John Eichberger |
March 2025
In March 2025, the Transportation Energy Institute published a short white paper, “Using Life Cycle Assessment to Evaluate the Light Duty Vehicle Transportation Sector.” When I told a friend of mine in the industry that we were putting together this resource he asked me, “For what purpose?” It was a great question. Why should TEI bother with a primer on LCA when there are so many detailed assessments and more exhaustive papers on the topic? After thinking for a moment, I told him, “Because there remains a lack of awareness outside of those actively engaged in LCA about what it is and why it matters if we really care about sustainable emissions reductions.” And I use the word “sustainable” intentionally – our paper argues that using an LCA can help identify the most efficient means for reducing emissions which can result in economically sustainable investments, achieving reductions that make financial sense and will therefore continue and provide meaningful environmental improvement in the long term. Let’s take a look at what we really mean by this with regards to transportation energy.
Broad Understanding
First, to provide context we can take a look at the comparative analysis we published in 2022 looking at life cycle emissions of three small sport utility vehicle with different powertrains – internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV).
A key finding in this study demonstrated that approximately three-quarters of emissions over a 200,000-mile expected lifetime come from the energy they consume, whether that be liquid fuel or electricity. Consequently, the greatest benefit to the environment will be achieved by reducing the carbon intensity of both fuel and electricity.
Looking at the Fuel
Subsequent to this study, we published a few more looking at the opportunities for reducing emissions from liquid fuel:
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What these studies discovered was a wide variety of options for reducing the overall carbon intensity of liquid fuel, from the oil and corn fields through the blend ratios of petroleum and biofuels. Many of these options would not only result in lower emissions of the final product, they could also contribute to more efficient production methods and yield improved financial returns, a compelling opportunity that would simultaneously benefit the environment and the companies producing fuels. The chart below shows the potential of fuel carbon intensity reductions due to energy inputs, feedstocks used, and processes applied.
The following charts show the carbon reduction potential for blending ethanol and biodiesel, generating 250,000 gallons, based upon Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model and calculated through TEI’s Carbon Avoidance Tracker. It is important to note that the values presented below are national averages – biofuels from feedstock that was produced using advanced agricultural practices could yield significantly lower carbon intensity values. To better understand this opportunity, TEI has organized a Sustainable Agriculture Working Group to help standardize agricultural practices that could contribute to lower carbon intense biofuels. (Contact Jeff Hove for more information about this working group.)
Reducing Emissions from Electricity
The Transportation Energy Institute has not commissioned research into how we might reduce the carbon intensity of the electricity used to power BEVs. There are many organizations working on that objective, so we have focused our efforts to supporting the profitable deployment of EV charging infrastructure, recognizing that if businesses cannot generate a positive return on their charger investment the market will become severely handicapped. However, it is critical that BEVs are powered by lower emitting electricity. On a national average, U.S. power plants emit 794 pounds of CO2e for every megawatt hour of electricity produced. For purposes of illustration, below is a map showing states that emit more and less than the national average.
To demonstrate how the carbon intensity of the grid can affect the life cycle emissions of a BEV, the following chart shows how the average LCA of our 2022 report presented above changes when accounting for regional carbon intensity of electricity generation.
Takeaways
The bottom line is that by focusing on every part of the life cycle and supply chain, we can identify the best opportunities to reduce emissions, enhance efficiency, remove waste and boost profitability. But if we do not think about transportation as a complete system, finding such opportunities may prove elusive.
Whether your objective is to reduce emissions or boost efficiency and profitability, a life cycle analysis is a critical element to the evaluation of a system.
