Potential contribution of bioethanol fuel to the transport sector of Vojvodina

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an Autonomous Province in Serbia and it is an energy-deficient country. The indigenous reserves of oil and gas are limited and the country is heavily dependent on the import of oil. The oil import bill is a serious strain on the country's economy and has been deteriorating the balance of payments situation. The country has become increasingly more dependent on fossil fuels and its energy security hangs on the fragile supply of imported oil that is subject to disruptions and price volatility. The transport sector has a 26% share in the total commercial energy consumption in Vojvodina. About 0.62 million tons of gasoline were consumed by this sector in 2008. Gasoline consumption in the transport sector is also a major source of environmental degradation especially in urban areas. Consequently, Vojvodina needs to develop indigenous, environment-friendly energy resources, such as bioethanol, to meet its transport sector's energy needs. Vojvodina produces about 3 million tons of sugar beet every year. There is a vast potential for bioethanol production from molasses of sugar beet in the country. Bioethanol can be used in transport sector after blending with gasoline, in order to minimize gasoline consumption and associated economical and environmental impacts. This paper presents the assessment of the potential contribution of bioethanol in the transport sector of Vojvodina. It is concluded that 20% of annual gasoline consumption in transport sector could be met from ethanol by the year 2026.     

Potential contribution of the forest sector to carbon sequestration in Finland

Although Finland's forest resources have been utilized intensively, the size of the total volume of the growing stock has increased since the mid-1960s, and hence increasing amounts of carbon have been sequestered by forests. The net sequestration by forests has also been substantial when compared with the CO₂ emissions resulting from energy generation and consumption based on fossil fuels and peat. It is also important, from the point of view of mitigating the effects of climate change, to assess how the sequestration capacity of forests may change under changing climatic conditions. This paper presents the results of a study assessing the development of the forest and wood-product carbon budget for Finland, based on regionally measured data, detailed dynamic models, and recent predictions concerning the changing climate. At the starting point for the simulation (1990), nearly 90% of the forest sector's carbon storage was found in the forest. Regular management transferred carbon from forests to wood products. Under the current climatic conditions, the simulated forest carbon storage increased 45% by the year 2100, and the wood-product storage by 320%, as a consequence of continuous production. Under changing climate conditions, the forest carbon storage increased, but started to decline when the temperature increase exceeded 2.5°C within 40 years.     

Modelling the transport sector fuel demand for developng economies

This paper concentrates on the transport sector of six developing countries with similar common denominators, namely Turkey, Thailand, Pakistan, Morocco, Tunisia and Malaysia. By using standard econometric techniques, we analyse the evolution of oil demand for road transport in these countries in relation to independent variables such as income, population, price of gasoline and diesel etc. Unlike the treatment in the present literature on the subject, gasoline and diesel consumption are estimated separately due to the high share of diesel in the total transport sector consumption. On the basis of the estimation over the period 1970–1990, on a country by country basis, we forecast the demand for these six countries until 2010. The results of this study indicate that the transport sector will be the driving force for energy and oil demand as part of economic growth in these developing countries. Its share in the future energy market structure is expected to grow. Consequently, the (pricing) policies of oil products in this sector have a crucial role for shaping rational economic and energy strategies within the framework of rising environmental concern.     

Hydrogen as a fuel in the transport sector in Algeria

A number of issues related more particularly to green gases emissions and fuel availability has resulted worldwide from the transport sector expansion. Stringent regulation laws, improvement in engine efficiency and alternative fuel options have been proposed to address these issues. However, the suitability of an alternative fuel depends on its performance, cost and availability. By its versatility in use and its renewability, hydrogen, as an alternative fuel, offers the best potential for reducing greenhouse gases emission, improving engine efficiency and ensuring fuel security.     

