This paper presents an overview of the economics literature on the effect of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on the new vehicle market. Since 1978, CAFE has imposed fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. market. This paper reviews the history of the standards, followed by a discussion of the major upcoming changes in implementation and stringency. It d...

This article calls for engaging the public and private sectors of developing and industrialized countries in a global clean cooking fuel initiative (GCCFI) to bring about a worldwide shift to clean fluid fuels for cooking and heating in 10-15 years’ time -with an emphasis on providing clean fuel to the poorest households. This initiative is crucial to implementation of the Millennium Developmen...

We study competition between two multi-product firms with distinct production technologies in a market where customers have heterogeneous preferences on a single taste attribute. The mass customizer (MC) has a perfectly flexible production technology, thus can offer any variety within a product space, represented by Hotelling’s (1929) linear city. The mass producer (MP) has a more focused produ...

This study explores different hybridization levels of a midsized vehicle powered by a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack. The energy buffer considered is a leadacid-type battery. The effects of the battery size on the overall energy losses for different drive cycles are determined when dynamic programming determines the optimal current drawn from the fuel cell system. The different hy...

Design of polymeric membranes for fuel cells application requires suitable selection and modification of polymers. This review accounts the various polymeric membranes available for use in fuel cells, advantages of sulphonation of polymers, various sulphonation methods and the characterization techniques. Presently, SPEEK finds extensive application as polymeric membrane in fuel cells. The adva...

The ability to monitor sugarcane expansion in Brazil, the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar and second largest producer of ethanol, is important due to its agricultural, economic, strategic and environmental relevance. With the advent of flex fuel cars in 2003 the sugarcane area almost doubled over the last decade in the South-Central region of Brazil. Using remote sensing images, ...

This paper investigates the opportunities for improving truck fuel economy through the use of a Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit (FC APU) for silent watch, as well as for powering electrified engine accessories during driving. The particular vehicle selected as the platform for this study is a prototype of the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) capable of carrying a 5 ton payload. Peak sta...

Direct fuel oxidization yields major fuel cell power system simplifications and potential performance advantages, particularly for an automotive power plant application. The system simplification is particularly striking when a direct fuel system is compared to an “indirect” fuel cell system in a vehicle (where the fuel on board must be “reformed” and “cleaned” to provide a hydrogen-rich gas “r...

in front wheels driven vehicles, fuel economy can be obtained by summing torques applied to rear wheels. on the other hand, unequal torques applied to rear wheels provides enhanced safety. in this paper, a model with seven degrees of freedom is considered for the vehicle body. thereafter, power-train subsystems are modeled. considering an electrical machine on each rear wheel, a fuzzy controlle...

The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model incorporated fuel economy and electricity use of alternative fuel/vehicle systems simulated by the Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) to conduct a well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Based on PSAT simulations of ...