Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100098 |
| _version_ | 1811083929574178816 |
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| author | Raykar, Sumant (Sumant Shreechandra) |
| author2 | Timothy G. Gutowski. |
| author_facet | Timothy G. Gutowski. Raykar, Sumant (Sumant Shreechandra) |
| author_sort | Raykar, Sumant (Sumant Shreechandra) |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:41:52Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/100098 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:41:52Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1000982019-04-10T13:17:00Z Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing Raykar, Sumant (Sumant Shreechandra) Timothy G. Gutowski. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. "June 2015." Page 184 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages [164]-173). In this thesis, we study the energy use and emissions arising from automobile manufacturing. The automobile manufacturing sector is the 11th largest industrial sector globally in terms of energy use and emissions. The IPCC has set targets for reduction in emissions so that the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does not exceed dangerous levels. The materials production sectors have achieved significant reduction in energy use in the last few decades. Progress in the production and assembly of components has been harder to prove. Base load energy use continues to be a high fraction of energy use at manufacturing facilities. We study the energy use and emissions reported by automobile companies in voluntary disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and in their sustainability reports. A model of a typical global vehicle assembly plant is created by using data published in literature. We find a good fit of this data with the CDP data. A certain fraction of parts manufacturing is included inhouse. Then, a simple thermodynamic model of the factory is developed. This shows that air exchange causes a significant heating and cooling load at factories. Internal heat gains contribute to the cooling load. We then test various emissions reduction scenarios to see their effectiveness in reducing energy use or emissions. We find that most of the reduction in emissions intensity in the last few years is likely due to the economies of scale effect, in spite of significant emission reduction efforts by some companies. We predict a trend towards higher manufacturing energy consumption due to use of low weight, high energy intensity materials in order to reduce use phase emissions. At some point, manufacturing emissions might become as significant as use phase emissions. Even if emissions intensity of manufacturing can be decreased, increased demand means that absolute emissions will continue to grow. Right now, it does not appear that this sector is on a pathway towards meeting climate change goals. by Sumant S. Raykar. S.M. 2015-12-03T20:53:19Z 2015-12-03T20:53:19Z 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100098 929445382 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 184 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Mechanical Engineering. Raykar, Sumant (Sumant Shreechandra) Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title | Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title_full | Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title_short | Analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| title_sort | analysis of energy use and carbon emissions from automobile manufacturing |
| topic | Mechanical Engineering. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100098 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT raykarsumantsumantshreechandra analysisofenergyuseandcarbonemissionsfromautomobilemanufacturing |