Environmental and economic feasibility of sugarcane ethanol for the Mexican transport sector

This study analyzes the environmental and economic feasibility of ethanol produced from sugarcane for use as a potential gasoline substitute in the Mexican transport sector from 2010 to 2030. One scenario was created by projecting the historical trend of energy demand assuming that a fraction of this demand is satisfied with ethanol produced from the cultivation of 2.9 million hectares of sugarcane. A life cycle study was performed according to the recommendations from the European Union Directive on Renewable Energies (that include direct land use change emissions) and was used to estimate life cycle Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The method used by Fingerman et al. (2010) was adopted to estimate the water consumption. In the economic analysis, the production cost of ethanol was calculated, and a mitigation cost for carbon dioxide equivalent emissions was estimated. The potential for employment generation was also estimated. The results demonstrate that water use increases by 29.4 times and that the costs increase by 10,706 million USD with the alternative scenario. This scenario, however, has the potential to create 560,619 direct jobs. Furthermore, GHG mitigation is confirmed since the reference scenario resulted in GHG gasoline life cycle emissions of 78.7 kgCO_2e/GJ while the alternative scenario resulted in Ethanol GHG emissions in the life cycle of 57.52 kgCO_2e/GJ.     

Prospects and impediments for hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles in the transport sector

Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles are often discussed as crucial elements in the decarbonisation of the transport systems. However, in spite of the fact that hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles have a long history, they are still seen only as a long-term mobility option. The major objective of this paper is to analyse key barriers to the increasing use of hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles. A special focus is put on their economic performance, because this will be most crucial for their future deployment. Mobility costs are calculated based on the total cost of ownership, and future developments are analysed based on technological learning. The major conclusion is that to achieve full benefits of hydrogen and fuel cells in the transport sector, it is necessary to provide stabile, long-term policy framework conditions, as well as to harmonize actions across regions to be able to take advantage of economies of scale.     

International experiences of ethanol as transport fuel: Policy implications for India

The need for biofuels, particularly liquid ones like ethanol and biodiesel, for transport has been felt by most of the countries and their governments have been trying to promote these fuels. Compared to petroleum, the use of biofuels for transport is still quite low in nearly every country. By far the largest production and use is of ethanol in the United States and Brazil, where similar volumes are used—many times higher than in any other country. Even then, ethanol represents less than 3% of transport fuel in USA and a little more than 50% of gasoline demand (by volume) in Brazil. However many countries, including the USA, Canada, several European countries (and the European Union), Australia and Japan including India are considering or have adopted a variety of policies that could result in much higher biofuels use over the next decade. This paper makes an attempt to draw upon the cross-country international experiences of ethanol as transport fuel to suggest policy implications for India     

Flexible sector coupling with hydrogen: A climate-friendly fuel supply for road transport

The substantial expansion of renewable energy sources is creating the foundation to successfully transform the German energy sector (the so-called ‘Energiewende’). A by-product of this development is the corresponding capacity demand for the transportation, distribution and storage of energy. Hydrogen produced by electrolysis offers a promising solution to these challenges, although the willingness to invest in hydrogen technologies requires the identification of competitive and climate-friendly pathways in the long run. Therefore, this paper employs a pathway analysis to investigate the use of renewable hydrogen in the German passenger car transportation sector in terms of varying market penetration scenarios for fuel cell-electric vehicles (FCEVs). The investigation focuses on how an H₂ infrastructure can be designed on a national scale with various supply chain networks to establish robust pathways and important technologies, which has not yet been done. Therefore, the study includes all related aspects, from hydrogen production to fueling stations, for a given FCEV market penetration scenario, as well as the CO₂ reduction potential that can be achieved for the transport sector. A total of four scenarios are considered, estimating an FCEV market share of 1–75% by the year 2050. This corresponds to an annual production of 0.02–2.88 million tons of hydrogen. The findings show that the most cost-efficient H₂ supply (well-to-tank: 6.7–7.5 €/kg_H2) can be achieved in high demand scenarios (FCEV market shares of 30% and 75%) through a combination of cavern storage and pipeline transport. For low-demand scenarios, however, technology pathways involving LH₂ and LOHC truck transport represent the most cost-efficient options (well-to-tank: 8.2–11.4 €/kg_H2).     

Fossil fuel reduction potential in Germany's transport sector by wind-to-hydrogen

Wind-to-hydrogen (WH) is a promising option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. Therefore, the reduction potential of fossil fuels by WH was estimated taking meteorological, geographical, and technical constraints into account. The wind resource estimation is based on the application of the high-resolution (200 m × 200 m) wind speed-wind shear model (WSWS). Together with the power curves of the six most frequently installed wind turbines in 2017, WSWS was used to assess Germany's technical wind energy potential. The WH and fossil fuel reduction potentials were calculated based on proton exchange membrane electrolysis. Results from the wind resource assessment demonstrate that in addition to the currently realized wind energy (89 TWh/yr in 2017), which is directly used for electricity generation, Germany's technical onshore potential for WH is 780 TWh/yr. This amount of renewable energy available for WH could replace 80.1% of the fossil fuels currently used in the transport sector.     

