BE/MUSES / Alternative Fuels and Powerplant Systems for Transportation; Impact on Environment and Society
This BE/MUSES planning project focuses on evaluating and prioritizing a broad range of multidisciplinary criteria to determine optimum alternative fuel hybrid vehicle configuration options for passenger vehicle transportation to maximize overall environmental and human health benefits. Hybrid technology provides an excellent opportunity for reducing vehicle emissions as they typically obtain twice the fuel economy of their non-hybrid counterparts, with emission reductions generally greater than a factor of two due to the unique hybrid vehicle-operating environment. Hybrid vehicles can utilize a wide range of fuel and powerplant options that require a widely varying degree of infrastructure investment. The unique aim of this study is the evaluation and prioritization of these factors with expansion into new areas including environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) from fuel production to end-use, consideration of the effect of limited fueling infrastructure on transportation patterns, pollution dispersion analysis and their relation to urban growth. This optimization will vary according to regional characteristics and will be considered for two illustrative locations, the Denver Metropolitan area as well as a mega-city in a developing nation. Total environmental impact will be considered from cradle-to-grave, from fuel production to efficient end usage. The implementation of hybrid vehicles powered with alternative fuels is critical in addressing the increasingly detrimental environmental and human health impacts associated with increasing petroleum usage worldwide, sustaining the national economy, and on reducing national dependence on imported crude oil. The objective of this planning project includes development of a multidisciplinary team with a diverse background in fuel cell technology, powerplant performance potential, renewable energy and fuel production, environmental and impact assessment, urban planning and simulation, traffic simulations, and geographic information systems. This provides a valuable opportunity for integration of systems analysis in engineering education, while the importance of alternative fuels and vehicle technology provides an effective means of attracting potential students to the engineering field. Specific details of integration with engineering education will be considered in this planning project. The project will be jointly managed by Rober Wellek in CTS and Juan Pestano in CMS.
