Evaluation of the Iran s Fuel Consumption and Emissions Reduction Policies in Transportation Sector

Transcription

1 2011 2nd International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology IPCBEE vol.6 (2011) (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore Evaluation of the Iran s Fuel Consumption and Emissions Reduction Policies in Transportation Sector Amir Hossein Mohammadi, Reza Maknoon Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering AmirKabir University of Technology Tehran, Iran amir7280@gmail.com r_maknoon@yahoo.com Hoda Arabyarmohammadi Dept. of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineering AmirKabir University of Technology Tehran, Iran hoda.yarmohammadi@gmail.com Abstract Transportation sector is the major cause of air pollution in Iran and the share of this sector in urban air pollution in the cities of Iran especially Tehran is more than 80 %. Historical background of the air pollution problem in Iran returns to During these four decades, in order to reduce fuel consumption and emission reduction from mobile sources, Iran have implemented different policies and plans some of which were successful while others haven t had satisfactory results. In this article we have reviewed the trend of policy making for energy in transportation sector and the effects of policies and plans on fuel consumption and pollutants emissions in this sector have been analysed. Results showed that the very low price of fuels in Iran has caused wasteful use of fuels. Furthermore price reforms haven t been able to decrease the amount of consumption significantly. However gasoline rationing policy only have decreased the growth rate of consumption in recent years. Keywords- air pollution; transportation; Iran; gasoline rationing I. INTRODUCTION Air pollution, especially in megacities, figures prominently among the main environmental causes that affect human health. Historical background of the air pollution problem in Iran returns to 1971 when the first symposium of air pollution held by the National Oil Company. Within these years, air pollution in Tehran and other big cities of Iran has been one of the biggest environmental problems, and health of citizens has faced serious dangers as the air pollution becomes critical. Transportation sector is one of the most important energy consuming sectors in Iran. Trend of energy consumption in this sector is growing and due to consumption of valuable fuel carriers, significant amount of country s income (from oil and gas exports) is spent on energy providing for transportation sector annually. Like other developing industrial sectors, transportation issues is not done with a complete and comprehensive regard to all factors e.g. economic, social and environmental factors. Transportation sector, both directly and indirectly, has caused air pollution and environmental degradation. Iran has huge reserves of oil and gas. Existence of these rich reserves in the country sometimes brings in mind that energy saving is not necessary and this relative advantage of country should be used in various economic sectors. Thus energy supply costs are a little fraction of corporations manufacturing costs and consuming cost for households.[1] II. LAWS AND REGULATIONS Elements of an environmental policy are stated in a number of legal documents. The most important one is in Article 50 of the Constitution, which reads: It shall be considered a public duty in the Islamic Republic to protect the natural environment in which the present as well as the future generations shall have a developing life. Therefore economic activities or otherwise which cause pollution or irreparable damage to the environment shall be prohibited. There are requirements in the Air Pollution Abatement Act (1995) and its executive by-law of 1997 for reducing pollution from motor vehicles, factories, power plants and residential sectors. However, enforcement of these regulations is poor. According to Environmental Act 1973 and Clean Air Act 1995, the Department of Environment (DOE) is responsible to control air pollution in Iran. The DOE according to Environmental Act 1973 has been established. Clean Air Act was passed by the parliament in The legislation consists of six chapters and 36 sections and classifies the air pollution sources into the following three groups: 1)Motor vehicles, 2)Factories, workshops and power plants, 3)Business, domestic and miscellaneous sources.[2] In December 2007, Law of Public Transportation Development and Fuel Consumption Management were approved by the parliament. Article 1 of this law obligates the government to develop urban and suburban transportation and fuel consumption management and optimize transportation services through vehicles technical inspection, rail transportation network development, converting the gasoline and gasoil burning vehicles to dual fuel vehicles, traffic restrictions, supporting the effective activities and innovations in fuel consumption efficiency, standardization the manufacturing of light and heavy vehicles and eliminating the gasoline and gasoil from supporting cart from Article 6 of the law also inquires the government to increase the share of public transportation in total trips within the cities from 41 % in 2007 to 75 % in 2011.[3] V2-118

