Powering the Future Summary Report - Parsons Brinckerhoff

Powering the Future Summary Report
Powering the Future Summary Report
Large-scale conversion of road transport to biofuels
is restricted by the available biomass that can be
employed without affecting food production or causing
environmental damage. We believe a limit of 5%
biofuel content of transport fuels to be the highest
sustainable level.
Hydrogen storage with fuel cell electric power is
an alternative to battery electric power for vehicles,
although it offers a smaller CO 2 reduction and is not yet
as advanced in development or readiness for largescale
application. Hydrogen can be produced either
by electrolysis of water or by chemical processing of a
hydrocarbon fuel, conventionally coal, for the scale of
production needed for use as a transport fuel.
Our analysis shows that hydrogen produced by
electrolysis to supply vehicles using efficient fuel
cells and electric drives requires two to three times
the electricity needed to deliver the same energy to a
battery-powered vehicle. This alternative is therefore
not viable.
Production of hydrogen by gasification of coal is a
complex and energy-intensive process which includes
the separation of a large proportion of the by-product
CO 2 for storage. The hydrogen produced needs to
be distributed through a new network of high-pressure
pipelines to vehicle fuelling stations across the country.
This costly infrastructure would commit the UK to
increased dependency on fossil fuels and additional
CO 2 emissions. This option is therefore excluded from
further consideration.
Figure 6 Transport measures - net CO 2 reduction on sector emissions
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