Making Sense of the Megajoules: Improving Energy Use Calculations in Life Cycle Assessment of energy carriers used for vehicle propulsion

This project aims to provide methodology and recommendations for the assessment of energy use in life cycle assessment (LCA) to allow for relevant comparisons of different energy carriers for vehicle propulsion. It explicitly addresses the active field 4 “vehicle environmental impact” since resource use is an important aspect in environmental life cycle assessments. Furthermore, which energy type is adopted and how it is used are central features of any vehicle powertrain technology. In the strategic selection and development of vehicle powertrain technologies, it is therefore critical to know how to assess and compare energy use in LCAs.