Life cycle assessment of hydrogen fuel cell and gasoline vehicles

A life cycle assessment of hydrogen and gasoline vehicles, including fuel production and utilization in vehicles powered by fuel cells and internal combustion engines, is conducted to evaluate and compare their efficiencies and environmental impacts. Fossil fuel and renewable technologies are investigated, and the assessment is divided into various stages. Energy efficiencies and greenhouse gas emissions are evaluated in each step for crude oil and natural gas pipeline transportation, crude oil distillation and natural gas reformation, wind and solar electricity generation, hydrogen production through water electrolysis, and gasoline and hydrogen distribution and utilization. The results indicate that, when taking into account fossil fuel energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the efficiency of a fuel cell vehicle employing hydrogen from natural gas should be at least 25-30% higher than a gasoline one to be competitive. Wind electricity generation to produce hydrogen via electrolysis, and its application in a PEMFC vehicle, has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel energy consumption. However, the economic attractiveness of renewable wind technology is shown to depend significantly on the ratio in costs between hydrogen and natural gas; when this ratio is 2:1, a financial investment to produce hydrogen via natural gas is about five times more profitable than to do so via wind energy. (c) 2005 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.