The use of alternative fuels to mitigate climate change impacts in the transportation sector in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
24th Euro Working Group on Transportation Meeting, EWGT 2021
; 62:752-759, 2022.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-1788221
ABSTRACT
This paper assesses how increased use of alternative fuels (ethanol and electricity) contributes to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of light-duty vehicles in Rio Janeiro state (RJ), Brazil, a region of a developing country - most such analysis focus at the aggregate country level. Using an energy systems model (OSeMOSYS), we analyze scenarios that consider an improvement in the quality of the ethanol (in gCO2eq/MJ) consumed in RJ due to the development of the RenovaBio program, greater uptake of electric vehicles, carbon pricing, and a combination of these policies. We also analyze a scenario with the new RenovaBio targets, which the Brazilian government scaled down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that electric vehicles are the most cost-effective policy to reduce CO2emissions (by 1.9%) when no carbon pricing is considered. When it is, however, CO2emissions are reduced the most (between 47% and 56%), regardless of the vehicle technology being used, but it is the costlier policy (between 5.4% and 15.3%). In scenarios with carbon pricing, flex-fuel vehicles switch to ethanol, an important result for a region where this technology already dominates the vehicle fleet. Greater uptake of electric vehicles leads to lower overall transportation costs (by 2.5%), but when a CO2price is considered, because the electricity system still relies on fossil fuels, the reduction in CO2emissions is compromised. In such a setting, increased ethanol quality reduces carbon emissions more than electric vehicle adoption (by 16%). The RenovaBio targets' reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, jeopardizes this result. Such findings convey important evidence to policymakers and the research community decarbonization of transportation in a region of a developing country, where economic resources are scarcer, can start before electric vehicles become affordable by increasing and maintaining continued access to lower-carbon fuels. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
24th Euro Working Group on Transportation Meeting, EWGT 2021
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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