This paper compares four transportation energy conservation strategies using a comprehensive evaluation framework that takes into account how each strategy affects annual vehicle travel, and therefore mileage-related impacts such as traffic congestion, road and parking facility costs, and crashes. These mileage-related impacts tend to be large in magnitude compared with energy conservation bene...

We specify and estimate a joint model of residential density, vehicle use, and fuel consumption that accounts for both self selection effects and missing data that are related to the endogenous variables. Our model is estimated on the California subsample of the 2001 U.S. National Household Transportation Survey (NHTS). Comparing two California households that are similar in all respects except...

The transient behavior of a Fuel Processor System to produce Hydrogen from bio-ethanol with high performance, coupled with a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell is modeled. The Ethanol Processor is based on a previous steady state design, optimized to work with maximum efficiency around 10 kW of rated power. From the dynamic rigorous model, a linearized model is identified to apply a systematic ...

This paper provides an updated assessment of economically efficient taxes on gasoline (used by light-duty vehicles) and diesel (used by heavy-duty trucks) to address various highway externalities in the United States. The (second-best) corrective fuel taxes are estimated, and we discuss the implications of fuel economy regulations and prospective (nationwide) controls on carbon emissions. We al...

High-power-density alcohol fuel cells can relieve many of the daunting challenges facing a hydrogen energy economy. Here, such fuel cells are achieved using CsH2PO4 as the electrolyte and integrating into the anode chamber a Cu-ZnO/Al2O3 methanol steam-reforming catalyst. The temperature of operation, 250°C, is matched both to the optimal value for fuel cell power output and for reforming. Peak...

Our industrial civilization is at a crossroads. Oil and the other fossil fuel energies that make up the industrial way of life are sunsetting, and the technologies made from and propelled by these energies are antiquated. The entire industrial infrastructure built off of fossil fuels is aging and in disrepair. The result is that unemployment is rising to dangerous levels all over the world. Gov...

This study compared fuel economy and emissions between heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and equivalent conventional diesel vehicles. In-use field data were collected from daily fleet operations carried out at a FedEx facility in California on six HEV and six conventional 2010 Freightliner M2-106 straight box trucks. Field data collection primarily focused on route assessment and vehic...

Tradeo s between low feedgas emissions and smooth brake torque are discussed in the context of an engine equipped with variable camshaft timing VCT The use of VCT lowers the generation of feedgas emissions but adversely a ects the torque response However with the addition of an electronic throttle and knowledge of online torque the tradeo s between emissions and drivability in the VCT engine ca...

F or nearly a century, federal and state gasoline and diesel taxes have provided the main source of revenue for funding the nation’s road network. But such taxes—typically levied on a cents-per-gallon basis—must be raised periodically to keep pace with inflation and improved fuel economy. With the rise in antitax sentiment over the past several decades, elected officials have grown increasingly...