Leaking methane from natural gas vehicles: Implications for transportation policy in the greenhouse era

Victor, David G.

doi:10.1007/bf00154171

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…¶ Our estimate that current well-to-wheels leakage is 3.0% of gas produced assumes that 2.4% of gas produced is lost between the well and the local distribution system (based on EPA's 2011 GHG emission inventory) and that 0.6% is due to emissions during refueling and from the vehicle itself. For further discussion of the climatic implication of natural gas vehicles see (12). || EPA's GHG inventory suggests leakage from natural gas processing and transmission is 0.6% of gas produced, meaning production leakage must be greater than 2.6% for the total fuel cycle leakage of a power plant receiving fuel from a transmission pipeline to exceed 3.2%.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure

Alvarez

Pacala

Winebrake

et al. 2012

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

620

625

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Natural gas is seen by many as the future of American energy: a fuel that can provide energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process. However, there has also been confusion about the climate implications of increased use of natural gas for electric power and transportation. We propose and illustrate the use of technology warming potentials as a robust and transparent way to compare the cumulative radiative forcing created by alternative technologies fueled by natural gas and oil or coal by using the best available estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from each fuel cycle (i.e., production, transportation and use). We find that a shift to compressed natural gas vehicles from gasoline or diesel vehicles leads to greater radiative forcing of the climate for 80 or 280 yr, respectively, before beginning to produce benefits. Compressed natural gas vehicles could produce climate benefits on all time frames if the well-to-wheels CH 4 leakage were capped at a level 45-70% below current estimates. By contrast, using natural gas instead of coal for electric power plants can reduce radiative forcing immediately, and reducing CH 4 losses from the production and transportation of natural gas would produce even greater benefits. There is a need for the natural gas industry and science community to help obtain better emissions data and for increased efforts to reduce methane leakage in order to minimize the climate footprint of natural gas.W ith growing pressure to produce more domestic energy and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, natural gas is increasingly seen as the fossil fuel of choice for the United States as it transitions to renewable sources. Recent reports in the scientific literature and popular press have produced confusion about the climate implications of natural gas (1-5). On the one hand, a shift to natural gas is promoted as climate mitigation because it has lower carbon per unit energy than coal or oil (6). On the other hand, methane (CH 4 ), the prime constituent of natural gas, is itself a more potent GHG than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ); CH 4 leakage from the production, transportation and use of natural gas can offset benefits from fuel-switching.The climatic effect of replacing other fossil fuels with natural gas varies widely by sector (e.g., electricity generation or transportation) and by the fuel being replaced (e.g., coal, gasoline, or diesel fuel), distinctions that have been largely lacking in the policy debate. Estimates of the net climate implications of fuel-switching strategies should be based on complete fuel cycles (e.g., "wellto-wheels") and account for changes in emissions of relevant radiative forcing agents. Unfortunately, such analyses are weakened by the paucity of empirical data addressing CH 4 emissions through the natural gas supply network, hereafter referred to as CH 4 leakage.* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently doubled its previous estimate of CH 4 leakage from natural gas systems (6).In this paper, we illustrate the importance of...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure

Alvarez

Pacala

Winebrake

et al. 2012

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

620

625

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“…In-use methane leaks (including driving and refueling) from the CNG vehicle were assumed to be 0.6% [Alvarez et al, 2012;Victor, 1992]. Other inputs were taken from the Year 2015 default conditions of the December 2012 release of GREET.…”

Section: Light-duty Vehiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Cohan

Sengupta

2016

IJGW

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We compare the net greenhouse gas emissions impact of substituting natural gas for other fossil fuels for five purposes: light-duty vehicles, transit buses, residential heating, electricity generation, and export for electricity generation overseas. Emissions are evaluated on a fuel cycle basis, from production and transport of each fuel through end use combustion, based on recent conditions in the United States. To compare across sectors, the emissions difference between natural gas and its alternative is normalized by natural gas consumption to compute the net reduction in CO 2 e per MJ of natural gas used. Greatest emission reductions can be achieved by replacing existing coal-fired power plants (78 g CO 2 -e/MJ natural gas) or fuel oil furnaces (66 gCO 2 e/MJNG). Compressed natural gas in vehicles yields no significant reductions.Uncertainties arising from upstream emission rates for natural gas and the global warming potential of methane are quantified. The study demonstrates the critical role of deployment choice on the net climate impact of natural gas.

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“…95. Several of these ethical and structural issues are discussed in greater detail in D. G. Victor, 1990. 'Tradeable permits and greenhouse gas reductions: some issues for U.S. negotiators,' Global Environmental Policy Project Discussion Paper Series, Energy and Environmental Policy Center, John E Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…86 If so, this creates a nontrivial policy dilemma. This is because a policy which attempts to control global warming should, presumably, give incentives to switch away from leaky natural gas to other fuels.…”

Section: Methane (Ch4)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits of market-based strategies for slowing global warming: The case of tradeable permits

Victor

1991

Policy Sci

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Concern over an enhanced greenhouse effect has yielded interest in an international effort to control rising concentrations of greenhouse gases. Among the possible mechanisms for doing this is a comprehensive marked-based approach. This approach would establish a global system of tradeable permits for the sources and sinks of the major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2) , nitrous oxide (N20), methane (CH4) , and tropospheric ozone (03). (Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are not closely considered here because they are already controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.)The main finding is that -with the possible exception of CO 2 -not enough is currently known about these gases to accurately monitor such a system of tradeable permits. The main argument is made on the basis that the anthropogenic sources and sinks of non-CO2 gases are quite uncertain, making nation-by-nation monitoring very difficult. Also, monitoring many of the sources and sinks for these non-CO 2 gases will be very complicated -the administrative costs of the endeavor may be much larger than benefits of including these gases in a global system of tradeable permits. One alternative to the proposed comprehensive marked-based approach is a more limited system that includes only CO2. This finding has broader application to all greenhouse control mechanisms, not just tradeable permits.In addition to these natural science-related issues, the paper also briefly raises several other issues such as fear that markets will allow firms to 'buy up the environment.'

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Leaking methane from natural gas vehicles: Implications for transportation policy in the greenhouse era

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure

Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Limits of market-based strategies for slowing global warming: The case of tradeable permits

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