Evaluating Low-Carbon Transportation Technologies When Demand Responds to Price

Abstract

The carbon intensity (CI) of travel is commonly used to evaluate transportation technologies. However, when travel demand is sensitive to price, CI alone does not fully capture the emissions impact of a technology. Here, we develop a metric to account for both CI and the demand response to price (DR) in technology evaluation, for use by distributed decision-makers in industry and government, who are becoming increasingly involved in climate change mitigation as the costs of lowercarbon technologies fall. We apply this adjusted carbon intensity (ACI) to evaluate ethanol-fueled, hybrid, and battery electric vehicles individually and against policy targets. We find that all of these technologies can be used to help meet a 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of up to 40% below 2005 levels and that decarbonized battery electric vehicles can meet a 2050 target of 80%, even when evaluated using the ACI instead of CI. Using the CI alone could lead to a substantial overshoot of emissions targets especially in markets with significant DR, including in rapidly growing economies with latent travel demand. The ACI can be used to adjust decarbonization transition plans to mitigate this risk. For example, in examining several transportation technologies, we find that accelerating low-carbon technology transitions by roughly 5−10 years would mitigate the risk associated with DR estimates. One particularly robust strategy is to remove carbon from fuels through faster decarbonization of electricity and vehicle electrification.

Production and possible reduction of greenhouse gases produced during GI endoscopy activity: a systematic review of available literature

“…GHG emissions induced by the GI endoscopy continues well beyond the procedure. Transportation (and use of fuel) after the procedure,32 postprocedure follow-up visit (and related transportation), paper-procedure reports generated for communication33 and need for multiple repeat endoscopy procedures (eg, Barrett’s surveillance, colorectal polyp surveillance, oesophageal stricture management, repeat ERCP for stent removal or exchange, etc) add to significant GHG generation. Additionally, endoscopy procedure-related adverse events requiring hospitalisation could potentially increase this number further.…”

Lithium‐based batteries, history, current status, challenges, and future perspectives

“…262 Besides the capacity fading due to phase transitions and the formation of surface Li 2 Mn 2 O 4 , long-term fading is thought to be the result of oxygen loss from the de-lithiation of LiMn 2 O 4 , irreversible side reactions with electrolyte and Mn dissolution. 263,264 The presence of small amounts of H + ions (ppm) in the electrolyte promote the disproportionation of Mn 3+ , with Mn 4+ being retained in the lattice structure and Mn 2+ being leached out by the electrolyte as seen in Equation (13).…”

“…These properties include: (1) An extremely high gravimetric capacity (4200 mA h g −1 for Li 22 Si 5 ); (2) large volumetric capacity (9786 mA h cm −3 ); (3) its discharge potential is close to graphite (0.4 V vs. Li/Li + ); (4) chemical stability; (5) low cost due to its abundance (25.7% of earth's crust); and (6) its eco-friendly nature due to its nontoxicity. Because of these properties, the lithiation of silicon to form Li-Si intermetallic binary compounds like Li 12 Si 7 , Li 13 Si 4 , and Li 22 Si 5 have been extensively studied. 167,168 For instance, Si nanowire structures were reported to be electrochemically stable and after 250 cycles the reverse capacities and current densities were found to be 2000 mA h g −1 at 2 A g −1 , 1600 mA h g −1 at 4 A g −1 and 1100 mA h g −1 at 8 A g −1 .…”

“…Crucially, Li‐ion batteries have high energy and power densities and long‐life cycles, which also makes them ideal for electrical vehicles 11 . From an environmental perspective, if gasoline and diesel‐powered vehicles were replaced by electric vehicles, the subsequent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would significantly reduce the current global warming trend 12,13 . Therefore, to support this transition, the manufacture of Li‐ion batteries is predicted to increase exponentially during this decade.…”

“…11 From an environmental perspective, if gasoline and dieselpowered vehicles were replaced by electric vehicles, the subsequent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would significantly reduce the current global warming trend. 12,13 Therefore, to support this transition, the manufacture of Li-ion batteries is predicted to increase exponentially during this decade. Significantly, in 2019, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino for developing Li-ion batteries.…”