
Minliang Yang ◽  
Yu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Energy System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
The Past ◽  
Change Problem

As the leader of the largest economy, President of the United States has substantive influence on addressing the global climate change problem. However, presidential election is often dominated by issues other than energy problems. This paper focuses on the on-going 2016 presidential election, examining the energy plans proposed by the leading Democrat and Republican candidates. Our data from the Iowa caucus survey in January 2016 suggests that voters are more concerned about terrorism and economic issues than environmental relative issues. We then compare the Democratic and Republican candidate’s view of American’s energy future, and evaluate their proposed renewable energy targets. We find that the view on renewable energy is polarized between Democratic and Republican candidates, while candidates from both parties agree on the need for energy efficiency. Results from our ordinal least squares regression models suggest that Democratic candidates have moderate to ambitious goals for developing solar and other renewable energy. The Republican candidates favor fossil fuel and they neglect to provide any plan for renewable energy. In addition, this trend of polarization has grown more significant when compared with the past three presidential elections. Our observation suggests that energy issues need to be discussed more to draw broader attention to salient issues of diversifying and decarbonizing the nation’s energy system.

Transportation Integrating Green Energy Resources (TIGER)™: A Solar-Biodiesel Hybrid Commuter Vehicle

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushil H. Bhavnani
Keyword(s):  
Internal Combustion Engine ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
Trade Offs

Over the past two decades, several options have emerged as alternatives to traditional internal combustion engine-powered transportation systems. The alternative power sources garnering the most commercial interest have been hydrogen fuel-cells, battery-powered electric, propane, biodiesel, ethanol, and compressed natural gas. “Transportation Integrating Green Energy Resources” (TIGER)™ is a prototype hybrid vehicle that optimizes consumer desire for performance, alternative fuels, and environmental emissions reduction. It is powered by a combination of an electric motor and a biodiesel internal combustion engine. It is a two-passenger vehicle with a solarelectric, zero-emissions primary energy source for the daily commute while still permitting long-range travel utilizing the range-extension provided by the biodiesel engine. The average daily commute in the United States is less than 50 miles. During daily commuting use, the vehicle will operate solely as a solar-electric car. The electric vehicle (EV) system will be charged by deployable solar cells on its top surface while it is parked in a sun-lit parking lot during the workday. This charge will be sufficient to replenish energy used during a 50-mile commute. The commute is patterned as being comprised of 40 mph segments representing travel on arterial city roads and a 70-mph segment representing interstate highway travel. The biodiesel engine functions as the secondary power source to permit long-range trips with a refueling stop planned for around 350 miles; comparable to a conventional vehicle. The paper will report key elements of the vehicle design, including trade-offs between energy efficiency and passenger comfort/safety. Details of the various sub-systems such as the energy sources, the hybrid drive-train, and subsystem integration will be presented.

scholarly journals Impacts of future climate change and effects of biogenic emissions on surface ozone and particulate matter concentrations in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4789-4806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. F. Lam ◽  
J. S. Fu ◽  
S. Wu ◽  
L. J. Mickley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biogenic Emissions ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Future Emissions

Abstract. Simulations of present and future average regional ozone and PM2.5 concentrations over the United States were performed to investigate the potential impacts of global climate change and emissions on regional air quality using CMAQ. Various emissions and climate conditions with different biogenic emissions and domain resolutions were implemented to study the sensitivity of future air quality trends from the impacts of changing biogenic emissions. A comparison of GEOS-Chem and CMAQ was performed to investigate the effect of downscaling on the prediction of future air quality trends. For ozone, the impacts of global climate change are relatively smaller when compared to the impacts of anticipated future emissions reduction, except for the Northeast area, where increasing biogenic emissions due to climate change have stronger positive effects (increases) to the regional ozone air quality. The combination effect from both climate change and emission reductions leads to approximately a 10 % or 5 ppbv decrease of the maximum daily average eight-hour ozone (MDA8) over the Eastern United States. For PM2.5, the impacts of global climate change have shown insignificant effect, where as the impacts of anticipated future emissions reduction account for the majority of overall PM2.5 reductions. The annual average 24-h PM2.5 of the future-year condition was found to be about 40 % lower than the one from the present-year condition, of which 60 % of its overall reductions are contributed to by the decrease of SO4 and NO3 particulate matters. Changing the biogenic emissions model increases the MDA8 ozone by about 5–10 % or 3–5 ppbv in the Northeast area. Conversely, it reduces the annual average PM2.5 by 5 % or 1.0 μg m−3 in the Southeast region.

scholarly journals Low-Carbon Futures for Bioethylene in the United States

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1958
Author(s):  
Gillian Foster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
Development Pathway ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Corn Grain