The role of renewable fuel supply in the transport sector in a future decarbonized energy system

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have been identified as two electromobility options which can help to achieve GHG emission reduction targets in the transport sector. However, both options will also impact the future energy system characterized by integration of various demand sectors and increasing intermittent power generation. The objective of this paper is to examine the optimal mix of both propulsion systems and to analyze the cost for renewable fuel supply. We propose a generic approach for dimensioning of fast charging and hydrogen refueling stations and optimization of the fuel supply system. The model is applied in a case study for passenger cars on German highways. The results indicate that a parallel build-up of stations for both technologies does not increase the overall costs. Moreover, the technology combination is also an optimal solution from the system perspective due to synergetic use of hydrogen but limited efficiency losses. Hence, BEVs and FCEVs should jointly contribute to the decarbonization of the future energy system.     

Environmental profile of ethanol from poplar biomass as transport fuel in Southern Europe

Liquid biofuels provide one of the few options for fossil fuel substitution in the short to medium-term and they are strongly being promoted by the European Union as transport fuel (such as ethanol) since they have the potential to offer both greenhouse gas (GHG) savings and energy security. A “well to wheel” analysis has been conducted for poplar based ethanol by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The aim of the analysis is to assess the environmental performance of three ethanol applications (E10, E85 and E100) in comparison with conventional gasoline. To compare the environmental profiles, the study addressed the impact potentials per kilometre driven by a middle size passenger car, taking into account the performance difference between ethanol blends and gasoline. According to the results of this study, fuel ethanol derived from poplar biomass may help to reduce the contributions to global warming, abiotic resources depletion and ozone layer depletion up to 62%, 72% and 36% respectively. Reductions of fossil fuel extraction of up to 80% could be achieved when pure ethanol is used. On the contrary, contributions to other impact categories would be increased, specifically to acidification and eutrophication. In both categories, ethanol based blends are less environmentally friendly than conventional gasoline due to the higher impact from the upstream activities. Research focussed on the reduction of the environmental impacts should be pointed forward poplar cultivation as well as ethanol conversion plant (enzyme manufacturing, energy production and distillation). In this study poplar cultivation was really intensive in order to obtain a high yield. Strategic planning according to the location of the crops and its requirements should help to reduce these impacts from its cultivation.     

Hydrogen infrastructure for the transport sector

The aim of this paper is to review the factors already discussed in the literature and identify gaps or issues which seem to require further debate in relation of the introduction of hydrogen in the transport sector. Studies in the academic and grey literature have analysed transport systems with a rather wide range of hydrogen penetration rates, utilisation of the infrastructure, hypotheses on the dynamics of the systems, capital costs of the infrastructure and hydrogen price. Most of the issues which could widen the debate in the literature are related to policy instruments. In particular, more attention should be paid to the policy instruments needed to foster co-ordination among stakeholders, persuade drivers to buy hydrogen vehicles despite the existence of a sparse infrastructure; guarantee investment in the early, possibly loss-making, retail stations and to foster financially sustainable government commitments. The effect of limited availability of hydrogen vehicle models on the penetration rates in the literature and the sensitivity of the hydrogen price to taxation from the government are other two issues deserving a more in-depth discussion.     

Energy efficiency in the transport sector

The distribution of energy use in the transport sector in the United States of America is presented and analysed in terms of the efficient use of energy in various applications. Comparisons are drawn with other modelling efforts.     

燃料乙醇能源系统的生态重组

以木薯为原料的燃料乙醇传统生产模式是农业和工业两个简单线性过程的叠加,资源消耗量大,排放废物多。根据工业生态学原理,借鉴自然生态系统的模式对该过程进行生态重组,通过引入分解者及消费者,使物质、能量在系统内循环成为可能,系统呈现复杂化趋势,形成工、农业共生体。经生态重组后,系统产生的可燃气自给有余,年产燃料乙醇2.5万t的系统副产物可饲养生猪5.0万头、产有机肥料30.0万t、可降解塑料5.4万t;年可减排CO2 2.4万t,处理废液34.0万t、木薯茎秆等农业废弃物22.7万t,额外创造16亿元经济收入,节约生产成本550万元。     

On the economics of hydrogen from renewable energy sources as an alternative fuel in transport sector in Austria

The core objective of this work is to analyse the possible future relevance of hydrogen from renewable energy sources in the transport sector from an economic point-of-view with special focus on Austria. The analysis is conducted in a dynamic framework until 2050.     