2 III. PRICE OF FUELS AND SUBSIDIES In Iran, energy in the domestic market has been traditionally subsidized due to its relative abundance and low income levels of most of its population.[2] Low prices and their disproportionate changes with economic conditions including inflation has caused petroleum products not be able to play their original task of market conducting. This has led to over-increasing of petroleum products consumption in latest years. During the past 32 years the real prices of petroleum products in Iran has declined while it has increased in rest of the world. While in some countries there are taxes for fuel consumption, in Iran domestic consumption of fuel is subsidized. Such cost pressures on annual government budget, especially the growing trend in imports of oil products and consequently increased subsidies payments in recent years, has forced the authorities and economic agents to use price reform as the simplest solution for reducing gasoline and gasoil consumption and also reducing subsidies paid.[4] The single most important measure for reduction of energy consumption as well as reduction of emissions is the reduction, and finally elimination, of energy subsidies. Subsidizing fuels for cars and other forms of energy puts a very heavy burden on the economy of the country. Furthermore, cheap energy (as low as 5 to 10 % of world market prices for some energy carriers) leads to a wasteful use of energy and very effectively prevents any measures for increasing energy efficiency from being taken. Fuel prices increasing in some years, but over the last ten years or so apparently real fuel prices (i.e. including inflation) have not increased. Overall costs to the country for subsidizing have risen rather than being reduced. The total cost for energy subsidies amounted to 469,705 billion IRRs ($50.6 billion) in 2007 and to 530,155 billion IRRs ($55.4 billion) in The share of subsidies in transportation sector is % ($21.3 billion) and % ($22.3 billion) in 2007 and 2008 respectively.[4] Eliminating subsidies is a highly political issue and has far reaching social and economic consequences and therefore needs very careful planning and implementation. Price reform in the energy sector will increase the level of prices to consumers directly through energy bills and indirectly through the impact on other goods and services.[2] Although energy prices are increasing, however In real terms, energy became cheaper over the past years, since the increase in energy price per annum is lower than inflation rate. The subsidies not only put a heavy burden on Iran s economy, they also lead to wasteful energy consumption since the low energy prices do not present any incentive for efficient use of energy. Wasteful use of energy, in turn, also increases the negative effects on the environment. However, reviewing the experience of the policy applied in order to reduce consumption of fuels, we find that firstly, increase in gasoline prices has no impact on both mid-term and long-term demand of gasoline, because there is no gasoline alternative to use for personal vehicles; Secondly, some part of nominal prices of gasoline will be neutralized through the levels of inflation in the community and consumers often consider the real prices. IV. CONDITION OF ENERGY IN IRAN The energy sector in Iran is dominated by oil and gas. Iran is OPEC s second largest oil producer and holds billion bbl of the world s oil reserves and 28 trillion m 3 of its gas reserves. Oil production in 2009 amounted to 640 thousands m 3 or to 4 million barrel per day (mbd)[3]. Iran does not have a documented comprehensive energy policy, but various aspects of energy policy are addressed and documented by section ministries and committees. The government policy in the oil and gas sector envisage to make the sector more sustainable both in production and consumption and to maintain the country s share in the world oil market. It also aims to expand the information base about the country s oil and gas resources, to enhance oil and gas production by improving the recovery factor of existing reservoirs, substitute natural gas for traditional fuels whenever it is possible, and reduce gas flaring. The Government of Iran is also committed to reduce or phase out the energy subsidies in order to correct the distortion in the economy.[5] In the period , consumption of petroleum products raised from 172 to Mboe, gas from 13 to Mboe.[4] In the following sections we will review the trend of fuels consumption in transportation sector of Iran. A. Gasoline Transportation sector is the largest gasoline consumer. In recent years the share of transportation gasoline consumption reached over 99 percents. Population growth and rise in levels of relative prosperity increase the production and purchase of personal vehicles, so gasoline consumption in transportation has increased dramatically. By looking back, we can find out before the war between Iran and Iraq, the domestic production of gasoline always exceeded domestic demands. Production and consumption of this fuel in 1976 was 4.7 and 3.7 million cubic meters respectively. But from 1982 the import of gasoline started with 1.2 million liters per day and reached to 7.8 and 27.5 million liters per day in 2001 and 2006 repectively.[4] In 2007 due to implementation of gasoline rationing policy the domestic consumption and also import of gasoline decreased. Very fast growth of gasoline consumption due to increasing amount of personal vehicles and lack of balance between production and consumption of this fuel and consequently the need to import and its heavy subsidies, forced Iran s government to implement the gasoline rationing policy in the country. Daily consumption of gasoline in June 2007 was 79.4 million liters and after implementing the rationing policy, consumption of gasoline decreased 20 million liters per day in July However, after this shock, the growing trend of consumption continued, but with a rate much lower than situation before rationing. For continuing implementation of this policy, the monthly share of each vehicle gradually reduced from 120 liters per month to 60 liters per month in July 2010 and in addition, the V2-119

