Abstract
Because of its abundance and because it offers significant energy and evironmental advantages, natural gas has been promoted for use in motor vehicles. A number of transportation fuels are produced from natural gas; each is distinct in terms of upstream production activities and vehicle usage. In this study, the authors avaluate eight fuels produced from natural gas - compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, hydrogen, dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and electricity--for use in five types of motor vehicles--spark-ignition vehicles, compression-ignition vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, battery-powered electric vehicles, and fuel-cell vehicles. Because of great uncertainties associated with advances both in fuel production and vehicle technologies, they evaluate near-term and long-term fuels and vehicle technologies separately. Furthermore, for long-term options, they establish both an incremental technology scenario and a leap-forward technology scenario to address potential technology improvements. The study reveals that, in general, the use of natural gas-based fuels reduces energy use and emissions relative to use of petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel, although different natural gas-based fuels in different vehicle technologies can have significantly different energy and emissions impacts.
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