Fan Tong

Fan joined the department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) in Fall 2012 after working for two years at a premier national research institute in China where he focused on the coal and electricity sectors.  His research is exploring the “switch to gas” that is being promoted by growing production of shale gas.  He is now working on two projects. For the first project, Fan is developing and applying a partial equilibrium model to evaluate the comparative strengths and weaknesses of natural gas consumption pathways for the period from 2010 to 2035.  His work should provide insights on the society-wide effects of future natural gas consumption pathways and help to support the development of policies designed to make the most effective use of America’s new found abundant natural gas resources.

For the second project, Fan is applying life-cycle analysis (LCA) method to examine the life-cycle greenhouse emissions and vehicle-operation-induced criteria pollutants from natural gas pathways for transportation. Compared to existing studies, this study is more comprehensive and consistent since other studies focused on specific natural gas pathways. In addition, this study utilizes the up-to-date data of shale gas production and upstream emissions while existing studies are outdated. His work should provide valuable information of understanding the impacts of using natural gas in the transportation sector from both environmental and health perspectives.

If you have any interests or questions, you can reach him at ftong@andrew.cmu.edu.