The total energy cost of freight transport

pnyr Vd. 3. pp.493aa 0 kwmon PressLtd..197% Printed inGrcltBritain

THE TOTAL ENERGY COST OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT DAVID B. REISTER Institute for Energy Analysis,

Oak Ridge Associated

Universities,

Post Office Box

117, Oak Ridge,

TN 37830,U.S.A. (Received 20 June 1977)

Ah&act-In this paper, we provide an estimate of the total energy required directly or indirectly to ship 1 ton of freight 1 mile by rail, domestic water, local and intercity trucks, and air. For rail freight, a careful review of previous studies resolves several apparent contradictions. In this paper, we will estimate the average total energy required directly and indirectly to ship 1 ton of freight 1 mile by rail. Our estimate is that the average energy cost was about 1500Btu per ton-mile in 1971, while the cost for a unit train was about 1000Btu per ton-mile. In the body of this paper we will discuss our results, and- present the details in six tables. Because the data were available, we have also estimated the total energy cost of domestic water transport, local and intercity truck transport, and air transport of freight.

Table 1. The total energy cost of rail transport in 1967. A.

Energy Costsa

B.

a

Energy Intensity (Btu per 1967 dollar of rail transport)

CMib CrudeC R&nedd Electrice Gasf Primary’

IS, 178 80,089 60,847 3,097 17,066 97,685

Average Energy Cost

(per ton-mile] Million ton-miles Million dollars Dollars/l,O00 ton-miles Btu per ton-mile

727,075 9,329 12.831 1,250

Ton->lilesh Reven& Average cost’ Energy co&

aA dlsaggregaeed estimate of the total energy required directly and indxectly to provide rail transport has been made by the CAC at the University of Illinois. The estimate includes the energy embodied in Reference: C.W. Bullard, P.S. the capital stock of the railroads. p. Penner, and D.A. Pilate (1976). a Analysis Handbook, CAC 214, Center for Advanced Computation, lJniversityofIllinois,Urbana, Illinois. b

Btu of coal

required

for

the service.

‘Total

Btu of crude 011 and crude natural

d Total

Btu of refined

e f

petroleum

required

gas required for

Total Btu of electricity required for factor is 3,414 Btu per kilowatt-hour.

the service.

Total

the service.

Btu of natural

gas required

for

for

the service.

the service The conversion

Primary energy gTotal Btu of primary energy required for the service. is not equal to the sum of the first five colwnns, it is the sum of coal and crude plus the hydra and nuclear energy to produce electricity. h U.S. Bureau of the Census (1975). Historical States - Colonial Times to 1970, Data Series Printing Office,washington,c., p. 732. ‘IbId,

Data Series

j Average cost

Statistics of the United --4340, U.S. Government

Q343

is the quotient

of revenue and ton-miles.

k Energy cost is the product of average cost and primary energy per dollar. Thus energy cost is a” estimate of the total primary energy required directly and indirectly per ton-mile in 1967.

493

494

D. B. REISTER

The energy input-output tables developed by the Center for Advanced Computation (CAC) at the University of Illinois’ provide two independent methods for estimating the total energy cost of rail freight transport and both methods will be used in this paper. The energy-intensity coefficients are an estimate of the total energy required directly and indirectly to provide one 1%7 dollar’s worth of rail service. The first method is to estimate the average cost of shipping 1 ton of freight 1 mile in 1%7, and to multiply by the CAC energy-intensity coefficient to obtain the total energy per ton-mile. This calculation is made in Table 1 and the result is 1250Btu per ton-mile. While this estimate is not very different from our best estimate of ISOOBtu per ton-mile, we are suspicious of this result because the railroad sector has two services (freight transport and passenger transport) that may have different energy intensities. Thus we encounter the atypical product problem.* The second method for estimating the total energy cost of rail-freight transport has three stages. The first stage is to estimate the direct energy use, e.g. fuel used by locomotives. The second stage is to estimate the total primary energy required directly and indirectly to provide this direct energy (In part B of Table 5 we show how to convert direct energy into primary energy, primary energy is defined in note g of Table 1.) The third stage is to estimate how much indirect energy was required to provide rail service. At our request, CAC has prepared an itemized list of the primary energy accounts for all of the input-output sectors. The energy account for the railroad sector is shown in Table 2, which indicates that 63% of the total energy

