http://www.rise.org.au/stf/

Sustainable Transport Fuels & Systems

Transport energy is regarded by many commentators and policy makers as likely to become the most pressing energy-related issue at international, national and State levels. The current very heavy dependence of transport systems on oil, rising world demand for oil, the eminent peaking and subsequent decline of oil supplies and Australia’s declining reserves of liquid hydrocarbons all combine to make the field of transport energy a critical one for Australia. The environmental impact of current transport energy use is a further issue that is behind the growing realisation worldwide of the need to develop new transport systems and fuels.

Although Australia is unlikely to be a world leader in the development of new sustainable transport technologies, it has both the capacity and a need to be actively involved in trialing and demonstrating these technologies in order to:

• facilitate their uptake in Australia,
• gain an understanding of the new technologies and their applicability to Australia as they develop and;
• develop an understanding of the associated safety, regulatory and other requirements required for the adoption of these fuels and technologies.

RISE already has an active involvement in the national and international debate on alternative transport fuels and technologies and is leading the development of an application for a State-funded Centre of Excellence for research into energy for sustainable transport.

Perth Fuel Cell Bus Project

The Perth Fuel Cell Bus Project (Ecobus) involves operating 3 Fuel Cell Buses in the Perth public transport system for a period of two years. The buses commenced operation in September 2004.

Murdoch University developed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure of the Government of Western Australia to undertake a number of research projects associated with this trial.

Two of the research projects from the Perth Fuel Cell Bus Trial involve RISE and are under the supervision of Dr Trevor Pryor. These are:

• The Bus Operations Project
  This project involves a PhD student and focuses on the actual operation of the buses and how the actual data obtained impacts on the cost-benefit analysis for the project. A cost-benefit analysis has been conducted on the operation of fuel cell buses compared to diesel and natural gas buses. Regular data is being collected on the operation of the buses themselves and this data is then fed into the larger CUTE Clean Urban Transport for Europe) project of which this trial is a part.
• The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Project
  This involves an MPhil student and focuses on applying the GaBi software to undertake a series of scenario analyses for the Perth Project. The LCA model for this work has been developed and a number of scenarios are currently being investigated.

RISE Publications

RISE research publications focus on the areas of Stand-alone Power Supply (SPS) Systems, Distributed Generation, Sustainable Transport Fuels & Systems and the Built Environment.