Browse Topic: Climate change mitigation
Advanced two-dimensional (2D) materials discovered in the last two decades are now being produced at scale and contribute to a wide range of performance enhancements in engineering applications. The most well known of these novel materials is graphene, a nearly transparent nanomaterial comprised of a single layer of bonded carbon atoms. In relative terms, it has the highest level of heat and electrical conductivity, protects against ultraviolet rays, and is the strongest material ever measured. These properties have made graphene an attractive potential material for a variety of applications, particularly for transportation-related uses, and especially for automotive engineering. The goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions has prioritized the electrification of transportation, the decarbonization of industry, and the development of products that require less energy to make, last longer, and are fully recyclable. While this chapter reviews the current state of graphene
Most heavy trucks should be fully electric, using a combination of batteries and catenary electrification, but heavy trucks requiring very long unsupported range will need chemical fuels. Hydrogen is the key to storing renewably generated electricity chemically. At the scale of heavy trucks, compressed hydrogen can match the specific energy of diesel, but its energy density is five times lower, limiting the range to around 2,000 km. Scaling green hydrogen production and addressing leakage must be priorities. Hydrogen-derived electrofuels—or “e-fuels”—have the potential to scale, and while the economic comparison currently has unknowns, clean air considerations have gained new importance. The limited supply of bioenergy should be reserved for critical applications, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), aviation, shipping, and road freight in the most remote locations. Additionally, there are some reasons to prefer ethanol or methanol to diesel-type fuels as they are
The transportation sector has an enormous demand for resources and energy, is a major contributor of emissions (i.e., greenhouse gases in particular), and is defined largely by the kind of energy it uses—be it electric cars, biofuel trucks, or hydrogen aircraft. Given the size of this sector, it has a crucial role in combating climate change and securing sustainability in its three forms: environmental, societal, and economic. In this context, there are many questions concerning energy options on the path toward a more sustainable transportation sector. Is hydrogen the fuel of the future? Is there enough electricity to power a fully electric transportation sector? What happens when millions of electric vehicle batteries need to be decommissioned? Which regulatory measures are effective and appropriate for moving the sector in the right direction? What is the “right” direction? This chapter does not aim to answer all those questions. It does, however, highlight and discuss the most
Sustainability extends beyond just decarbonization. A term popping up more and more in executive and engineering-focused presentations is “circular economy,” referring to a closed-loop production cycle that seeks to minimize resource inputs and reduce or eliminate waste and emissions. Case in point: Rob Zemenchik, CNH Industrial's Sr. Manager for Product Sustainability, said at the SAE COMVEC conference in September that the company specifically seeks projects that deliver on circularity in the product life-cycle. CNH Industrial's roadmap to hit its 2030 and 2050 climate targets includes more than 150 specific projects, ranging from powertrains to hydraulics, he said. One of the “early success stories” is its work with British company Bennaman on an on-farm liquid fugitive biomethane production process
Yanmar has announced that its marine subsidiary, Yanmar Holdings, is now offering a marine-grade hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system. According to the company's announcement of the system's availability, the system is suited for use in various oceangoing vessels including passenger ships, work ships, and cargo ships operating in coastal areas where hydrogen refueling is relatively accessible. Yanmar states that due to the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) revised target of achieving zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, the marine propulsion industry is robustly pursuing all decarbonization efforts
Electrification of transport, together with the decarbonization of energy production are suggested by the European Union for the future quality of air. However, in the medium period, propulsion systems will continue to dominate urban mobility, making mandatory the retrofitting of thermal engines by applying combustion modes able to reduce NOx and PM emissions while maintaining engine performances. Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) is an attractive process to meet this target. This mode relies on premixed mixture and fuel lean in-cylinder charge whatever the fuel type: from conventional through alternative fuels with a minimum carbon footprint. This combustion mode has been subject of numerous modelling approaches in the engine research community. This study provides a theoretical comparative analysis between multi-zone (MZ) and Transported probability density function (TPDF) models applied to LTC combustion process. The generic thermo-kinetic balances for both approaches have been
Electric aviation mirrors the early stages of the electric vehicle revolution After decades of tantalizing breakthroughs in battery technology, the last decade witnessed the emergence of energy storage as a challenger to fossil fuels for powering vehicles. We are now in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the energy landscape and electrify all forms of transportation: light duty passenger cars, heavy duty commercial vehicles, as well as various forms of transportation such as trains, ships, and aircraft. Such a dramatic transition will require a multifaceted approach that takes into consideration technology needs, infrastructure support, workforce transitions, safety and regulations, and energy justice. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, with numerous public and private sector collaborators, has been strategizing about this transition to ensure the lessons from the past are applied to the future
