Combining local operational data with international results,
and theoretical approximations where necessary, allows
one to explore different scenarios and ultimately
design the fleet of the future with full visibility on the costs,
environmental impacts, and operational effectiveness of
different technology options. Rather than working backwards,
after the fact, to figure out the consequences of what
has been built, we can instead proceed through the design
process with a full understanding of the implications of
each design decision. The ultimate benefit of progressing
the life cycle engineering on future transportation systems
in Australia is to develop innovative ways of incorporating
the practice of LCA in the policy and planning decisionmaking
process.
Some might consider buses to be a relatively unexciting
sector of the transport industry, but buses provide an ideal
platform for the roll-out of new technology. They operate
from a central depot where refuelling and maintenance can be
tightly managed, they operate on similar routes every day
allowing performance to be measured, their duty cycle is
rigorous with heavy loads and many start/stop sequences for
durability testing, and they can serve as a prominent public
display of innovation.
The Australian market presents a unique opportunity for
the use of hydrogen in road transport applications,
including:
Vast renewable and non-renewable energy resources
which could be used for hydrogen production, and the
opportunity for variable and deferrable loads such as
hydrogen production to upgrade the value of distant and
non-dispatchable renewable resources.
Declining oil production and a growing trade deficit in
transport fuel present an energy security risk to the economy
and a driving force to develop alternative indigenous
sources of transport fuel.
A need to find a way to reverse the trend of constant
growth in greenhouse gas emissions from the transport
sector.
A very low population density, and a need for light-duty
vehicles with long range capability and a short refuelling
time, both of which are problematic for battery-electric EVs
but could be addressed with hybridisation.
A growing heavy-duty transport task, with an energy
consumption for Australia's trucks and buses that is
growing at a faster rate than the car fleet, and which presents
an opportunity for alternative technologies that can
decouple the growing heavy-duty transport task from
emissions growth.
Further R&D of hydrogen technologies is required to
determine whether, and how, hydrogen fits in Australia's
future energy mix.