PNNL

Each year, vehicles on our nation’s roads and highways consume more than four billion gallons of increasingly costly petroleum-based fuels and emit 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the environment.

On behalf of the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines initiative—or Co-Optima—researchers from nine national laboratories and more than 40 industry and university partners have investigated ways to reduce consumer dependence on petroleum and decrease health-harming emissions.

Recently, the Co-Optima team released their findings from six years of effort to bring clean, efficient, and affordable fuels and engines to the automotive industry.

From their research, the team’s breakthroughs, coupled with other technology advances, can help improve fuel economy by 10 percent or more for light-duty vehicles; cut criteria pollutant emissions—such as particulate matter and nitrogen oxides—by as much as 99 percent for medium- and heavy-duty engines; and supply new fuel components that bring greenhouse gases 60 percent lower than petroleum fuels for all cars and trucks.

The report and condensed fact sheet outline impacts made by the team in the areas of environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, economic viability, and scientific processes.

The Co-Optima initiative is sponsored jointly by the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Vehicle Technologies Office.

Beyond Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, other partner national laboratories are Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge national laboratories; National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories.