334
economy standards. Today, over 70 % of the global new vehicle market is subject to
GHG and/or fuel economy standards (Miller and Façanha 2014 ). This worldwide
commitment to automotive emission reductions has led car manufacturers to rethink
the automobile. The prevalent car design, the steel-based ICV powered by gasoline
or diesel, is being challenged by alternative fuels, powertrains, and structural materials. The following sections will discuss these developments from an industrial
ecology perspective. Such a perspective is necessary to determine whether these
alternatives offer overall environmental impact reductions or instead shift burdens
to other life cycle stages or other environmental concerns.
2 Biofuels
Biofuels are not an invention of the modern environmental movement but were
commonplace until coal began to fuel the industrial revolution in the second half of
the eighteenth century. The diesel engine at the World Fair in Paris in 1900 ran on
peanut oil, and Rudolf Diesel himself believed that vegetable oil would become an
important fuel. An early version of Otto’s engine ran on ethanol. The Model T was
designed to run on gasoline or ethanol, and Henry Ford thought that ethanol was the
fuel of the future. In the 1930s gasoline blended with ethanol from corn was proposed in the United States to support its ailing agriculture. High oil prices and oil
shortages during World War II and the oil crises in the 1970s briefl y renewed US
interest in corn ethanol. These phases were short-lived, however, and gasoline and
diesel from petroleum became and remained the exclusive fuels for the growing
fl eet of ICVs in the United States.
The same is true for the rest of the world, with the exception of Brazil, where
ethanol from sugarcane has been used to fuel cars since the 1920s. Brazilian ethanol
production increased steadily until cheap oil became consistently available after
World War II. However, prompted by the oil crises in the 1970s, Brazil launched a
National Ethanol Program in 1975 (Garten Rothkopf 2007 ). Among other things,
this program included ethanol subsidies and mandated that all gasoline be blended
with ethanol at certain ratios and that ethanol be sold at lower prices than gasoline.
As a result, Brazil became the world’s largest fuel ethanol producer and consumer
by far. In the 1980s oil prices tumbled to historic lows, where they stayed until the
end of the millennium. This eroded the economic case for ethanol, and Brazilian
production was relatively fl at during that period at around 11–15 billion liters per
year (EIA 2015 ).
Between 1981 and 2001, annual corn ethanol production in the United States
increased at a slow but steady pace from 0.3 to 6.7 billion liters, which was mainly
fostered by subsidies. After 2000, progressive replacement of MTBE with ethanol
further helped to increase US production. However, the big boost for US ethanol
came with the creation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program in the
Energy Policy Act of 2005 and its expansion in the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007. In 2007, the United States produced 18.5 billion liters of
R. Geyer
economy standards. Today, over 70 % of the global new vehicle market is subject to
GHG and/or fuel economy standards (Miller and Façanha 2014 ). This worldwide
commitment to automotive emission reductions has led car manufacturers to rethink
the automobile. The prevalent car design, the steel-based ICV powered by gasoline
or diesel, is being challenged by alternative fuels, powertrains, and structural materials. The following sections will discuss these developments from an industrial
ecology perspective. Such a perspective is necessary to determine whether these
alternatives offer overall environmental impact reductions or instead shift burdens
to other life cycle stages or other environmental concerns.
2 Biofuels
Biofuels are not an invention of the modern environmental movement but were
commonplace until coal began to fuel the industrial revolution in the second half of
the eighteenth century. The diesel engine at the World Fair in Paris in 1900 ran on
peanut oil, and Rudolf Diesel himself believed that vegetable oil would become an
important fuel. An early version of Otto’s engine ran on ethanol. The Model T was
designed to run on gasoline or ethanol, and Henry Ford thought that ethanol was the
fuel of the future. In the 1930s gasoline blended with ethanol from corn was proposed in the United States to support its ailing agriculture. High oil prices and oil
shortages during World War II and the oil crises in the 1970s briefl y renewed US
interest in corn ethanol. These phases were short-lived, however, and gasoline and
diesel from petroleum became and remained the exclusive fuels for the growing
fl eet of ICVs in the United States.
The same is true for the rest of the world, with the exception of Brazil, where
ethanol from sugarcane has been used to fuel cars since the 1920s. Brazilian ethanol
production increased steadily until cheap oil became consistently available after
World War II. However, prompted by the oil crises in the 1970s, Brazil launched a
National Ethanol Program in 1975 (Garten Rothkopf 2007 ). Among other things,
this program included ethanol subsidies and mandated that all gasoline be blended
with ethanol at certain ratios and that ethanol be sold at lower prices than gasoline.
As a result, Brazil became the world’s largest fuel ethanol producer and consumer
by far. In the 1980s oil prices tumbled to historic lows, where they stayed until the
end of the millennium. This eroded the economic case for ethanol, and Brazilian
production was relatively fl at during that period at around 11–15 billion liters per
year (EIA 2015 ).
Between 1981 and 2001, annual corn ethanol production in the United States
increased at a slow but steady pace from 0.3 to 6.7 billion liters, which was mainly
fostered by subsidies. After 2000, progressive replacement of MTBE with ethanol
further helped to increase US production. However, the big boost for US ethanol
came with the creation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program in the
Energy Policy Act of 2005 and its expansion in the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007. In 2007, the United States produced 18.5 billion liters of
R. Geyer