Carbon and energy footprints of refuse collection trucks: A hybrid life cycle evaluation

Refuse collection trucks, due to the frequent stop-and-go nature of their operation, have considerably lower fuel economy and larger amounts of tailpipe emissions. In this study environmental burdens of refuse collection vehicles, including diesel, compressed natural gas, hydraulic hybrid, and plug-in battery electric powered trucks are analyzed. A hybrid life cycle assessment consisting of an environmentally extended input-output analysis and a process-based analysis is conducted to evaluate the life cycle carbon footprints and energy consumption levels of different types of refuse collection trucks. To comprehensively reflect the real-world performance or impacts of the operation of refuse collection trucks, a Monte Carlo Simulation is used to take into account the inherent uncertainties associated with each of the key parameters in this analysis. In addition, the influence of the U.S.'s various regional electric power mixes on the upstream emissions of battery electric trucks is also considered, so as to explore whether or not each particular region is suitable for the adoption of electric trucks. The results indicate that both the all-electric and the CNG refuse trucks generate approximately 1200 tons of GHG emissions over their respective life cycles, while the GHG emissions of the diesel truck amount to slightly less than 1000 tons. The hydraulic hybrid truck demonstrates the best overall environmental performance, while the CNG truck has significant impacts in terms of energy consumption (more than 25 trillion joules). In addition, the regional analysis indicates that the electricity source(s) available in any given region are the primary deterministic factor for the performance of an all-electric truck.