IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i12p2183-d120439.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis of Multiple Vehicle Fuel Pathways in China

Author

Listed:
  • Tianduo Peng

    (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    China Automotive Energy Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Sheng Zhou

    (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Zhiyi Yuan

    (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Xunmin Ou

    (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    China Automotive Energy Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract

The Tsinghua University Life Cycle Analysis Model (TLCAM) is applied to calculate the life cycle fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for more than 20 vehicle fuel pathways in China. In addition to conventional gasoline and diesel, these include coal- and gas-based vehicle fuels, and electric vehicle (EV) pathways. The results indicate the following. (1) China’s current dependence on coal and relative low-efficiency processes limits the potential for most alternative fuel pathways to decrease energy consumption and emissions; (2) Future low-carbon electricity pathways offer more obvious advantages, with coal-based pathways needing to adopt carbon dioxide capture and storage technology to compete; (3) A well-to-wheels analysis of the fossil energy consumption of vehicles fueled by compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) showed that they are comparable to conventional gasoline vehicles. However, importing rather than domestically producing LNG for vehicle use can decrease domestic GHG emissions by 35% and 31% compared with those of conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles, respectively; (4) The manufacturing and recovery of battery and vehicle in the EV analysis has significant impact on the overall ability of EVs to decrease fossil energy consumption and GHG emissions from ICEVs.

