An Integrated Tool for Modeling the Impact of Alternative Fueled Vehicles on Traffic Emissions: A Case Study of Greenville, South Carolina

The United States recently has been investing heavily in renewable energy technologies to reduce dependence on foreign oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The impacts of using alternative transportation fuels have also attracted significant attention. This research focuses on evaluating the environmental impacts of three alternative transportation fuels: electricity, ethanol and compressed natural gas. The goal is to estimate the impacts of alternative fueled vehicles at a project level in terms of daily fuel savings and emission reduction. In this research, a review of the environmental impacts of alternative transportation fuels is performed. In addition, a case study is conducted using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest vehicle emission model, MOVES, and the PARAMICS microscopic traffic simulation tool to analyze the emission impacts of alternative transportation fuels for a road network in Greenville, South Carolina. For each alternative transportation fuel considered in this study, its emission and fuel consumption impacts are evaluated based on different market shares. The results show significant positive environmental impacts from using the three alternative transportation fuels. The findings of this paper can be useful to other transportation researchers and practitioners in conducting environmental impacts studies using MOVES.

• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Xie, Yuanchang
  • Chowdhury, Mashrur A
  • Bhavsar, Parth
  • Zhou, Yan
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 90th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2011-1-23 to 2011-1-27
• Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 90th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternate fuels; Case studies; Environment; Environmental impacts; Exhaust gases; Fuel conservation; Greenhouse gases; Pollutants
• Geographic Terms: Greenville (South Carolina)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Vehicles and Equipment; I96: Vehicle Operating Costs;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01333290
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 11-3880
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 21 2011 2:13PM