Does natural gas make sense for freight? Environmental and resource implications of the "Pickens Plan".

Details

• Creators:
  Meier, Paul J. ; Holloway, Tracey ; Luedke, Matt ; Frost, Ethan A. ; Scotty, Erica ; Williams, Scott P. ; Bickford, Erica
• Corporate Creators:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Freight transportation
  • Liquefied natural gas
  • Environmental policy
  • Renewable energy sources
  • Environmental impacts
  • Greenhouse gases
  • Air quality
  • Diesel engine exhaust gases
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CFIRE 04-22
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-FREIGHT-FREIGHT ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Environment Impacts ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Air Quality
• Abstract:
  The “Pickens Plan” is a highly promoted U.S. energy strategy, proposing to use natural gas as a transportation fuel to ; displace imported oil and, simultaneously, to increase renewable contributions to national electricity production. While the ; principal goal of the Pickens Plan is to improve domestic energy security and its associated foreign trade imbalance, we ; investigated the proposed strategies for their environmental benefits. We simulated a variation of the Pickens Plan across ; a seven-state Midwestern U.S. region to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) and air quality implications of the plan. In ; this scenario, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is used to replace 100 percent of long-haul, diesel-powered freight, while windpower ; is roughly doubled over the anticipated 2020 levels under existing renewable portfolio standards. Relative to a ; business-as-usual (BAU) reference case, the Pickens scenario reduces NOx, SO2, and GHG emissions. Most reductions ; occur within the electricity sector versus the freight sector: 73 percent of NOx reductions, 99 percent of SO2 reductions, ; and 94 percent of GHG reductions occurred within the power sector. While the LNG truck is estimated to have 21 percent ; lower GHG emissions than its diesel counterpart, methane leakage from the natural gas fuel cycle significantly reduces ; the GHG benefit from LNG trucking. Thus, LNG-powered freight only slightly reduces greenhouse gas emissions relative ; to the diesel-powered freight. To assess the benefits of natural gas in the transportation sector (Pickens Plan) versus the ; electricity sector, we considered a scenario where natural gas is increased in the electricity sector instead of the freight ; sector. This scenario yielded greater emissions reductions than the Pickens plan for all species, suggesting that natural ; gas fuel switching has more impact as an emissions mitigating measure within the electricity sector, rather than within the ; freight sector. To assess how emissions reductions would affect ambient pollutant concentrations, and the formation of ; secondary air pollutants, we employed a regional air quality model. Under the Pickens scenario, ambient concentrations ; of SO2, NO2, O3 and PM2.5 were all reduced relative to BAU. In general, the largest reductions were simulated near metro ; areas, along major highways, and in the Ohio River Valley.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT06-G-0020
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26176/dot_26176_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.60 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:570beeea8df0adfbfc91b212eb751f370f62ba4358a30230ff2b67f15e8cc92df821ea2be7ff6ba06da14418a2c16d2f0ddc9918edecf5478e7c4fbfe8d87151