Table 2. An itemized list of the primary energy account for the railroad sector in 1%7. Capital

Operating I/O

Code

Sector

“6 of Total sector Input

Name

Sector

I/O Code

% of Total sector Input

Name

ENERGYSECTORS 700 800 3101 6801 6802

Coal Mining Crude Petroleum, Gas Petroleum Refin. Prod. Electric Utilities Gas Utilities

1200 3700 7100 6100 2700 6505 6900 6502 7300 6600 4200 4900 6503 2400 4300 1900 6504 3800 6803 7000

Maintenance Rep. Const. Primary IR, STL. Manu. Real Estate Transport Equipment Chemical Products Air Transport Whole, Retail Trade Local Transport Business Service Communications Fabricated Metal Prod. General Indus. Mach. Motor Freight Transport Paper Products Engines, Turbines Fabricated Textile Prod. Water Transport Primary Nonferrous Metal Water, Sanit. Services Finance Insurance Others

700 800 3101 6601 6802

2.64 0.0 57.00 1.37 2.04

Coal Mining Crude Petroleum, Gas Petroleum Refin. Prod. Electric Utilities Gas Utilities

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

TOP 20 NON-ENERGY SECTORS

The source University To illustrate

6100 1100 5900 5300 5100 6900 4300 2300 5200 4000 5800 1900 4600 6300 6200 5600 6400 3200 6503 4800

5.57 3.94 0.99 0.98 0.80 0.63 0.57 0.50

0.45 0.47 0.46 0.41 0.34 0.31 0.26 0.24 0.23 0.22 0.21 0.20 1.79

for this table is personal communication of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. the meaning of the entries

Transport Equipment New Construction Motor Vehicle E Eaui” Electric Ind. Appa’ra;. Oft. Computer Machinery Whole, Retail Trade Engines, Turbines Furn., Fixtures Service Ind. Flachinerv Heating, Plumbing . Electrical Equipment General Indus. Mach. .Qxt. Handling Equipment Optical Supplies Prof. Scientific Supp. R-TV Communication Equip. Miscellaneous Manufact. Rubber Products Motor Freight Transport Special Ind. riachinery Others

from the Center far Advanced Computation at the

in the table,

we note that:

57.00 percent of the total primary energy required directly service is embodied in the refined petroleum products.

or indirectly

5.57 percent construction.

of the total

primary energy is required

4.83 percent

of the total

primary energy is embodied in the rolling

For future reference energy inputs.

we note that:

63.05

percent

4.83 3.58 3.53 1.16 0.69 0.58 0.42 0.29 0.20 0.19 0.16 0.11 0.09 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.08

directly

of the total

or indirectly

to provide

railroad

for maintenance

stock.

primary energy is embodied in the

The total energy cost of freight transport

495

embodied in rail transport in 1%7 was embodied in direct purchases of energy, i.e. in the enthalpy of fuels and in the energy required for their production. The first stage is to estimate direct energy use. Table 3 presents five estimates of the direct energy use per ton-mile for rail freight. The numbers are all about 700 Btu per ton-mile. Since the estimates by Hi& and Faucett4 had narrower system boundaries than the Peat study,’ it is reassuring that their energy-intensity estimates are smaller than those of Peat. The details of our estimate for the total energy cost of rail freight transport are presented in Table 4. Table 5 presents two estimates of direct energy and total energy for unit trains. The direct Table 3. Direct energy use by the railroad sector. Summary of Three Energy Use Studies

A.

B.

Btu/Ton-Mile

Yea*

Study

Hirsta Hirsta Faucettb PeatC PeatC

1965 1970 1972 1971 1973

Detailed

Direct

720 670 709 770 742

Energy Use by Railroad

(trillion

Btu)

Yea*

1971 10.7

Coald . Ref ineda Electricd Gasd

550.3 3.5 -- 2.6 574.1

T”tale Intercityf Ton-miles (billions)g Btu per ton-mile

458.9

746.0 770.0

1973 12.2 629.5 4.0 3.0 656.7 524.0 885.0 742.0

aE. Hirst (1973). “Energy Intensiveness of Passenger and Freight Transport Modes: 1950-1970”, ORNL-NSF-EP-44, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Hirst does not include any natural gas. We suspect he has underestimated support energy. b Jack Faucett Conservation:

