Some options for a desirable and sustainable transporation options I prepared for an energy class.

1. TRANSPORATION OPTIONS FOR A LOW-
CARBON FUTURE
Thomas Cheney
ENSC 302

2. ZERO CARBON TRANSPORTATION IN B.C SOUTH
WEST
• Currently several electric railways in
Greater Vancouver
• 1 Tramway (used intermittently)
• Large Trolleybus fleet in Vancouver
Burnaby
• Hydrogen fleet at Whistler
• Private electric cars
• Electric Bikes
• Plug in Hybrids
http://www.nowpublic.com

3. TROLLEYBUSES
• Used in Vancouver: Tested
in 1950s in Nelson and
Victoria
• Ridership increase 10%+
• 10% Faster acceleration
• Visual intrusion of wires
• Cost of initial purchase
higher

4. MORE TROLLEY BUSES
• 60% reduction in primary energy
use
• Visible infrastructure, can anchor
development like streetcar
• About $1-2 Million per one-way
kilometer
• Can act as a low cost tram
alternative
• Quito, Ecuador
T-bus

5. BUT WIRES ARE UGLY!
• I don‟t think so
• But Bombardier Primovecity uses
inductive to bring charging under the
road –inductive dynamic and
stationary charging
• Safe for Heart Pacemakers
• Can recharge on the go, Need less
infrastructure
• Used in Ausburg,Germany for trams
• Energy recovery by onboard batteries
• Can be used for tramsbuscars
Photo: Bombarier

6. OFF THE WIRE BUS OPTIONS
• Proterra
• Used in California
• Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit
• Opbrid system
• Tested in Umea, Sweden (Cold
winters)
• 5-7 minutes charging
• 10-15 KM range
• Diesel APU

7. TRAMS
• Light railtram more cost effective
than light metro such as Skytrain
• Cost substantially dependent on
depth of excavation of
underground utilities
• $12 Million per Mile in Portland
• Rail for the Valley proposal
connects Surrey with Abbotsford
CMA and Chilliwack
• Interurban Right of Way is
incredibly cost-effective ($6
million per km compared to
Skytrain $100-140 million per
km) Light Rail going through water feature in Houston,
Texas

8. CARGO
• Important to allow for development of
economies of scale in manufacturing
recycling
• Modern standard of living depends on
having ability to ship goods. No such
thing as local television manufacturing
• Low-Carbon freight transport is
needed
• Trolleytruck
• Efficiency
• Electric Fuel Cell Rail Photo: Prince George Railway and Forestry
Museum Electric trains that once ran to Tumbler
• Biofuels (gasp!)
Ridge Coal Mines

9. POLICIES
• Very High Fuel Tax on Trucks not running
on electricity ($2-3 dollars per liter)
• Long term phase-in of tax
• Nationalization of railroad infrastructure to
facilitate electrification and competition
• Biofuel use should be discouraged
• Cap on consumption
• Strict sustainability criteria legislation
• Road tax for non-essential biofuel
use (Highway Journeys over 200
KM) bccommunitynews.com
• Hydrogen fuel for most cases

10. TROLLEY TRUCKS
• Dual-mode Vehicles
with caternary
• Hybrid Engine
In German. Sorry
Photos: http://trolleytruck.eu/

11. TROLLEYTRUCKS
Photos: lLw Tech Magazine

12. CARGOCAP
• Pipeline to transport EuroPallets
• 36 Kmh (~35 hours Lower Mainland to
Alberta Heartland)
• Good for Metropolitan Regional
Transport
• Electrically driven
• Proposed for Ruhr Valley, Germany
• Getting trucks out of central cities.
• Not a replacement for intercity
• Minimal disturbance during
construction

13. HYPERTRUCKS
• Fuel Efficiency of
Trucks could be
doubled to 12.5 mpg
assuming no fuel
switching.

14. FUEL CELL BIG RIGS
• Used in Los Angeles to avoid pollution
at port
• UPS delivery truck smaller though
• Can replace vast majority of trucking
where direct grid connection and
batteries aren‟t viable
• Hydrogen has lower energy efficiency

