Powering the Future: The role for Internal Combustion Engines in a Reduced Carbon World
2024年7月29日 - 7:16PM
Internal combustion engines (ICE) are the standard, and
typically the only, power option in hundreds of applications
serving every corner of the globe. The magnitude of the global
reliance on ICEs and the extraordinary challenges of transitioning
to different energy systems strongly suggests a continued role for
ICE many decades into the future, even as new fuels and
technologies emerge, according to the Engine Technology Forum’s
(ETF) new white paper. It’s titled Powering On: Internal Combustion
Engines & the Clean Energy Future.
“Our global economy relies almost solely on internal combustion
engines for all of its power and mobility needs. All
decarbonization technologies that are being implemented, or
considered, face various limits and barriers. ICEs are uniquely
positioned for the future leveraging today’s fossil-fuel based
economy and adapting to tomorrow’s more sustainable one that relies
on renewable fuels and dramatically reduced carbon,” says ETF’s
Executive Director Allen Schaeffer.
ICEs will continue to thrive and dominate most sectors of the
economy for decades to come for three reasons:
- Near sole reliance
on ICE and its supporting infrastructure across wide sectors of the
global economy for which there is no suitable alternative
- Continuous
improvements in efficiency and lower emissions, as well as
significant opportunities for using lower carbon fuels that
position it to compete with emerging alternatives
- Delays and
uncertainties due to funding support, infrastructure, market
acceptance, as well as many other factors inherent in introducing
new fuels and energy systems.
“We will need an increasingly diversified energy and technology
portfolio that embraces advanced internal combustion engines with a
greater reliance on low-carbon renewable liquid and gaseous fuels
and hydrogen,” says Schaeffer.
ICEs are expected not only to have staying power in the
marketplace, but growth for another decade or more. Various market
forecasts predict combined annual growth rates for ICE to as much
as 9% from 2023-2030. Though increasingly stringent future
standards are designed to accelerate the introduction of zero
emissions vehicles, it is still projected that ICE technology will
power one third to one-half of the new vehicle fleet in 2032. For
the largest commercial vehicles, ICE technology is predicted to be
the power source for 75% of the new vehicles. The staying power of
advanced ICE is even more pronounced in heavy-duty off-road
applications in agriculture, construction, marine, rail and power
generation.
Schaeffer says, “The path to the future for ICEs is well
underway. It involves building on past progress to meet new
emissions and fuel efficiency requirements and a considerable
increase in the use of low-carbon renewable fuels like renewable
gasoline, renewable diesel, renewable natural gas, biodiesel,
hydrogen as well as e-fuels now under development.”
“There is no single best solution to reduce carbon emissions in
all sectors, which is why we must embrace all steps toward reducing
carbon; internal combustion engines are clearly part of the
solution. For many sectors and applications, the immediate switch
to lower carbon renewable fuels will deliver significant greenhouse
gas and other emissions reductions faster than the time it will
take for a fully renewable electric power sector to emerge and
realize electrification of the transport sector at meaningful
scale,” says Schaeffer.
The market and demand for renewable biobased fuels for both
spark ignited, and compression ignition, ICE amount to about 5% of
the total U.S. transportation sector energy consumption. And it is
growing. The drop-in replacement nature and variable blend
capabilities of renewable fuels increases their utility in
delivering near term GHG reductions across the entire fleet of
existing and new ICE.
The paper provides a comprehensive look at this critical
technology, how it is evolving, and how it competes with emerging
alternatives. The major challenges for ICE are discussed, all
electric and fuel cell alternatives are identified, and technical,
policy, and market issues are explored.
Powering On: Internal Combustion Engines & the Clean Energy
Future was commissioned by the Engine Technology Forum and prepared
by ECOpoint, Inc.; Ontario, Canada; Addy Majewski principal
author.
You can view and download the white paper through the ETF
website at
https://enginetechforum.org/internal-combustion-engine-primer.
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About the Engine Technology Forum
Founded on the principles of fact-based education, science,
outreach and collaboration, the Engine Technology
Forum is dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of the
benefits of advanced internal combustion engines and the fuels that
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About ECOpoint, Inc.
ECOpoint, Inc. is an engineering consultancy in Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada specializing in technologies for emission control
from internal combustion engines. ECOpoint, Inc. consultants are
engineers with a background in mechanical or chemical engineering,
with years of experience in engine, fuels, and emission
technologies.
Jessica Puchala
Engine Technology Forum
(202) 480-6441
jpuchala@enginetechforum.org