Associates, Inc. Transportation

(1974). Sectors”,

“Project Independence and Energy JACKFAU-74-118(2), Chevy Chase,

Maryland. The Faucett study does not include any coal or natural gas. Consequently, we suspect the study has underestimated support energy. I” Table S-16 the total ton-miles for 1972 are estimated to be 784.3 billion. In Table S-18 the total energy consumption by railroads is estimated to be 556 trillion Btu. The quotient of 556 trillion Btu and 784.3 billion ton-miles is 709 Btu per ton-mile. ‘Peat, Marwick, Mitchel and Company, and Jack Faucett Associates, Inc. “Industrial Energy Studies of Ground Freight Transportation, (1974). Vol. I”, Washington, D.C. The Peat study includes all energy consumpSIC-4011 tion for freight operations in SIC 40 which consists of: Railroads, Line-haul Operating, SIC-4013 Switching and Terminal Establishments, and SIC-4041 Railway Express Service. The estimates of direct energy use per ton-mile are derived in part B of Table 3. d

The estimates of direct use of coal, refined, electric, and gas were obtained by adding the estimates in Tables 3A, 38, and 3C of the Peat The conversion factor for electricity is 3,413 Btu per kilowattstudy. hour.

eThe total is the sum of coal, refined, and gas plus three times electric Thus, for the total, the conversion factor for electric is 10,240 Btu per kilowatt-hour. f

For future reference, we note the direct use of diesel city line-haul is estimated by the Peat study.

fuel

for

inter-

gU.S. Bureau of the Census (1975). Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1975, U.S. Government Printing Office, #ashingtoKn., Table There appears to be a” error in Table 974 for the total 974, p. 581. and ton-miles in 1973, since Table 977 only includes Class I railroads has a larger estimate. We assume the total ton-miles in 1973 was 885 billion rather than 858 billion. @GYVol.3. No. 4-F

D. B. &lSTER Table 4. The total energy cost of rail transport, 1971 (based on direct energy use and input-output). The Total

A.

Energy Cost of Average Rail Transport

B.

The

?ee b c

See Table

?ee f

Carrier

Directf

Coal Refined Electric Gas

10.7 550.3 3.5 2.6

1.0092 1.2227 4.0683 1.1166

Total

571.1

2, last

Primaryh 10.8 672.9 14.2 2.9 700.8

3. table.

note.

energy cost

Table

Energy P/Dg

See part B of this

Btu

Trillion Btu Trillion Btu Trillion Btu Billion Btufton-mile

700.8 63.05% 1,111. 746. 1,500.

Primary Energy Embodied in Direct

part B of Table

d Total

Trillion

574.1

Direct Energya Total Primary Energy Embodied in Direct Energyb Primary Fraction from I-0’ Total Energy Costd Ton-milese Total Energy Cost per Ton-Mile

is equal to primary energy divided

by primary fraction.

3, note g.

See part B of Table

3.

gThe total primary energy embodied in the direct energy is from: C.W. Bullard, P.S. Penner, and D.A. Pilati (1976). Energy Analysis Handbook, CAC 214, Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois,Urbana. Illinois. h Primary energy used is the product primary-direct ratio.

of the direct

Table 5. Total energy use by unit trains-the A.

The Development Sciences,

Inc.

The Colorado

Energy Research

Direct Energy Total Energy Ratio The Total

C.

results of two studies.

Studya 430 459 1.07

Direct Energy Total Energy Ratio B.

energy use and the

Institute

Btu/ton-mile Btufton-mile

Studyb

392 639 1.63

Btu/ton-mile Btu/ton-mile

Energy Cost of a Unit Train

Direct EnergyC Total Energy Costd

JO0 1,000

Btu/ton-mile Btu/ton-mile

aA.J. Frabetti, Jr., et al. (1975). “A Study to Develop Energy Estimates of Merit for Selected Fuel Technoloeies”. _ , WI-038. final rewrt to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Development Sciences, Inc., East Sandwich, Massachusetts. b T.J. Vogenthaler, Director (1976). “Net Energy Analysis: An Energy Balance Study of Fossil Fuel Resources”, Colorado Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado. CDevelopment Sciences, Inc., estimates the direct energy use at 430 Btu/ton-mile and Colorado Energy Research Institute estimates the direct energy use by the train at 392 Btu/ton-mile. To one significant figure, both studies agree on 400 Btu/ton-mile. d

In Table 3 we to run trains 41 percent of holds for unit train will be

noted that in 1971, 458.9 trillion Btu were used directly out of a total energy cost of 1,111 trillion Btu. Thus the total energy is used by the train. If the same ratio trains, we estimate that the total energy cost of a unit 1,000 Btu/ton-mile.

