The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) recently released its fourth report from Run on Less — Messy Middle, From Source to Highway: The Messy Middle Emissions Report.
The report, which focuses on the analysis of greenhouse gas and criteria emissions from 14 participating trucks, found that moving goods can be successfully executed by a variety of fuels, including renewable diesel, biodiesel, electricity, renewable natural gas, hydrogen and more.
The report also found that a heavy-duty vehicle’s environmental footprint isn’t measured solely by the gases it emits, but also by emissions generated during energy production and distribution. Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model was used to calculate well-to-wheel emissions.
Furthermore, as fleet operators consider the various options for decarbonization and lowering emissions, different energy sources have a distinct health impact profile when analyzed from a lifecycle perspective.
Specific findings from the report include:
- The origins of energy sources outweigh engine technology when looking at truck carbon footprints, i.e. RNG from dairy waste can be carbon-negative regardless of the engine’s inefficiency while an EV is as clean as the grid it’s charged on.
- Alternative fuels, including RNG and biodiesel, perform on similar levels as diesel, proving a capacity to operate the most demanding heavy-haul applications.
- Decarbonization has become a public health issue as fossil fuel emissions have cost the US economy between $100 billion and $1 trillion in health damages annually, according to the US Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
- Drivers have as large an impact on fuel economy as engine technology. Well-driven trucks on optimized routes achieve better performance in all fuels.
- Fleets should start considering emissions in their decision making when purchasing new vehicles.
Learn more and download the report on the NACFE website.
