[sustran] Re: MMRDA will file PIL to block Tata's Rs1 lakh car

[P. Christopher Zegras]

The most recent estimates I've seen for a 2001 US gasoline-powered 
"family sedan" suggests that fuel use (well to wheels) accounts for >90% 
of lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (~70% from the vehicle on 
road cycle and ~22% from the fuel cycle); the rest, about 8% comes from 
the vehicle life-cycle:

(Schafer, A., Heywood, J., Weiss, M., 2006. Future fuel cell and 
internal combustion engine automobile technologies: a 25-year life cycle 
and fleet impact assessment. Energy 31 (12), 2064–2087.)


Ignoring that, it's not just about USE, as vehicle storage is an 
oft-externalized cost.  Here in Cambridge MA, for example, one gets 
rights to a car-sized piece of pavement for residential on-street 
parking for US$8/year - far below the annualized cost of the space.  And 
of course, this fee does not vary, whether it be a Hummer or a Yugo that 
you're trying to park (actually, [thankfully?] Cambridge probably has 
very few of either of those vehicle types...)

cz


Subject:
[sustran] Re: MMRDA will file PIL to block Tata's Rs1 lakh car
From:
"Lee Schipper" <SCHIPPER at wri.org>
Date:
Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:39:56 -0400
To:
"Sustran" <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>, <lwright at vivacities.org>

Thanks Lloyd.
You know there was a fraud recently perpetrated as someone claimed (and 
columnist George Will cited) that a Prius used more energy over its 
lifetime than a hummer.  The clown who made the comparison assumed that 
a hummer lasted 3 times longer (so he could write off the energy 
invested in the hummer over more miles) yet somehow used far less 
fuel/km...Its all in the assumptions and in where the boundaries are drawn!

The manufacturing is a non trivial amount in any case.

 >>> >>> "Lloyd Wright" <lwright at vivacities.org> 7/11/2007 4:34 PM >>>
Hi Lee,

The numbers I quoted are from a UK study by Martin Michaelis, which was
based on a cradle to grave approach (including the mining of aluminum
and/or steel from Australia, Nigeria, etc.).  Perhaps the Volvo / VW
numbers are based on what happens inside their factory walls.  But given
the number of variables, I am sure it is highly dependent on the
assumptions made.  I would be keen on any studies / citations that you
might have.

In case you are interested, I am ataching a couple summary pages from
the German study on solid waste from manufacturing and disposal.

Whether manufacturing/disposal is 15-20% or 20-30% of total lifetime CO2
emissions, I am sure we would agree that it is a non-trivial amount.

Thanks,

Lloyd

-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Schipper [mailto:SCHIPPER at wri.org]
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 1:43 PM
To: 'Global 'South' Sustainable Transport'; lwright at vivacities.org
Subject: [sustran] Re: MMRDA will file PIL to block Tata's Rs1 lakh car


I think I disagree with Lloyd's number-- a rule of thumb is about 10% of
the lifetime energy of car goes for the car, 5% for the refined fuel and
the rest to run the car.  The calculation is obviously very sensitive to
the fuel economy of the car (which is roughly inverse to the weight, and
therefore to the amount of energy required to create all that weight) as
well as to the lifetime of the car expressed in total km run. Perhaps
the German EPA has different assumptions, but ones I poured over once
with both Volvo and VW (in 1997) came out with numbers like those I
quoted above.

For the US, cars are 35% heavier than those in Europe, but they are run
35% more and use 35% more fuel/km, and they are not forced-retired as
some countries do when cars get old and phunky. Hence  the relationship
Lloyd expressed -- a smaller share of lifetime emissions is bound up in
the car in the US than in Europe -- is true

At the end of the day it comes down to what the car is made of, and
whether the masses of aluminium and steel are made mostly with coal
(like in Australia, where the electricity for the Aluminium is
coal-fired), natural gas, or some combination of those two plus hydro
and nuclear (the Swedish case). IF steel or Al is imported that makes it
even more complicated.

My best guess is more like 15% for the US and 20% of a much smaller
total number for Europe.