Hybrid Car Review

The California Air Resources Board released the draft Scoping Plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. You can see the presentation to the board under 08-6-4. Given the topic of this blog, I thought I should hone in on the transportation sector.

In the draft report, "the Transportation sector – largely the cars and trucks that move
goods and people – is the largest contributor with 38 percent of the state’s total
greenhouse gas emissions" for a total of 179.3 MMTCO2E from 2002 to 2004. The report also shows an estimated growth in that sector of 25 percent or an extra 46 Million Metric Tons of CO2 emissions (MMTCO2E).

To combat that growth, the board is recommending measures that "include the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels sold in our state, enforcement of regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions form vehicles."

The board recommendations include (estimated reduction in MMTCO2E):

• California Light-Duty Vehicle GHG standards: implement Pavley standards and develop Pavley II light-duty vehicle standards (31.7)
• Low Carbon Fuel Standard (16.5)
• Vehicle Efficiency Measures (4.8)
• Good Movement: Ship electrification at ports, system wide efficiency improvements (3.7)
• Heavy/Medium Duty Vehicle improvements through aerodynamic efficiency, hybridization, and engine efficiency (2.5)
• High Speed Rail (1)

Some excerpts from the report give you an idea about what the board is recommending in the transportation sector.

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard will "incent a diverse set of clean transportation fuel options."

"The Pavley I and II performance standards help deploy vehicles that can utilize many of the low-carbon fuels, including advanced biofuels, electricity and hydrogen."

"A regulation to require retrofits to improve the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks could include devices that reduce aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance. Hybridization of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions again through increased fuel efficiency. This measure would likely achieve the greatest benefits on trucks used in urban, stop-and-go applications, such as parcel delivery trucks and vans, utility trucks, transit buses, and other vocational work trucks. For long-haul trucks, heavyduty engine efficiency improvements may involve advanced combustion strategies, friction reduction, waste heat recovery, and electrification of accessories."