Environmental Considerations of a Fuel-Flexible Transportation System

摘要

The United States Department of Energy Office of Policy, Planning, and Analysis in conjuction with the Office of Environmental Analysis is conducting a multi-faceted, multi-organization study of the prospects for and costs of implementing a fuel-flexible (multifuel) domestic transportation system by the year 2000. The analysis has three components: (1) forecasting the supply of candidate alternative fuels (chiefly methanol, compressed natural gas, and electricity) by about year 2000, and of propulsion systems to use them; (2) projecting vehicular sales, fuel distributing and dispensing, and vehicular service infrastructures needed to support a ''best case'' penetration of each of these fuels individually or in combination into the national automobile, light and medium truck, and bus populations; and (3) considering changes in the environmental effects of transportation activity that could result from the fleet penetrations implicit in these cases. This paper presents the currently-proposed objectives and scope of the last of these three areas of analysis, and reviews environmental issues already identified as potential concerns for a period of transition to non-petroleum fuel dominance or at least of significant displacement of petroleum use in domestic transportation. These issues include performance and durability of vehicular emission control systems, formaldehyde transients of alcohol fuels, use of catalysts with heavy-duty vehicles, synergistic effects of gasoline/alcohol blends, safety of gas compressor systems, reduction of emissions of oxides of nitrogen, control of environmental release pathways for methane and toxic gases or solids, and institutional and legal constraints in some locations on the use of non-petroleum fuels in transportation. 20 refs., 1 fig. (ERA citation 14:006084)