STEEL INDUSTRY SUPPORTS LOW CARBON VEHICLE PARTNERSHIP STUDY HIGHLIGHTING LIFE CYCLE EMISSIONS TO PROPERLY ASSESS FUTURE VEHICLE CARBON FOOTPRINT
BRUSSELS, 29 June 2011 – According to a new study, “Preparing for a Life Cycle CO2 Measure”, vehicle manufacturing emissions can represent 23 to 46 percent of total vehicle emissions. These findings, recently released by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LCVP), an advisory group working to accelerate the shift to low-carbon vehicles and fuels, and conducted by Ricardo, a global engineering firm, demonstrate that emissions other than tailpipe emissions are significant and therefore need to be included in future vehicle regulations.
“Our own research also has brought into sharp focus that tailpipe-only emissions regulations can lead to engineering decisions that have the unintended consequence of negating emissions reduction in the whole life cycle or, worse yet, increasing emissions,” said Cees ten Broek, director, WorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association. “That’s why WorldAutoSteel strongly supports the efforts of the LCVP in recommending life cycle assessment (LCA) as a part of vehicle design and regulatory processes moving forward. We also are committed to the consideration of the entire life cycle as key to ensuring that emissions from future vehicles are reduced.”
When life cycle emissions are considered, steel-intensive designs of future vehicles can provide the lowest total emissions. This is because Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) produce low emissions during material and vehicle manufacturing, especially compared to other structural materials. Further, AHSS grades reduce emissions during the driving phase and are 100 percent recycled at the end of the vehicle’s life. Steel’s properties and value reflect one of the LCVP/Ricardo study conclusions, that LCA can drive reductions in both cost and carbon footprint.
WorldAutoSteel is actively pursuing the life cycle approach in all its programs and studies, the most recent one being the FutureSteelVehicle (FSV) program, launched on 18 May 2011. FSV demonstrates the design of a low-emitting vehicle on an LCA basis at essentially no additional cost. FSV is designed based on new materials and technologies overlapping the future regulatory period to reduce body structure weight by 35 percent and life cycle emissions by nearly 70 percent over a benchmark conventional gasoline vehicle. The FSV results offer low emissions solutions to automakers at a time when vehicle emissions regulations are being strengthened.
About WorldAutoSteelWorldAutoSteel, the automotive group of the World Steel Association, is comprised of 17 major global steel producers from around the world. WorldAutoSteel’s mission is to advance and communicate steel’s unique ability to meet the automotive industry’s needs and challenges in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. WorldAutoSteel is committed to a low carbon future, the principles of which are embedded in our continuous research, manufacturing processes, and ultimately, in the advancement of automotive steel products, for the benefit of society and future generations.
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