The manufacture of the chemical ethylene, a key ingredient in plastics, currently depends on fossil-fuel-derived carbon and generates significant greenhouse gas emissions. Substituting ethylene’s fossil fuel feedstock with alternatives is important for addressing the challenge of global climate change. This paper compares four scenarios for meeting future ethylene supply under differing societal approaches to climate change based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. The four scenarios use four perspectives: (1) a sustainability-focused pathway that demands a swift transition to a bioeconomy within 30 years; (2) a regional energy-focused pathway that supports broad biomass use; (3) a fossil-fuel development pathway limited to corn grain; and (4) a fossil-fuel development pathway limited to corn grain and corn stover. Each scenario is developed using the latest scientifically informed future feedstock analyses from the 2016 Billion-Ton report interpreted with perspectives on the future of biomass from recent literature. The intent of this research is to examine how social, economic, and ecological changes determining ethylene supply fit within biophysical boundaries. This new approach to the ethylene feedstocks conundrum finds that phasing out fossil fuels as the main source of U.S. ethylene is possible if current cellulosic ethanol production expands.

scholarly journals The oil market: players, challenges, and opportunities

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Negar Partow
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Oil Market ◽  
Active Player ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Short Time

Growing concern over the ever-increasing price of oil makes investigating new approaches to oil policy necessary. In the last year the price of oil has increased sharply due to the instability and the political tensions in the Middle East. Such an increase in prices in a short time has significant implications for oil-dependent societies. It also means that major oil consumers like China and the United States invest in storing oil, which could result in more shortage and even higher prices. Although governments attempt to lessen their dependency on fossil fuel by investing in alternative fuels, in the short term they need to form strategies to cope with such unstable situations. New Zealand in this regard remains a unique case, with many underdeveloped oil reserves and a possible future as an active player in the international oil market.

scholarly journals Hybrid Electro Vehicle

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Electric Propulsion ◽  
Hybrid Electric Vehicle ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Hybrid Vehicles ◽  
Conventional Vehicle ◽  
Alternative Technologies ◽  
Electric Propulsion System

Now-a-days, the environmental impact of automobiles is increasingly becoming one of the most important social issues. Major environmental impact is smog producing gases [2]. These gases emitted from the vehicles may pollute the air, water, soil and it results in acid rain, global warming, nausea and also leads to death. To meet current and future regulations with less emission of gases, alternative technologies like Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is being developed. A HEV is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) system with an electric propulsion system. These hybrid vehicles reduce the discharge of pollutants from the vehicles powered by fossil fuel. These vehicles are propelled by electric motors which is powered by the energy stored in the batteries [5]. The battery charges when the vehicle is in running condition. HEVs are fuel efficient and is good to the environment. It produces twice as many miles per gallon. The presence of this method is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle.

scholarly journals Urban Air Pollution May Enhance COVID-19 Case-Fatality and Mortality Rates in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 100047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donghai Liang ◽  
Liuhua Shi ◽  
Jingxuan Zhao ◽  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Jeremy A. Sarnat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Urban Air Pollution ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Urban Air

1993 Soichiro Honda Lecture: The Challenges of Change in the Auto Industry: Why Alternative Fuels?

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Auto Industry ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
Alternative Fuel Vehicles ◽  
The Past ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Difficult Transition

Development of vehicles to operate on nonpetroleum fuels began in earnest in response to the energy shocks of the 1970s. While petroleum will remain the predominant transportation fuel for a long time, petroleum supplies are finite, so it is not too soon to begin the difficult transition to new sources of energy. In the past decade, composition of the fuel utilized in the internal combustion engine has gained recognition as a major factor in the control of emissions from the tailpipe of the automobile and the rate of formation of ozone in the atmosphere. Improvements in air quality can be realized by using vechicles that operate on natural gas, propane, methanol, ethanol, or electricity, but introduction of these alternative fuel vehicles presents major technical and economic challenges to the auto industry, as well as the entire country, as long as gasoline remains plentiful and inexpensive.

Transportation Fuel Resiliency: Case Study of Tampa Bay

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110416
Author(s):  
Alexander Kolpakov ◽  
Austin Marie Sipiora ◽  
Caley Johnson ◽  
Erin Nobler
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tampa Bay ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
Fuel Supply ◽  
Preparedness Planning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hurricane Irma

This case study presents findings from an analysis of the emergency preparation and response for Hurricane Irma, the most recent hurricane impacting the Tampa Bay region. The Tampa Bay region, in particular, is considered one of the most vulnerable areas in the United States to hurricanes and severe tropical weather. A particular vulnerability stems from how all petroleum fuel comes to the area by marine transport through Port Tampa Bay, which can be (and has been in the past) impacted by hurricanes and tropical storms. The case study discussed in this paper covers previous fuel challenges, vulnerabilities, and lessons learned by key Tampa Bay public agency fleets during the past 10 years (mainly as a result of the most recent 2017 Hurricane Irma) to explore ways to improve the area’s resilience to natural disasters. Some of the strategies for fuel-supply resiliency include maintaining emergency fuel supply, prioritizing fuel use, strategically placing the assets around the region to help with recovery, investing in backup generators (including generators powered by alternative fuels), planning for redundancies in fuel supply networks, developing more efficient communication procedures between public fleets, hurricane preparedness-planning, and upgrading street drainage systems to reduce the threat of local flooding.

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