Analysis Concludes Westport LNG Technology Can Deliver 21% Reduction in GHG Emissions in Southern California
10 December 2008
A study by California-based TIAX LLC has concluded that LNG trucks featuring a Westport ISX G engine and LNG fuel system based on a 10-year, 400,000 mile scenario will likely reduce greenhouse gases by 21% for Southern California compared to conventional diesel engines.
In January 2008, Westport Innovations Inc. and Clean Energy Fuels Corp. commissioned TIAX to develop a Life-Cycle Cost and Emissions Estimator for the comparison of current and future heavy duty engines fueled by either diesel or natural gas.
The model includes three different heavy-duty applications for California: heavy heavy-duty trucks (HHDT), urban buses (UB) and refuse haulers (RH) and was developed to determine the emissions of both greenhouse gases (GHG) and criteria pollutants including oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM).
The results show that all natural gas pathways have less GHG emissions than ULSD, ranging from 18% to 25% reductions for North American natural gas. The NA-LNG-CE pathway of LNG trucked from the Clean Energy plant is the likeliest pathway to the South Coast Region and has a GHG reduction of 21%. Biodiesel also has less GHG emissions than ULSD, but there are still questions about biofuels and land-use changes. This is an area where the estimator can be updated in the future.
The emission estimator calculates WTT, TTW and WTW GHG and criteria pollutant annual emissions. Inputs to the emissions estimator include fuel, fuel pathway, lifetime, annual vehicle miles traveled, fuel economy, and engine model year.
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Wow! A company authorized a study that concluded that using that companies products would be a good thing. I'm shocked.
Posted by: David | 10 December 2008 at 07:00 AM
Of course what the company, AQMD, and Department of Health would be interested in is the reduction of NOx and particulates. Especially in light of the recent study linking some cancers to diesel particulates.
From an environmental health perspective their headline should read "Westport LNG technology reduces air pullutants NOx and PM 25-50%" That would have some real meaning.
Posted by: reel$$ | 10 December 2008 at 11:20 AM
For quite a long time, LNG powered ships were operating. I guess many trains and trucks can convert to LNG.
Diesel prices are still very high. Time to cut Diesel should be considered a high priority.
Posted by: Max Reid | 10 December 2008 at 07:48 PM
Most diesel goes to trucks. If you want to cut the price, cut the demand by moving freight to rail and electrifying the rail system.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 11 December 2008 at 07:58 AM