Suggested Citation

  • Tianduo Peng & Sheng Zhou & Zhiyi Yuan & Xunmin Ou, 2017. "Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Analysis of Multiple Vehicle Fuel Pathways in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2183-:d:120439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2183/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2183/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shen, Wei & Han, Weijian & Chock, David & Chai, Qinhu & Zhang, Aling, 2012. "Well-to-wheels life-cycle analysis of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 296-307.
    2. Li, Xin & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Qian & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Life-cycle fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission intensity of dominant secondary energy pathways of China in 2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 15-23.
    3. Patil, V. & Shastry, V. & Himabindu, M. & Ravikrishna, R.V., 2016. "Life-cycle analysis of energy and greenhouse gas emissions of automotive fuels in India: Part 2 – Well-to-wheels analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 699-712.
    4. Ke, Wenwei & Zhang, Shaojun & He, Xiaoyi & Wu, Ye & Hao, Jiming, 2017. "Well-to-wheels energy consumption and emissions of electric vehicles: Mid-term implications from real-world features and air pollution control progress," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 367-377.
    5. Muratori, Matteo & Moran, Michael J. & Serra, Emmanuele & Rizzoni, Giorgio, 2013. "Highly-resolved modeling of personal transportation energy consumption in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 168-177.
    6. Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang & Chang, Shiyan & Guo, Qingfang, 2009. "Energy consumption and GHG emissions of six biofuel pathways by LCA in (the) People's Republic of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 197-208, November.
    7. Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang & Chang, Shiyan, 2010. "Scenario analysis on alternative fuel/vehicle for China's future road transport: Life-cycle energy demand and GHG emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 3943-3956, August.
    8. Orsi, Francesco & Muratori, Matteo & Rocco, Matteo & Colombo, Emanuela & Rizzoni, Giorgio, 2016. "A multi-dimensional well-to-wheels analysis of passenger vehicles in different regions: Primary energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic cost," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 197-209.
    9. Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang & Chang, Shiyan, 2010. "Alternative fuel buses currently in use in China: Life-cycle fossil energy use, GHG emissions and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 406-418, January.
    10. Zhou, Guanghui & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Development of electric vehicles use in China: A study from the perspective of life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 875-884.
    11. Torchio, Marco F. & Santarelli, Massimo G., 2010. "Energy, environmental and economic comparison of different powertrain/fuel options using well-to-wheels assessment, energy and external costs – European market analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 4156-4171.
    12. Rahman, Md. Mustafizur & Canter, Christina & Kumar, Amit, 2015. "Well-to-wheel life cycle assessment of transportation fuels derived from different North American conventional crudes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 159-173.
    13. Ou, Xunmin & Yan, Xiaoyu & Zhang, Xiliang & Liu, Zhen, 2012. "Life-cycle analysis on energy consumption and GHG emission intensities of alternative vehicle fuels in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 218-224.
    14. Ou, Xunmin & Xiaoyu, Yan & Zhang, Xiliang, 2011. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for electricity generation and supply in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 289-297, January.
    15. Gupta, S. & Patil, V. & Himabindu, M. & Ravikrishna, R.V., 2016. "Life-cycle analysis of energy and greenhouse gas emissions of automotive fuels in India: Part 1 – Tank-to-Wheel analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 684-698.
    16. Jaramillo, Paulina & Samaras, Constantine & Wakeley, Heather & Meisterling, Kyle, 2009. "Greenhouse gas implications of using coal for transportation: Life cycle assessment of coal-to-liquids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen pathways," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2689-2695, July.
    17. Requia, Weeberb J. & Adams, Matthew D. & Arain, Altaf & Koutrakis, Petros & Ferguson, Mark, 2017. "Carbon dioxide emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: A life-cycle analysis in eight Canadian cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1390-1396.
    18. Han Hao & Zhexuan Mu & Shuhua Jiang & Zongwei Liu & Fuquan Zhao, 2017. "GHG Emissions from the Production of Lithium-Ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-12, April.
    19. Qiao, Qinyu & Zhao, Fuquan & Liu, Zongwei & Jiang, Shuhua & Hao, Han, 2017. "Cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions of battery electric and internal combustion engine vehicles in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1399-1411.
    20. Weisser, Daniel, 2007. "A guide to life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric supply technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1543-1559.
    21. Xunmin Ou & Xiliang Zhang & Xu Zhang & Qian Zhang, 2013. "Life Cycle GHG of NG-Based Fuel and Electric Vehicle in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-19, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peng, Tianduo & Ren, Lei & Ou, Xunmin, 2023. "Development and application of life-cycle energy consumption and carbon footprint analysis model for passenger vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    2. Qiao, Qinyu & Zhao, Fuquan & Liu, Zongwei & He, Xin & Hao, Han, 2019. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of Electric Vehicles in China: Combining the vehicle cycle and fuel cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 222-233.
    3. Mantas Felneris & Laurencas Raslavičius & Saugirdas Pukalskas & Alfredas Rimkus, 2021. "Assessment of Microalgae Oil as a Carbon-Neutral Transport Fuel: Engine Performance, Energy Balance Changes, and Exhaust Gas Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2020. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    5. José Adolfo Lozano-Miralles & Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez & Alfonso Gago-Calderón & Paulo Brito, 2019. "LCA Case Study to LED Outdoor Luminaries as a Circular Economy Solution to Local Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin & Yuan, Zhiyi & Yan, Xiaoyu & Zhang, Xiliang, 2018. "Development and application of China provincial road transport energy demand and GHG emissions analysis model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 313-328.
