Use of Alternative Fuels in Highway Vehicles:The Relevance of U.S. Energy Flows.

摘要

A new energy model for the United States has been completed and tested at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The transportation submodel uses more recent fuel and energy data than the 1976Gulf Oil Co./Stanford Research Institute data base,and the LLL model calculates energy flows and prices through the year 2020. This equilibrium or ''balance of forces''type of model calculates a slow rise in prices for transportation fuels over the time period studied. Two import oil price situations--a $12.75per barrel and a $15.50per barrel price have been modeled. The model calculated that the higher price would result in the earlier introduction of synthetic fuels. The model also shows that the alternative fuels methanol,electricity,and broadcut fuel could be economically competitive and thus enter the transportation market but that hydrogen could not. (ERA citation 04:010920)