Calculating carbon emissions for the trucking industry: comparing an individual vehicle emission model with the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory approach

This research project was undertaken at the request of the Rocky's Own Transport Company (ROTC), a road-freight company headquartered in central Queensland.  The project focussed on assisting ROTC to better understand, calculate, report and reduce their scope one greenhouse gas emissions under the National Greenhouse Emissions Reporting Scheme (NGERS).  The report comprised a detailed examination of ROTC's emissions and reporting options under NGERs, together with a review of global research literature on emissions testing, calculations and reporting for the road transport sector.  The modelling component showed that the use of the Method 2 reporting option, compared with the default NGERs approach, could reduce the reportable emissions for ROTC by approximately 3%. These savings were made possible by more accurately reflecting the energy, density and carbon content characteristics of the fuel(s) used by ROTC. The literature review confirmed that field of research on trucking emissions is complex, since the calculation of accurate emissions factors is dependent on the rigorous collection of a range of information about the performance of engines, after-treatment technologies, fuel blends and driving conditions. A large body of data is already available; however, most studies are not specific to heavy-duty diesel engines, and Australian work is almost non-existent, with studies instead reflecting European and North American operating conditions. The report concludes with a number of recommendations around the technological, operational and behavioural changes that can be used by ROTC to respond to the pressures of changing emission regulations, carbon reporting and customer environmental awareness.   These include transitioning to the NGERs Method 2 (to reduce reportable emission) and exploring the role of different engine technologies and/or diesel fuel alternatives (to reduce actual emissions).  Most importantly, the Australian trucking industry could consider the value of installing portable emissions measurement (or similar) devices on representative trucks to capture real-time, real-world emissions data, and thus increase the confidence in emissions calculations, ahead of any national price on carbon.  (Contact Susan Kinnear or click here for full report)

Contact: Dr Susan Kinnear

Or Professor John Rolfe - j.rolfe@cqu.edu.au