Michalek selected to serve on NASEM committee

Engineering & Public Policy Professor Jeremy Michalek has been selected by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to serve on the committee working on current methods for life cycle analyses of low-carbon transportation fuels in the United States.

The newly formed committee will assess current methods for estimating lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with transportation fuels (liquid and non-liquid) for potential use in a national low-carbon fuels program. In carrying out its assessment, the committee will identify the general characteristics and capabilities of GHG emissions estimation methods that would be commonly needed across various types of low-carbon fuels programs applied at a national level. The committee will include these considerations:

• GHG emissions over the entire lifecycle of a given transportation fuel, including feedstock generation or extraction, feedstock conversion to a finished fuel or blendstock, distribution, storage, delivery, and use of the fuel in vehicles.
• Potentially significant indirect GHG emissions.
• Key assumptions, input parameters, and data quality and quantity, including spatial variability, for application of lifecycle GHG emission models
• Needs for additional data, methods for data collection, standardized inputs for lifecycle analyses, and model improvements.

To learn more about the committee, visit the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine website.