A life-cycle energy consumption and waste generation model for passenger car production in the automotive industry

Light-duty passenger cars consume a daily amount of 285 million gallons of gasoline in the United States. This figure accounts for 16.3 percent of the total energy used by Americans, including 38.2 percent of the petroleum. In 1975, as a response to the oil price shock of 1973-1974, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which established Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to reduce gasoline consumption in new light-duty vehicles. To respond to the federal fuel economy standards and growing consumer preference for high-mileage cars, the auto industry has had to use a wide range of strategies. Decreasing total vehicle weight by the substitution of lightweight materials, making improvements the engine features, redesigning the transmission, increasing the aerodynamic efficiency, and improving the tire rolling resistance are the principal categories to achieve the goal.; This study develops an overall model capable of analyzing the effects of energy efficient technologies on the life-cycle energy consumption of passenger cars. The model also assesses the impact of these technologies on the waste generation during manufacturing, use, and recycling stages. The energy efficiency levels of alternative technologies as well as the types and the amounts of the waste stream components indicated by this study provide the target users a basis to projections of overall probable impacts of the different methods on energy consumption and environmental protection.