For light-duty vehicles, which represent roughly 16 million of the vehicles on the road today in the U.S., emissions are largely measured by what comes out of the tailpipe.
But for liquid fuels, it's the entire production cycle—the life cycle assessment, or LCA—from raw material extraction to production, use, and disposal. This LCA approach, according to a new Transportation Energy Institute (TEI) whitepaper, "Using Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate the Light Duty Vehicle Transportation Sector," gives a clearer picture of why sustainable emissions reductions matter—which go well beyond what comes out of a tailpipe.
The whitepaper covers:
- What is a life cycle assessment (LCA) and how does it work?
- What are the main steps involved in defining an LCA?
- How can LCA be applied to the transportation sector as a whole?
“If we're really serious about reducing emissions, we have to so in a way that is economically sustainable,” said TEI Executive Director John Eichberger during a recent Convenience Matters podcast. “If you can look at any point in that life cycle and you can affordably or even profitably invest to reduce the emissions, that's a positive,” he said.
However, this is not how current emissions regulations are structured. “Most of the regulations are tailpipe,” Eichberger added. “We have to look at this as a system, not with tunnel vision of just one technology at one point of time. We need to use all of our resources, and by doing that, we can create economic opportunity that also benefits the environment. This requires a much more comprehensive assessment,” he said.
To cut emissions, it's important to consider where they're generated, apply reduction efforts where they'll have the most impact, and credit the transportation sector for the reductions.
“Anybody who is trying to force a silver bullet, or one type of solution, they're missing the purpose, which is to lower emissions in an environmentally sensitive transportation sector. That requires everybody to be at the table finding innovative solutions, and that's what we hope a life cycle approach will support.,” Eichberger said.
Hear more from Eichberger and podcast host Jeff Lenard of NACS by listening to Convenience Matters.