California Air Resources Board / Prepared by: V. Ramanathan, Principal Investigator http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/08-323.pdf %5Breport%5D http://1.usa.gov/13LR5SM [press release] Reductions in emissions of black carbon since the late 1980s, mostly from diesel engines as a result of air quality programs, have resulted in a measurable reduction of concentrations of global warming pollutants in the atmosphere, according to a first-of-its-kind … Continue reading »
Tagged with Autos …
Evaluating the Efficacy of Shared-use Vehicles for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A U.S. Case Study of Grocery Delivery
Journal of the Transportation Research Forum (Summer 2012) v51 n2 p111-126 / by Erica Wygonik and Anne Goodchild http://bit.ly/11zPlLl [Brad Plumer in the Washington Post] …A new study from the University of Washington finds that grocery delivery can be greener than driving from home to the supermarket and back. How can that be? The basic intuition here is … Continue reading »
Cars, Trucks, and Climate: EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources
Congressional Research Service http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40506.pdf On October 15, 2012, the Obama Administration took a major step toward reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles when it promulgated GHG emission standards for model year 2017-2025 light duty vehicles. Under the standards, GHG emissions from new cars and light trucks will be reduced about 50% by 2025 … Continue reading »
Factor Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Automobiles
University of Michigan / by John M. DeCicco http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2205144 [Green Car Congress] In a new working paper, Prof. John DeCicco at the University of Michigan argues that to reduce transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions, the proper policy focus should be upstream in sectors that provide the fuel, rather than downstream on the choice of fuels … Continue reading »
Improving Our Understanding of How Highway Congestion and Price Affect Travel Demand
Transportation Research Board http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/168141.aspx TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Capacity Project C04 has released a prepublication, non-edited draft version of a report titled Improving our Understanding of How Highway Congestion and Price Affect Travel Demand that synthesizes travel demand models that predict how travelers’ behavior changes in response to changes in traffic … Continue reading »
The True Costs of Automobility : External Costs of Car Use in EU-27
Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) for the Greens/European Free Allianace (EFA) in the European Parliament http://www.greens-efa.eu/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/Costs_of_cars/The_true_costs_of_cars_EN.pdf [Green Car Congress] A recent study from Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) commissioned by the Greens/European Free Allianace (EFA) in the European Parliament concluded that the cars used within the EU-27 externalize up to about €373 billion (US$493 billion) … Continue reading »
Biodiesel from Microalgae, Yeast, and Bacteria: Engine Performance
Energy Fuels, (Published online on November 12, 2012, DOI: 10.1021/ef3012382) / by Bradley D. Whalen, at al. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ef3012382 [Green Car Congress] Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester) derived from oleaginous microbes—microalgae, yeast, and bacteria—can effectively displace both petroleum diesel and biodiesel produced from plant oils, according to the findings of a new study by a team … Continue reading »
CO2 Emissions Performance of Car Manufacturers in 2011
European Environment Agency http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/co2-emissions-performance-of-car Starting from 2012, a specific binding CO2 target is calculated for each manufacturer every year based on the average mass of its fleet. For evaluating the progress of manufacturers towards their targets, the EEA is collecting and quality checking data on CO2 emissions from passenger cars registered in all Member States … Continue reading »
Technology Roadmap: Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles
International Energy Agency http://www.iea.org/publications/fueleconomy_2012_final_web.pdf [From a Climate Wire article by Julia Pyper, sub. req'd] …with the right mix of policies, conventional vehicles can cut fuel consumption in half in the next 20 years. According to IEA’s “Technology Roadmap,” internal combustion engines can be significantly improved using cost-effective technologies, such as variable valve actuation and lift, … Continue reading »
Study Claiming E15 Damage to Engines
aka “INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL ETHANOL BLENDS ENGINE DURABILITY STUDY” Coordinating Research Council (CRC) http://bit.ly/Kmi4us [From an InsideEPA.com article, sub. req'd] An oil and automotive industry study released May 16 concludes that EPA’s approval of a 15-percent ethanol fuel blend places consumers at risk of incurring billions of dollars in engine damage, which could raise questions about the … Continue reading »
