Norwegian scientists performed an analysis on alternative fuels for cars. This analysis considered manufacturing, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and local and regional pollutants. Top of their league are fuel cell powered vehicles using hydrogen gas obtained from natural gas methane and bottom
of the table are petrol vehicles
Scientists considered petrol, natural gas, and alternative fuel sources such as methanol and ethanol, hydrogen and bio fuels as alternative car fuels.
“Alternative fuels are not in themselves a road towards sustainable mobility,” the researchers say. However, their analysis places petrol and hybrid vehicles firmly at the bottom of the league table when all energy factors from source to consumer use are taken into account. “Any alternative fuel we considered is better than the cars that are used mostly today,” they add.
3 factors that must be considered in assessing a particular alternative fuel:
1. energy use
2. carbon emissions
3.nitrogen oxide pollution
They used a simple ranking system to create their league table, based on giving each energy form a weight from 1 to 16 depending on its impact in these three areas. When the weights are added up from well to wheel, they provide an overall value for each energy chain. For example, extraction of natural gas, rocessing into liquefied hydrogen, storage, and end use in a fuel cell car. The energy chains giving the lowest sum-figures are the highest in the league table and those with largest figures are considered potentially the most
environmentally harmful.
Interestingly, the team’s analysis puts a fossil-based alternative, natural gas conversion into hydrogen for fuel cells at the top of the list. In contrast the direct use of natural gas in hybrid cars is lower down the list in terms of efficiency, energy, and pollution.
You can find the details reports here :
Alternative car fuels
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Tags: alternative car fuel, hydrogen gas