The total energy cost of freight transport

497

Table 6. The total energy cost of transport, 1972. A. sector Rail DW

FHTL FHTI PTL PTI AIR

B.

sector

Rail DW FHTL FHTI PTL PTI AIR

Direct Energy

and

Ton-Miles

Ton-Milesa (millions)

Name

Railroads Domestic Water For-Hire Truck. Local For-Hire Truck; Intercity Private Truck, Local Private Truck, Intercity Air-Domestic

784,000 631,078 11,401 257,757 58,077 134,005 3,686

Energy Purchasesb (trillion Btu) 556 300 81 587 415 433 109

Primary Energy and Total Energy

Energy Embodied in Direct Enerw Purchases:. (trillion Btu)

Fraction of d Total Energy (percent)

684.2 367.7 99.9 719.0 508.5 530.7 133.4

58.37 74.39 59.65 59.65 59.65 59.65 86.72

Energy Intensity (Btu/ton-mile) Embodied in Direct Energy Total Purchases Energy 870 580 8,800 2,800 8,800 4,000 36,000

1,500 800 15,000 5,000 15,000 7,000 40,000

*Ton-mile data from Table S-16 of the Jack Faucett study (see Table 3, note b). b. Direct energy COnsUmptiO" from Table S-18 of the Jack Faucett study (see Table 3, note b). 'Table S-16 of the Jack Faucett study presents data on the consumption of gasoline, diesel oil, residual oil, jet fuel, and electricity by freight mode. Using conversion factors from the annual Bureau of Mines press release (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1976. "Annual U.S. Energy Use Drops Again", April 5, Washington, D.C., Table 8), we can estimate energy consumption of refined products and electricity in trillion Btu. Using the estimates of total primary energy embodied in the direct energy from the Energy Analysis Handbook (see Table 1, note a), we can estimate the total primary energy embodied in the direct energy consumption. d The Center for Advanced Computation prepared energy account tables like Table 2 for all transportation sectors (see note 1 of Table 2 for the complete reference). The Jack Faucett study does not include any coal or natural gas in their energy consumption estimate for rail transport. Consequently, we assume that the Jack Faucett study includes the 57.00 percent of the primary energy that is embodied in refined petroleum products and the 1.37 percent that is embodied in electricity for a total of 58.37 percent. For the water, truck, and air transport sectors, we assume the Faucett study excludes all direct energy except the energy embodied in refined petroleum products. eDirect energy intensity is equal to energy embodied in direct energy purchases divided by ton-miles. Total energy intensity is equal to direct energy intensity divided by the fraction direct energy/total energy from the previous column.

energy estimates are in close agreement, but the total energy estimates are substantially smaller than our estimate of 1000Btu per ton-mile. Using the same method, we have also estimated the energy cost of freight transport by domestic water, local and intercity trucks, and air. The results are shown in Table 6. Air freight transport requires 50 times as much energy as water transport. Intercity trucking requires less than half as much energy as local trucking but requires more than three times as much energy as rail transport. REFERENCES 1. C. W. BULLARD, P. S. PENNERand D. A. PILATE,Enwgy Analysis Handbook, CAC 214, Center for Advanced Computation, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois (1976). 2. D. B. REWER, The energy embodied in goods. ORAU/IEA(M)-77-6, Institute for Energy Analysis, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1976).

498

D. B. RE~STER

3. E. HIRST,Energy intensiveness of passenger and freight transport modes: 1950-70. ORNL-NSF-EP-44, Oak Ridge

National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1973). 4. Jack Faucett Associates, Inc., Project independence and energy conservation: transportation sectors. JACKFAU-74 1186(2),Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Submitted to the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, August 1974). 5. Peat, Matwick, Mitchell and Company, and Jack Faucett Associates, Indusfrial Energy Studies of Ground Freighf Tronsporfotion, Vol. I. Washington, D.C. (Prepared for U.S. Department of Commerce). (1974).