ELM: Environmental Assessment of Fuel Supply Systems for Vehicle Fleets

Doctoral thesis, 1998

This thesis is based on the idea of applying a logistics approach to fuel supply systems. The complete supply chain from energy raw material to end use in the vehicle is analysed while keeping track of energy conversion efficiency, exergy consumption and emissions to air. This method, which is referred to as Energy Logistic Modelling (ELM), is heavily influenced by LCA practices. The viability of using this approach in the decision-making process of choosing fuel for a vehicle fleet is investigated. The emphasis is on organising and structuring life cycle inventories of fuels for entire fleets of vehicles and to give recommendations and guidelines for how to define system boundaries and allocation rules. ELM is suitable for assessing trade offs between changes of fuel or system boundaries and the above mentioned fuel supply chain measures, as well as technical modifications of the supply chain itself.