Comparison of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gases from Natural Gas Pathways for Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Tong, Fan; Jaramillo, Paulina; Azevedo, Inês M.L.

doi:10.1021/es5052759

Cited by 82 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The measured Barnett methane leakage is low enough that gas fired electricity in this region causes less climate forcing than coal-fired electricity (see the SI Appendix for details, including effect of CH 4 mitigation). By contrast, use of compressed natural gas sourced in the Barnett instead of diesel for freight trucks would cause greater forcing for several decades (1,39,40).…”

Section: Methane Emissions Are Significantly Higher Than Estimates Bamentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions

Zavala-Araiza

Lyon

Alvarez

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

252

264

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Published estimates of methane emissions from atmospheric data (top-down approaches) exceed those from source-based inventories (bottom-up approaches), leading to conflicting claims about the climate implications of fuel switching from coal or petroleum to natural gas. Based on data from a coordinated campaign in the Barnett Shale oil and gas-producing region of Texas, we find that top-down and bottom-up estimates of both total and fossil methane emissions agree within statistical confidence intervals (relative differences are 10% for fossil methane and 0.1% for total methane). We reduced uncertainty in top-down estimates by using repeated mass balance measurements, as well as ethane as a fingerprint for source attribution. Similarly, our bottom-up estimate incorporates a more complete count of facilities than past inventories, which omitted a significant number of major sources, and more effectively accounts for the influence of large emission sources using a statistical estimator that integrates observations from multiple ground-based measurement datasets. Two percent of oil and gas facilities in the Barnett accounts for half of methane emissions at any given time, and high-emitting facilities appear to be spatiotemporally variable. Measured oil and gas methane emissions are 90% larger than estimates based on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Inventory and correspond to 1.5% of natural gas production. This rate of methane loss increases the 20-y climate impacts of natural gas consumed in the region by roughly 50%. methane emissions | oil and gas emissions | greenhouse gas footprint | natural gas supply chain | Barnett Shale M ethane (CH 4 ), the principal component of natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas. Although natural gas emits less carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) per unit of energy than coal or oil when burned, CH 4 losses during the production, processing, transportation, and use of natural gas reduce its climate advantage compared with other fossil fuels. For example, if CH 4 losses are large enough (e.g., ∼3% of production), new natural gas power plants can cause greater climate damage than new coal plants for decades or longer (∼1% when comparing natural gas to diesel freight trucks) (1).The lack of current data on CH 4 emissions, magnified by intense public concern over the broader environmental implications of shale gas development, has stimulated significant research to improve estimates of CH 4 emissions (2-18). A recurring theme in recent literature is that "top-down" (TD) approaches produce estimates that are significantly higher than those from "bottomup" (BU) approaches. Concerns about available inventories and divergent TD and BU estimates create confusion regarding policy formulation and leave room for conflicting claims about the greenhouse gas implications of increased use of natural gas.TD approaches for estimating total CH 4 emissions at the regional or larger scale include airborne mass balance (2-4, 19), atmospheric transport models (5,6,(20)(21)(22)(23), and enhancem...

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Section: Methane Emissions Are Significantly Higher Than Estimates Bamentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions

Zavala-Araiza

Lyon

Alvarez

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

252

264

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, the benefits of this substitution in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions may be limited. The life-cycle emissions assumptions in our simulations implies a savings of just 8 kg CO 2 over 300 miles by substituting from gasoline to CNG, and prior research suggests that permile life-cycle CO 2 emissions from CNG may actually be higher than those of gasoline [36,39]. Unfortunately, although E85 can have far lower life-cycle emissions (depending on the production process [40]), the higher prices and lower fuel economy associated with E85 reduces its attractiveness against other, higheremitting alternatives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choice at the pump: measuring preferences for lower-carbon combustion fuels

Helveston

Seki

Min

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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A decarbonized future will require a transition to lower carbon fuels for personal transportation. We study consumer preferences for combustion fuels including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) using consumer choice survey data from two settings: online (n=331) and in-person at refueling stations (n=127). Light-duty vehicle owners were asked in a series of choice tasks to choose among fuels that varied in type, price, CO 2 emissions, and location of origin for a hypothetical vehicle that could accept all fuels. We find that the majority of gasoline and E85 users are willing to substitute towards other fuels at today's prices and attributes, while diesel users have a strong preference for diesel fuel. We also find that respondents are willing to pay on average $150/ton CO 2 avoided from fuel consumption-more than most estimates of the social cost of carbon. Thus, communicating the climate benefits from alternative fuels may be an important strategy for decarbonizing the transportation sector.

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“…As depicted in Figure 7, results are strictly affected by the provision distance: alternative scenario (10 km) achieved around 1/3 of the overall impact evaluated for the 30 km scenario. In fact, as reported [28][29][30] the replacement of diesel with NG in vehicles such as trucks and tractor trailers seems to contribute greatly to CO2 emission mitigation, reducing the potential impact on climate change. Differently from the CO2 reduction, which is detected within the whole life cycle of a vehicle (and in particular during its operation procedures), SOx and PM decrease is achieved if the total amount is taken into account [30].…”

Section: %mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…In addition, further reduction is obtained if hybrid trucks are considered: this technology seems to contribute to the climate change mitigation, reducing the operation emissions of around −25% if compared with a traditional diesel truck [31]. Moreover, according to Tong et al [29], the use of the full electric MHDVs (medium and heavy-duty vehicles) leads to a greater overall GHGs reduction, estimated around 31%-40%.…”

Section: %mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomass Residues to Renewable Energy: A Life Cycle Perspective Applied at a Local Scale

et al. 2016

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Italy, like every country member of the European Union (EU), will have to achieve the objectives required by the Energy Roadmap 2050. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the environmental impacts of residue recovery arising from the management of public and private green feedstocks, activity of the cooperative "Green City" in the Bologna district, and usage in a centralized heating system to produce thermal energy for public buildings. Results, obtained using the ReCipe impact assessment method, are compared with scores achieved by a traditional methane boiler. The study shows some advantages of the biomass-based system in terms of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and consumption of non-renewable fuels, which affect climate change (−41%) and fossil resources depletion (−40%), compared to the use of natural gas (NG). Moreover, scores from network analysis denote the great contribution of feedstock transportation (98% of the cumulative impact). The main reason is attributable to all requirements to cover distances, in particular due to stages involved in the fuel supply chains. Therefore, it is clear that greater environmental benefits could be achieved by reducing supply transport distances or using more sustainable engines.

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Comparison of Life Cycle Greenhouse Gases from Natural Gas Pathways for Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Cited by 82 publications

References 38 publications

Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions

Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions

Choice at the pump: measuring preferences for lower-carbon combustion fuels

Biomass Residues to Renewable Energy: A Life Cycle Perspective Applied at a Local Scale

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