Michael Wang @ Argonne National Lab
Abstract:
Life-cycle analysis (LCA) has become important in the transportation sector as new vehicle technologies and alternative transportation fuels are being promoted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and urban air emissions. In fact, LCA of transportation fuels and vehicle systems has a history of more than 30 years. Over this period, LCA methodologies have evolved and critical data have become readily available. This is especially true in the past ten years when LCA has been applied extensively to evaluation of new transportation fuels such biofuels, hydrogen, and electricity and advanced vehicle technologies such as battery electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles.
Since 1994, Argonne National Laboratory has been developing the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model for LCA of transportation fuels and vehicle technologies. The GREET model is now being used by regulatory agencies including California Air Resources Board, the U.S. EPA, and the International Civil Aviation Organization of the UN. It will be used to determine fiscal incentives of clean fuel production, clean hydrogen production, and sustainable aviation fuel production specified in the Inflation Reduction Act. The most recent GREET version – GREET2022 – was released in October 2022 (greet.es.anl.gov for details). At present, GREET has more than 50,000 registered users worldwide. This presentation will cover 1) GREET LCA modeling approach; 2) key issues affecting LCA results, and 3) LCA results for vehicle technologies and transportation fuels including electricity from various sources, biofuels from different feedstocks, and hydrogen from different energy resources.
Bio:
Dr. Michael Wang is a distinguished fellow of Argonne National Laboratory and the Director of the Systems Assessment Center of the Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He has been working at Argonne since 1993. Dr. Wang’s research covers evaluation of energy and environmental impacts of advanced vehicle technologies and new transportation fuels, assessment of the market potentials of new vehicle and fuel technologies, and examination of transportation development in other countries.
Michael has been leading the development and applications of Argonne’s GREET model for life-cycle analysis of advanced vehicle technologies, transportation fuels, and energy systems (see https://greet.anl.gov/). The GREET model and its results have been used by governmental agencies in North America, Asia, and Europe to develop transportation fuel and vehicle policies and by companies in pursuing environmental sustainability of R&D portfolios.
Dr. Wang is a faculty associate in the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. He is a senior fellow of the Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering (NAISE). He is a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is an associate editor of Biotechnology for Biofuels and on the editorial boards of Frontiers of Energy and Power Engineering in China and Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Changes. Dr. Wang has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.