15. Highly efficient, light but safe cars are imperative to achieve a medium-term
sustainable energy future. Making cars light makes renewably fuels such as
electricity increasingly viable..
CLEAN CARS

16. HYPERCAR -LIGHTWIEGHTING EFFECTS
• Light-weight but strong carbon
fiber construction
• Carbon fibre expensive material,
cheap to make into cars
• RMI modelled a Revolution SUV
comparable to 2004 Audi Allroad
• 58% fuel use reduction
• 1.6% price increase over Audi
Allroad

17. THE HYPERCAR CONCEPT
nexusilluminati.blogspot.com

18. LIGHT WEIGHTING AND COST
• As VW notes, low-cost carbon-composite automotive
structures could cut the weight of a car by 40% (most
firms say 50–65%) and body parts by 70%, making this
approach “cost effective even if the manufacturing
costs per part are still expected to be higher” (Page 56,
Winning the Oil Endgame)
• Making cars lightweight and efficient makes greener
fuels such as hydrogen more economically and
technically viable

19. HYBRID / FUEL-CELL
HYPERCAR
• 66 MPG 107 MPG
• 72% 83% reduction
in fuel use for hybrid/
fuel cell hybrid
• Light-weighting 2.4X
improvement for
1.6% cost increase
• 7.4% / 31.9% cost
increase

20. RESISTANCE
• Bottom of car is source of
most resistance!
• Low-resistance, but high
traction tires
• Take home: cars can heat
less air and pavement to fry
the planet less

21. VEHICLE EFFICIENCY – HYPERCAR

22. ELECTRIC CARS
• Earliest Auto Technology
• Limited Range
• Recharging Times
• Cost of storage high
• Batteries
Tea Anyone? In the Electric Horseless
• Supercapacitors Carriage, perhaps…
GM photo

23. MORE ELECTRIC CARS
• Key economic driver: cheap
available “fuel”
• Night-time charging
• Allows for carbon capture and
storage
• Combination of options for
electric vehicles best
• Hydrogen
greencar.com
• Batteries
• Direct connection to grid
(inductive charging )

24. ydrogen is a carbon-free energy carrier
llowing a fuel infrastructure that is easily
onverted to renewable energy sources
HYDROGEN CARS

25. HYDROGEN OPTIONS
• Can be used to drive Cars, Buses,
Ferries, Planes, Boats, Bikes, Airships
• Fuel cell round trip efficiency at best
45%
• But storable
• Good for many applications except
small planes

26. CHALLENGES
• Capital replacement cycles for
long- lived assets limits adoption
rate
• Initial hydrogen source from
reformed natural gas
• Hydrogen might be cost up to the
efficiency equivalent of $1.28 per
liter
nanopedia.case.edu

27. WILL HYDROGEN EVER BE AFFORDABLE?
• 2/3rd reduction in pricey
platinum use
• Current cost of $225 per
KW of fuel cell „engine‟
system
• Hydrogen Fuel Cells 2.5
times more efficient than
Internal Combustion Engine
• 2015 Target
• h2carblog Photo: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

28. 126 Kwh/ 100 mi
Vs.
30 Kwh/ 100 mi

29. If wind electricity is Primary electricity, overall efficiency is 63%
Assumes Carnot Law – Combined Cycle Gas Turbines
50% better

30. 70% more reasonable
Not comparable due to the use of wind resources

31. NO IDEAL ANSWER
FUEL CELL BATTERY
• Low efficiency • High efficiency
• 1.26 Kwh per mile • Limited Range
• Very fast Recharging 3MW • Long recharging times compared to
• 70% electrolysis efficiency fossil fuel
• Storage solvable • Battery swap might be a solution
• High cost • Cheap Fuel
• 10 cents per KWh electricity * 56
KWH of electricity per KG H2 =
5.60 per KWH for power alone
• $8-10 for wind hydrogen per KG

32. THE GOAL: CHEVY VOLT + FUEL CELL
• Replace Internal Combustion Engine
with Fuel Cell 400-500 KM range for
hydrogen storage.
• Ford Edge Hyseries Hybrids
• Can drive 40 kilometers of electricity
alone
• When battery depletes to 40%
hydrogen takes over an recharges
• Total range 360 kilometers (Full
hydrogen and charge),
• 4.5 kilograms of hydrogen
http://www.greencar.com/
• ZERO CARBON is POSSIBLE

