Emission inventory for road transport in India in 2020: framework and post facto policy impact assessment.

India's growing population and economic development lead to an increase in transport emissions. Quantification of emission at frequent intervals is required to assess the emission levels and impact of implemented control policies. Implemented policies affect the fleet configuration over time. Therefore, in the present paper, an age-wise emission analysis framework is developed for the road transport sector with updated fleet characteristics corresponding to the vehicles' age. The results show that fuel consumption is estimated to be 92 (87-95) Mt, and total CO2, CO, PM, and NOx vehicle emissions are estimated to be 274 (265-292) Tg, 4463 (3253-6676) Gg, 164 (119-250) Gg, and 2378 (2191-3045) Gg, respectively for the reference year 2020. The study contributes by developing an inventory for the fleet of 2020, which is used as a benchmark to compare past emission inventory, evaluate control policies, estimate state-wise vehicle emission inventories, and identify significant emitters in the fleet. Sensitivity analysis indicates the considerable variation in total emissions resulting from different age-mix of vehicles. Among the investigated policies, advancement in emission norms followed by fuel efficiency improvement in vehicles led to a substantial reduction in gaseous pollutants. Based on the inventory results, suitable policies are suggested for India's future fleet, and the need for country-level fleet characteristics data is recommended.

Life cycle energy-carbon-water footprints of sugar, ethanol and electricity from sugarcane.

Sugarcane is an important cash crop used for producing sweeteners and also some bioproducts (alcohol and bioenergy). The current study assesses life cycle energy, carbon and water footprint of sugarcane based sugar, ethanol and electricity in India. A farm to factory gate attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to assess the energy and carbon footprints whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) CropWat model is used to estimate the water footprint (green, blue and grey). For the base case, electricity has the highest energy return on investment (EROI), lowest carbon and water footprints among the bioproducts. The choice of allocation method (economic, mass, and energy) impacts the energy and environmental outcomes of the bioproducts. The comparison among four different sugarcane seasons shows that bioproducts available from Adsali sugarcane have the highest EROI, lowest carbon and water footprints. The findings could lead to improved sustainability of sugarcane bioproducts in India.

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Coal and Imported Gas-Based Power Generation in the Indian Context.

Few studies have evaluated the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts associated with India's power sector, despite the expectation that it will dominate new thermal generation capacity additions over the coming decades. Here, we utilize India-specific supply chain data to estimate life cycle GHG emissions associated with power generated by combustion of Indian coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from the United States. Life cycle impacts of domestic coal power vary widely (80% confidence interval (CI): 951-1231 kg CO2eq/MWh) because of heterogeneity in existing power plant characteristics such as efficiency, age, and capacity. Less variability is observed for LNG sourced from northeast United States and used in the existing Indian combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) fleet (80% CI: 523-648 kg CO2eq/MWh). On average, life cycle GHG emissions from LNG imported into India are ∼54% lower than those associated with Indian coal. However, the GHG intensity of the Indian coal-power sector may be reduced by 13% by retiring plants with the lowest efficiencies and replacing them with higher-efficiency supercritical plants. Improvement of the CCGT fleet efficiency from its current level (41%) to that of a new plant with an F-class turbine (50%) could reduce life cycle GHG emissions for LNG-sourced power by 19%.