A hydrogen powered car being refuelled

A ready reckoner for Australia’s transport fuel options

CSIRO is creating tools to explore the prospects for and impacts of alternative fuels for Australia’s road transport.

• 18 September 2007 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Background
• The ready reckoner

Background

With increased demand for energy, a changing climate and concerns over greenhouse gases, there is a growing worldwide search for reliable, sustainable energy sources for road transport.

Biofuels have been put forward as one of a range of alternatives with lower greenhouse gas emissions and a greater fuel security than petrol and diesel, which currently dominate Australia’s fuel-use profile.

With the growing bank of information on the production and use of alternative fuels in Australia, there is a clear need for tools that capture and critically assess the prospects and impacts of different fuel types.

The ready reckoner

The Australian Fuel Alternatives Ready Reckoner is a web-based tool that can be used by policy makers, scientists, industry and consumers to explore options about fuel use.

It summarises information about fuel feedstocks, pathways and products and provides a way for the user to compare the credentials - environmental, social and economic - of different fuels using a series of sustainability ‘report cards’.

The prototype of the Australian Fuel Alternatives Ready Reckoner has been well received by a range of potential user groups, including:

• the Australian Government’s Departments of:
  • Environment and Water Resources
  • Industry Tourism and Resources
  • Transport and Regional Services
• Queensland State Development
• the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce. 

The tool is being expanded from its current set of twelve fuel pathways for cars, trucks and buses.

The alternative transport fuels research is part of the Energy Transformed Flagship’s goal to halve Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Read more about the work of the Energy Transformed Flagship.