New Fuel Technologies: Electric Vehicles,
Natural Gas and Biofuels
Alternatives to gasoline as transportation
fuels present significant opportunities for:
- reducing ozone precursor
emissions from the transportation
sector;
- decreasing fuel use and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
- shifting fuels to domestic
rather than foreign sources;
- creating jobs in Colorado; and
- retaining in the local economy
resources that are now lost to importing
fuels from other states and nations.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric
vehicles (EV) currently offer all of these benefits
compared to gasoline powered vehicles. A few CNG models
are available now and plug-in hybrid electric and pure
EVs will be in showrooms beginning in late
2010. Biofuels other than corn-based ethanol are not
commercially available in sufficient supply to provide a
significant displacement of gasoline in the near term.
The following analysis considers the greenhouse
gas emissions, ozone precursor emissions, infrastructure
costs, supply issues, and fuel costs associated with
these new transportation fuel technologies.
Ozone Precursor and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Light
Duty Vehicles: Comparing Electricity, Natural Gas and
Biofuels as Transportation Fuels (PDF – 160 KB)
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