    7. Yuan, Zhiyi & Ou, Xunmin & Peng, Tianduo & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of multi-pathways natural gas vehicles in china considering methane leakage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    8. José Adolfo Lozano-Miralles & Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez & Carmen Martínez-García & José Ignacio Rojas-Sola, 2018. "Comparative Study on the Environmental Impact of Traditional Clay Bricks Mixed with Organic Waste Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Alherbawi, Mohammad & Parthasarathy, Prakash & Al-Ansari, Tareq & Mackey, Hamish R. & McKay, Gordon, 2021. "Potential of drop-in biofuel production from camel manure by hydrothermal liquefaction and biocrude upgrading: A Qatar case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    10. Nenming Wang & Guwen Tang, 2022. "A Review on Environmental Efficiency Evaluation of New Energy Vehicles Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-35, March.
    11. Andrew Chapman & Hidemichi Fujii, 2022. "The Potential Role of Flying Vehicles in Progressing the Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-11, October.
    12. Ye, Jiahao & E, Jiaqiang & Peng, Qingguo, 2023. "Effects of porosity setting and multilayers of diesel particulate filter on the improvement of regeneration performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    13. Dragan Lazarević & Libor Švadlenka & Valentina Radojičić & Momčilo Dobrodolac, 2020. "New Express Delivery Service and Its Impact on CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-29, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khan, Muhammad Imran & Shahrestani, Mehdi & Hayat, Tasawar & Shakoor, Abdul & Vahdati, Maria, 2019. "Life cycle (well-to-wheel) energy and environmental assessment of natural gas as transportation fuel in Pakistan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C), pages 1738-1752.
    2. Li, Xin & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Qian & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Life-cycle fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission intensity of dominant secondary energy pathways of China in 2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 15-23.
    3. Song, Hongqing & Ou, Xunmin & Yuan, Jiehui & Yu, Mingxu & Wang, Cheng, 2017. "Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of diesel/LNG heavy-duty vehicle fleets in China based on a bottom-up model analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 966-978.
    4. Ou, Xunmin & Yan, Xiaoyu & Zhang, Xiliang & Liu, Zhen, 2012. "Life-cycle analysis on energy consumption and GHG emission intensities of alternative vehicle fuels in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 218-224.
    5. Mansour, Charbel J. & Haddad, Marc G., 2017. "Well-to-wheel assessment for informing transition strategies to low-carbon fuel-vehicles in developing countries dependent on fuel imports: A case-study of road transport in Lebanon," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 167-181.
    6. Yuan, Zhiyi & Ou, Xunmin & Peng, Tianduo & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of multi-pathways natural gas vehicles in china considering methane leakage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2022. "Greenhouse gas life cycle analysis of China's fuel cell medium- and heavy-duty trucks under segmented usage scenarios and vehicle types," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    8. Orsi, Francesco & Muratori, Matteo & Rocco, Matteo & Colombo, Emanuela & Rizzoni, Giorgio, 2016. "A multi-dimensional well-to-wheels analysis of passenger vehicles in different regions: Primary energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic cost," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 197-209.
    9. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2020. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions of hydrogen supply chains for fuel-cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    10. Wu, Tian & Shang, Zhe & Tian, Xin & Wang, Shouyang, 2016. "How hyperbolic discounting preference affects Chinese consumers’ consumption choice between conventional and electric vehicles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 400-413.
    11. Xunmin Ou & Xiaoyu Yan & Xu Zhang & Xiliang Zhang, 2013. "Life-Cycle Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis for Bio-Liquid Jet Fuel from Open Pond-Based Micro-Algae under China Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-27, September.
    12. Siqin Xiong & Junping Ji & Xiaoming Ma, 2019. "Comparative Life Cycle Energy and GHG Emission Analysis for BEVs and PhEVs: A Case Study in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, March.
    13. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2023. "The carbon reduction potential of hydrogen in the low carbon transition of the iron and steel industry: The case of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    14. Xianchun Tan & Yuan Zeng & Baihe Gu & Yi Wang & Baoguang Xu, 2018. "Scenario Analysis of Urban Road Transportation Energy Demand and GHG Emissions in China—A Case Study for Chongqing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-32, June.
    15. Li, Weiqi & Dai, Yaping & Ma, Linwei & Hao, Han & Lu, Haiyan & Albinson, Rosemary & Li, Zheng, 2015. "Oil-saving pathways until 2030 for road freight transportation in China based on a cost-optimization model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 369-384.
    16. Ou, Xunmin & Xiaoyu, Yan & Zhang, Xiliang, 2011. "Life-cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for electricity generation and supply in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 289-297, January.
    17. Han, Dandan & Deng, Yuanwang & E, Jiaqiang & Feng, Changling & Tan, Yan, 2023. "Experimental and simulation study on Fe-beta controlling of hydrocarbon emission during cold start of gasoline vehicle world light vehicle test cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    18. Zhao, Xin & Doering, Otto C. & Tyner, Wallace E., 2015. "The economic competitiveness and emissions of battery electric vehicles in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 666-675.
    19. Lin, Chengtao & Wu, Tian & Ou, Xunmin & Zhang, Qian & Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Xiliang, 2013. "Life-cycle private costs of hybrid electric vehicles in the current Chinese market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 501-510.
    20. Li, Guoxuan & Cui, Peizhe & Wang, Yinglong & Liu, Zhiqiang & Zhu, Zhaoyou & Yang, Sheng, 2020. "Life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of biomass-to-hydrogen process in comparison with coal-to-hydrogen process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2183-:d:120439. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.