CEDM News: CEDM Researchers Analyze the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Using Natural Gas to Power Buses and Trucks
Ph.D. student Fan Tong and EPP faculty members Dr. Paulina Jaramillo and Dr. Inês L. Azevedo from Carnegie Mellon University recently evaluated the greenhouse gas emissions of using natural gas to power medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (such as transit buses, pick-up trucks, package delivery trucks, box trucks refuse trucks, and tractor trailers). The analysis indicates that “While using natural gas to fuel electric vehicles could achieve large emission reductions for medium-duty trucks, the results suggest there are no great opportunities to achieve large emission reductions for Class 8 trucks through natural gas pathways with current technologies. There are strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of using natural gas for MHDVs, ranging from increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, reducing life cycle methane leakage rate, to achieving the same payloads and cargo volumes as conventional diesel trucks.” The work appears in the journal Environmental Science & Technology (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es5052759). The College of Engineering also has published a featured story at (http://engineering.cmu.edu/media/feature/2015/06_05_natural_gas_transportation.html).