A diesel retrofit project helped reduce particulate matter in Mexico City. Photo by [EMBARQ](http://www.flickr.com/photos/embarq/420218384/).
With financial support from FedEx, EMBARQ’s Fuels and Vehicles Program will aid governments, transit agencies and other stakeholders in making informed decisions about optimizing bus fleet performance and reducing cost and emissions. Bus-based public transport systems can be effective, low-cost, and low-carbon solutions to urgent transportation needs. With efficient vehicles and clean fuels, bus fleets can have minimal environmental and public health impacts. As an honest advisor to cities and governments, EMBARQ makes technology-neutral recommendations. This program builds upon EMBARQ’s previous work retrofitting urban bus fleets, and ongoing efforts advancing national fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards.
The research program includes three phases:
Phase 1: Exhaust Emissions Research Research will review international studies of urban bus fleets, comparing emissions resulting from different bus fuels and technologies.
Cooper, E. et al. “Exhaust Emissions of Transit Buses – Working Paper.” EMBARQ. 2012
Phase 2: Lifecycle Cost and Lifecycle Emissions Research This phase will focus on understanding how lifecycle costs and lifecycle emissions differ between bus fuels and technologies in various regions and cities.
Phase 3: Tool Development Based on the previous research, a tool will be developed which will aid agencies in determining which are the preferred buses given their unique conditions.
Project Staff:
Washington, D.C.: Dario Hidalgo, Aileen Carrigan, Erin Cooper
Brazil: Daniela Facchini, Magdala Arioli
India: Amit Bhatt, Umang Jain
Mexico: Hilda Martinez, Jorge Macías, Cynthis Menendez, Julian Patron
Relevant Research:
Macias, J., Martínez, H., and Unal, A. “Bus Technology Meta-analysis” CTS Mexico. 2009.
This document analyzes data obtained from international studies which compare natural gas, diesel and hybrid technologies for buses, in order to find out differences in particulate Matter (PM10), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC), carbon monoxide (CO), greenhouse gas, and air toxic emissions.
“Cleaner, healthier air. Retrofit: a step forward.”Movilidad Amable. CTS Mexico. 2006
An overview of Mexico City's diesel retrofit program, in which EMBARQ and CTS-México, working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment, showed how new particulate filters, catalysts, and clean fuel could be used in Mexico City’s buses to reduce air pollution.
Cleaner Buses for Mexico: An Opportunity to Save Lives EMBARQ. 2005
This policy paper urges the Mexico city government to retire, replace, and retrofit its current fleet of buses that run on heavy diesel. It also emphasizes the need for PEMEX, Mexico's public oil company, to produce diesel with a lower sulfur content. These two changes, the paper shows, will significantly improve air quality in the Mexican capital.
Measuring the Invisible. EMBARQ. 2008.
As demand for transportation continues to rise at unprecedented rates, the need to compare alternative transport policies and their impacts on both CO2 emissions and local air pollution is becoming more and more critical. The challenge of quantifying these impacts, however, has hindered transparent and well-informed decision making. To address this barrier, EMBARQ and the World Resources Institute have developed three case studies—from Porto Alegre, Hanoi and Queretaro—that illustrate methods for quantifying emissions from transportation solutions.
