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Engineering for Transformation

| 2022-10-27

Abstract We will address the role that low carbon fuels (not strictly “carbon free” fuels, but those with low carbon intensity) can and should play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To some, it seems a foregone conclusion that the days of the internal combustion engine are nearing an end, and that the fastest path to “zero carbon emissions” is through adoption of electric vehicles. But bringing down fossil carbon emissions immediately can yield tremendous improvements with regard to the climate crisis, in contrast with waiting for electric vehicles to penetrate the market, and electricity production to be deeply de-carbonized. Widespread and immediate adoption of low carbon intensity renewable fuels can provide dramatic carbon intensity reductions, overnight, when used in the vehicles we drive today. But both the pursuit of electrification of the transportation sector and adoption of low carbon fuels runs into a major practical challenge – achieving major reductions in reducing fossil carbon emissions at scale. Replacing 20 million barrels a day of petroleum presents a daunting barrier to addressing the climate crisis. We will take a realistic look at these questions, and recommend a path forward that uses both strategies, based on life cycle analysis and experimental studies with engines and vehicles.