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Year 2003, Volume 4 / Issue 3

DOI: 10.1615/InterJEnerCleanEnv.v4.i3

Pages: 98

DOI: 10.1615/InterJEnerCleanEnv.v4.i3.10

Article price - $35.00

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND CO₂ EMISSION: A COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND INNOVATIVE VEHICLES

A. Genovese
ENEA-Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente, ENE-SIST, Via Anguillarese, 301, 00060 Roma, Italy

R. Ragona
ENEA-Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente, ENE-SIST, Via Anguillarese, 301, 00060 Roma, Italy

The problem of climatic change is one of the most serious drawbacks of the emission of large quantities of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Road transport plays a large part in the world’s production of CO₂. Vehicles using fossil fuels (petrol and diesel fuel) produce CO₂ emissions in quantities that depend on the carbon present in the fuel molecule. The target of CO₂ reduction can be reached by using alternative fuels that have low carbon contents but also by improving the energy efficiency of the engine. This paper aims to carry out a comparative analysis of the CO₂ emission of both the innovative and conventional public transport vehicles using on-line measurement methods to investigate their energy and emission performances. Two applications of this concept are reported, referring to experimental projects involving public transport companies in Italy. CO₂ emission can be assessed and quantified from the fuel consumption supposing that all fuels consumed are oxidized by air oxygen to produce water and CO₂. In conjunction with the above indirect emission calculation, some direct measurements were performed using a portable gas analyzer to confirm the former approach in CO₂ evaluation. In several experimental tests, a diesel bus was compared with a similar CNG bus and a series hybrid bus. All the experiments were carried out during regular service.

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