In a surprising move that paves the way for the European Union's adoption of a mandate to eliminate vehicle CO2 emissions, on March 25 the EU reached an agreement with Germany to step back from a complete ban of combustion-engine vehicles starting in 2035. The EU agreed to permit sales and registration of IC-engine models after the 2035 deadline - provided those vehicles operate only on carbon-neutral fuels, often generically referred to as ‘e-fuels.’ With a significant portion of its economy related to the historically ICE-based automotive industry, Germany had resisted the EU's total ban, although its Parliament's Green Party supported the forced sunsetting of ICE passenger vehicles. Reuters reported German Transport Minister Volker Wissing as tweeting, “We secure opportunities for Europe by preserving important options for climate-neutral and affordable mobility.” In another Twitter post, Wissing reportedly added, “Vehicles with internal combustion engines can still be newly
With the backdrop of net-zero emissions as an essential element of national security, this study undertook an analytical approach to evaluate current Department of the Navy (DON) emissions and understand energy needs to support mission readiness while reducing emissions over time. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California This report is based on a broad study of strategies for the Department of the Navy (DON) to achieve net zero global emissions by 2050 to comply with recent Executive Orders and goals set out for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the DON (Melillo, 2022). In January 2021, Executive Order 14008 called for a government-wide approach for meeting climate related challenges in the U.S. and set goals for agencies. In December 2021, Executive Order 14057 set the specific goal of net zero emissions from overall federal operations, including DOD, by 2050 and a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030. These are challenging targets for the DOD: 2019 data shows that the DOD
Design innovation and an exclusive new tool for measuring carbon footprint have made Adient a sustainability leader among Tier-1s. Sustainability no longer is a vague aspiration for OEMs and suppliers looking for a ‘green’ veil. It's rapidly become a guiding tenet of product innovation, and ESG progress, as the industry pushes toward net-zero carbon goals in most major markets. “Currently, it's coming mainly from the European OEMs and the European legislature,” explained Mike Maddelein, VP engineering, Americas, at seating systems Tier 1 Adient. “They're driving carbon-footprint reduction and the industry is getting very, very serious about it. The European OEMs are starting to specify sustainability targets in their RFQs.” North America is probably two years behind, he believes, but will follow Europe's sustainability plan - if not through direct legislation, then by the OEMs themselves
The EV bandwagon has obscured potential solutions for decarbonizing the enormous global ICE legacy fleet. Put the promise of mass vehicle electrification and its myriad challenges aside for a moment, and consider: What if most IC-engine vehicle owners don't switch to EVs as the industry and regulators hope they will? And how long will it take to alter the existing global vehicle parc, estimated at more than one billion mostly ICE-powered vehicles, to the extent its greenhouse-gas emissions are insignificant in the crusade to achieve net-zero (and thwart global warming) by 2050
The development of carbon-neutral e-fuels enjoyed a major boost from European regulators, but production cost and scale remain issues. Synthetic and bio-based liquid “e-fuels” have in various forms enjoyed fits and starts of industry attention and R&D investment in recent years. They got the most significant boost ever in March 2023 when a politically charged deal between the European Union and Germany brokered an exemption in the EU's mandate for sales only of EVs starting in 2035. The agreement allows manufacturers to continue selling internal-combustion models after the 2035 deadline - but only if they run on carbon-neutral e-fuels. In an instant, e-fuels were guaranteed a market all to themselves. It remains to be seen whether e-fuels - at least in their current state of technology - can answer the call. But as some supporters enthused after the EU's escort of e-fuels into the post-EV landscape, developers have more than a decade to address technical challenges and concerns about
Altering manufacturing processes and using a much higher percentage of low emission energy can help the battery industry get greener rapidly, according to a new McKinsey & Co. report. A report from consultants at McKinsey & Co. strikes an optimistic tone that major reductions in carbon emissions from the electric vehicle battery supply chain can be attained in the next five to 10 years. The recently released report, authored by five members of the firm's Automotive and Assembly Practice, said that production of the massive lithium-ion batteries currently favored by OEMs account for 40% to 60% of total production emissions. “Making batteries can generate as much emissions as producing all the other materials that go into making an EV - or even more,” the authors noted
In recent years, the electric vehicle industry has been booming rapidly to decarbonize the world. One of the major concerns in an electric vehicle is the noise emitted from the electric powertrain system, which affects the driving comfort assistance in electric vehicles. Thus, we have to find the methodology to measure the noise level in an automotive transmission system during the design stage itself. This drives us to develop the methodology on a simple design, having a structural and fluid coupling and then followed by an acoustics analysis. A Transient CFD simulation is performed to generate an excitation source for noise; excitation forces observed in the transient simulation are converted into the frequency domain by performing a fast Fourier transform (FFT). To understand this structural behavior, modal analysis is performed for a simple test model to identify the critical modes. Harmonic excitation sources from CFD fluid coupling are imported to a structural model, replicating
Ammonia is a zero-carbon candidate fuel for the decarbonization of internal combustion (IC) engines. A concern when using ammonia in IC engines is the increased emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX), due to the additional nitrogen in the ammonia molecule. Compared to conventional petroleum such as gasoline and diesel, ammonia combustion adds the fuel NOX formation mechanism in addition to the original thermal NOX generation pathway, which further complicates the NOX emission characteristics of ammonia engines. Decoupling fuel NOX and thermal NOX helps to increase the understanding of the formation and evolutionary characteristics of nitrogen oxides occurring inside ammonia engines, but the available literature lacks studies in this respect. The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap and to propose a methodology for decoupling fuel NOX and thermal NOX. In brief, an artificial elemental nitrogen is applied to the Zeldovich mechanism and to the diatomic nitrogen in the combustion
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