Carbon taxation on high utility transport fuels: An implementation of enviro-economic analysis for the sustainable environment”

Abstract

The humongous increase in carbon emissions in the past few decades presents an environmental challenge to the scientific community. The current study proposes a method of taxation on high-carbon emission fuels. For this purpose, a comparative enviro-economic analysis is carried out on the three most commonly used fuels (gasoline, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)). The speed of the test engine varied from 1800 to 4200 Revolution per Minute (RPM) in increments of 400 RPM. Performance parameters (Brake Power (BP), Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTHE), and Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC)) were measured using a hydro dynamometer. Emission analysis, including Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Unburned Hydrocarbons (HC), and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), was conducted using the TESTO 350 analyzer. The application of Weibull distribution with a 95 % confidence interval, on emission data, explained the adequacy of the data. Among test fuels, CNG emerged as an environment-friendly fuel with an emission reduction of 16, 42, and 43 percent for CO2, CO, and HC in comparison to gasoline. Also, BTHE and BSFC of CNG were better than other alternatives. Moreover, the carbon penalty for CNG fuel showed a price reduction of 32 and 20.8 percent in comparison to gasoline and LPG respectively. The study provides a novel approach to assess the environmental impact of fuels by economic analysis based on emitted carbon quantity. In addition, this very idea is novel in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations (UN) through carbon taxation.

Keywords

• Enviro-economic investigation
• Carbon penalty
• Carbon taxation
• Sustainable development goals
• Weibull distribution