Environmental assessment of the Greek transport sector

Transport constitutes a crucial factor to the quality of life, since many people depend greatly on access to a reliable transport system. However, there are concerns about the impacts of the transport system on the quality of life, since it constitutes one of the main sources of greenhouse gases and also gives rise to significant air pollution stemming from acidifying pollutants, ozone precursors and particulate matter. During the last decade, the demand for transport services in Greece has rapidly grown following the European trend. Transport policies have recognised the need to restrain transport growth and to improve the various transport modes. Technology and fuel improvements have resulted in decreases of emissions of certain pollutants. Taking into account the major role of road transport in Greece for both passenger and goods transport, this work is focused on the assessment of the Greek transport sector. The changes made in the Greek transport sector during the past decade as well as the adverse environmental impacts of the Greek transport sector are presented and analysed. This work aims to present, assess and investigate the progress of the Greek transport sector—over the past decade—in relation to its sustainability. The scope is to examine the effectiveness of various emission reduction measures, in terms of their effectiveness in reducing emissions from transport.     

Meeting the challenges in the transport sector

This paper provides an industry leader's perspectives on the potential for transportation fuel cells, reviewing their development progress, describing their advantages and barriers, and identifying paths to successful commercial deployment. UTC Power has developed proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology for transportation since 1998, building upon applicable innovations from the company's space fuel cell and stationary fuel cell programs. PEM fuel cell durability improvements are discussed, highlighting achievements in the understanding of decay mechanisms and the design of effective mitigations. The potential for high-volume production to make automotive fuel cells cost competitive with internal combustion engines is explained. The paper underscores the important role that initial deployment of PEM technology for transit buses can play, although development of automotive fuel cells must continue in parallel as the hydrogen infrastructure develops. Suggestions are offered on how policies and regulations, communication and education, and improved codes and standards can all help to promote the widespread use of fuel cells in transportation.     

Hydrogen fuel and the Belgian transport sector: A critical assessment from an environmental and sustainable development perspective

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the potential role of hydrogen (H₂) in the Belgian transport sector in the context of sustainable and environmentally friendly growth. This paper starts by examining the energy-climate roadmap and the emission mitigation programme defined by the Belgian federal government in the context of environmental sustainability. Then, the Belgian situation is critically evaluated in light of the needs for H₂ fuel in the transport sector, as well as issues about a roadmap on environmental considerations for a sustainable future, while preserving the country's economic stakes. There are several key advances in this direction, especially as H₂ is seen as one of the best viable options for sustained development, unlike other possibilities. This paper also highlights some limitations that make it difficult to accelerate the transition to a sustainable H₂ energy future. Although there are many interests in favour of an advanced and non-polluting transport system, there are differing views on the approach to be taken in political decision-making at national level. Therefore, this study will help public authorities to better integrate environmental and sustainability issues in the context of a transition to a comprehensive hydrogen economy in the current transport sector.     

Energy efficiency in the Japanese transport sector

We examine energy efficiency in the Japanese transportation sector since the 1970s. Comparisons with the United States and other developed economies illustrate that Japan primarily stands out due to low activity levels and modal structure rather than modal energy intensity. On-road automobile energy intensity has shown little improvement, albeit from a low base, over the past four decades. We also consider policy measures undertaken by the Japanese government. Political arrangements in Japan after World War II made it attractive for politicians to pursue energy conservation by making transportation, particularly by automobile, expensive for the average Japanese citizen. The revenues raised from various fees and taxes on automobile transportation were redistributed to core supporters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. These political arrangements have come under fire in recent years, calling into question Japan's traditional approach towards transportation sector energy efficiency.     

中粮集团"联姻"丰原生化打造燃料乙醇产业新平台

作为国内燃料乙醇的龙头企业,丰原生化(000930)在资金匮乏面前,终于选择了引入战略投资者。而中粮集团的强势入主,在为丰原生化带来大笔资金的同时,也为自身生物质能源的发展搭建起一个新的平台。