33. WHAT ABOUT HYDROGEN STATIONS AND
PIPELINES?
• Rocky Mountain Institute notes that
hydrogen can be produced from
natural gas in decentralized fashion
• Halving of carbon dioxide emissions
per unit of hydrogen produced from
natural gas
• Decentralized reformation is the most
cost effective.
• In longer-term converting natural gas
pipelines could be an option
• Hydrogen could be used to power fuel
cells to drive resistance heaters and
heat pumps when there is insufficient
wind and high heat demand Photo: Ecofriend

34. BIOENERGY
• Generally considered to be carbon-
neutral… but complex accounting due to
increasing carbon storage at advanced
ages
• Opportunity of not storing in carbon
• Biomass CCS (Azar et al, 2008)
• BC Forest 12 Mt(dry).yr
20% of fossil fuel could be displaced by
forest residuals
191 PJ/year in BC from forest waste
• Cellulosic Biomass potential in Photo: ESAGOR flickr‟s photostream
Alberta– 380 to 420 petajoules

35. FUEL OPTIONS
Lots of issues with biofuels
Focus on BTL
• Diesel
• Kerosene
• DME

36. DME FOR LOGGING SOME MARINE
Energy - Industry 0.55
Transport - Cars 0.25
Transport - Trucks 1.5
Transport - Marine 0.1
Transport - Aviation 0.08
http://www.me.umn.edu/centers/cdr/reports/E3_Kittelson.pdf

37. DME BEST LAND USE EFFICIENCY

38. BIO-METHANE FROM WOOD
• Wood is gasified, cooled, cleaned to remove tars, chlorine and other contaminants
• Syngas conversion to SNG with catalysts (Large-Scale)
• Total efficiency of Wood to Methane Energy is around 50-75%
Photo: ECN

39. FT DIESEL FUELS
• Drop-in Fuel (works with existing equipment)
• Kerosene SunDiesel
• Some electricity cogeneration
• 40-50 efficien t% (SNG higher at up to 70%)

40. BIOENERGY: LIMITED RESOURCE
• Not enough bioenergy to meet all of
BCs and Alberta‟s needs need
• Bioenergy does have large production
potential 100-200 EJ per year
• Limited in Canada due to cold
climate
• We should remember that trees and in
particular functioning forest
ecosystems have a variety of values
• Deadwood is extremely important for
biodiversity
• REMBEMBER THE WOOD DUCKS! rivermud.blogspot.com

41. INTERCITY RAIL
• Painfully slow
• No electric intercity rail
• Slow due to track quality and
regulatory environment requiring
heavy railcar. Unbalanced
superelevation
• Private ownership of railbed
• Europe generally has public
track ownership
• Banedanmark in Denmark
• public investment

42. TRAINS
• Advance control systems to
allow safe operation at
higher speeds to
encourage modal shift
• Electric Caternary on
mainlines
• Hydrogen hybrids on
remainder of network
http://en.wikipedia.org/

43. DEUTSCH BAHN DMU (DIESEL MULTIPLE UNIT)

44. DIESEL TRAINS
• 25% less CO2 than flying
• Low load factor + outdated
safety regulations
• 90% of the time in idle
• But better than trucks
• Greyhound is better
energy wise 
en.wikipedia.com

45. ELECTRIC TRAINS
• Great Power
• Great Speed
• 75% Breaking energy recovery on
equipped trains
• A wonderfully efficient and pleasant
way to get around
• On the right the Pagatag my favourite
thing in the world when I was 4.
Photo: Anders Lagerås

46. AVIATION
• 70% fuel intensity reduction
• Double-bubble
• Hydrogen long-term
• Biofuels may be an option
• FT fuels from cellulose
• Gasification + bioreactors
• FT fuels drop-in
• Perhaps 80% CO2 reduction
en.wikipedia.org
• Lower cruising altitudes to
reduce Non-CO2 forces