The U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory have developed a tool that enables DOE Clean Cities groups and their stakeholders to objectively assess how alternative fuel vehicles and other advanced transportation technologies can affect fleets' financial and environmental performance.
The Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation (AFLEET) tool is designed to estimate petroleum usage, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant emissions and the cost of ownership of light- and heavy-duty vehicles. Historical data from the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects comprise the tool's key sources for providing cost estimates.
The tool accommodates a large swath of vehicle and fuel types. Passenger cars, passenger trucks and light commercial trucks are all covered, and heavy-duty vehicles are also included: school buses, refuse vehicles, transit buses, Class 8 trucks and more. In terms of fuels, the AFLEET tool is comprehensive: propane autogas, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), gasoline, diesel, electricity, biodiesel and ethanol.
Data from Argonne's Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) fuel-cycle model helps the tool generate necessary ‘well-to-wheels’ petroleum use and emissions co-efficients for various fuel production pathways and vehicle types. Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) and certification data are used to estimate tailpipe air pollutant emissions.
A PDF that explains how the tool works is available by clicking here. AFLEET is spreadsheet-based, making the tool accessible to just about any user.