3 psychological effects caused by approaching the time for subsidies targeting in 2010, led to lower consumption in 2009 in comparison with Table I shows the amounts of gasoline consumption in time period and figure 1 illustrate the trend of gasoline consumption through these years and effect of gasoline rationing on the monthly consumption.[4] TABLE I. IRAN S AVERAGE DAILY GASOLINE CONSUMPTION IN ALL SECTORS IN TIME PERIOD (MILLION LITERS) Month Years Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec shows the amounts of gasoline and gasoil consumption in Iran and the share of transportation sector from 1996 to C. Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) Liquid gas is used in various sectors e.g. residential, commercial and transportation. Residential sector is the major consumer of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). After a review done by a special committee in oil ministry, consumption of liquid gas in transportation sector of Iran was established in In that year converting the public vehicles (taxis) for using LPG started. Then use of LPG in transportation sector increased so that in 2002 reached its maximum i.e. more than 80,000 vehicles per day. Subsequently according to the problem of gas supply for gas stations around the country and furthermore, the development and expansion of natural gas projects around the country, extensive use of natural gas as an alternative fuel in transportation sector was considered, thus converting the cars to use LPG stopped. Therefore by gradual converting of some LPG vehicles to use CNG and expelling others from service due to exhaustion, the use of LPG in transportation decreased, So that LPG consumption in 2002 which was 870 tons per day (13.16 % of total LPG consumption in Iran) decreased to 444 tons per day (7.1 % of total consumption of LPG) and the number of vehicles decreased to 47,000.[4] Figure 1. Iran s gasoline consumption in all sectors and effect of gasoline rationing in the year B. Gasoil Gasoil fuel is used in various sectors, but transportation sector is major consumer of this product in heavy diesel engines with a share of above 50 percent. In recent years, rise of average age of heavy transportation fleet and low price of this product (about $0.016 per liter), also lack of control measures have led to increase in daily use of gasoil up to over 90 million liters per day and the share of transportation sector by more than 55 million liters per day. In 2000 the daily consumption of this fuel was about 63.3 million liters per day and share of transportation sector was million liters per day. By the end of 2009 the daily consumption of gasoil in all sectors and transportation sector was 91.3 and 55.6 million liters per day respectively.[4] Growth rates of gasoil consumption in all sectors and transportation during period have been 4.68 % and 6.06 %. Table II D. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Production of natural gas in Iran began in May 1908, simultaneous with the launch of first oil well in Masjed Suleiman, southwest of Iran. At that time and for many years after, only a slight amount of the produced gas was consumed as a fuel for oil facilities and other were burnt. In 1969 natural gas production in Iran reached 25.3 billion cubic meters of which only 11 % was consumed and the remaining 89 % was burnt inevitably. [4] Natural gas is a clean fuel and due to low environmental pollutions, has found many fans in the world within the latest decades. Although natural gas as a fossil fuel has some limitations but according to the significant volume of reserves in the world, it has been considered as one of the most important alternative sources of energy for oil since long ago. Total registered natural gas reserves in the world estimated more than 177 trillion cubic meters of which Russia owns almost 27 %, Iran about 16 % (more than 28 trillion cubic meters) and Qatar 14 %, as first to third places. The vast network of natural gas pipelines in throughout Iran, caused the gas to be available everywhere, so its transfer cost, has been highly reduced. History of CNG usage in transportation sector in Iran, returns to 1977, when 1000 Paykan taxis equipped to use this fuel and two refueling stations also were built in Shiraz. A year later, in Mashhad, 600 taxis equipped with this type of fuel system and a refueling station was opened. Though in 2008, transportation shared only 1.42 % in consumption of natural gas, consumption growth in this section had been so fast that Natural gas consumption in transportation sector, from 2.1 million cubic meters in 2000, reached million cubic meters in 2008 and has V2-120

4 experienced 150 % growth annually over these years. While natural gas consumption growth in all sectors was about 8.32 % annually.[4] Iran has now the third place among countries with CNG transportation fleet in the world. Although Iran has the third rank, with regard to number of refueling stations, Iran ranks fifth among all countries in number of refueling stations.[6] TABLE II. GASOLINE & GASOIL CONSUMPTION IN IRAN S TRANSPORTATION SECTOR Gasoline (1000 liters) Gasoil (1000 liters) Year Transport All sectors % Transport All sectors % ,667,624 11,847, ,182,260 22,613, ,149,508 12,323, ,241,255 23,896, ,505,857 13,692, ,957,517 23,014, ,043,486 14,221, ,672,204 23,015, ,345,524 15,516, ,555,579 24,287, ,559,137 16,737, ,152,683 25,083, ,266,229 18,440, ,053,815 25,879, ,350,443 20,537, ,169,290 26,234, ,964,073 22,159, ,802,425 27,348, ,213,670 24,396, ,762,299 28,669, ,708,779 26,866, ,882,711 31,429, ,313,963 23,524, ,069,846 32,689, ,294,661 24,496, ,070,832 33,105, V. POLLUTANTS EMISSIONS Production of highly fuel-consuming vehicles in the country, significant number of heavy and light scrapped transportation fleet, lack of efficient public transportation systems and low quality domestically produced fuels are the reasons for the high rate of emissions in Iran. Transportation sector is the main consumer of gasoline and gasoil In Iran. Gasoline burning in the engines of personal light vehicles is the main cause of NO x and CO emissions in Iran, so more than 94.7 % of total CO emissions and 18 % of total NO x emissions in 2008 were due to consumption of gasoline in transportation sector. Gasoil consumption is the main cause of NO x, SO x and SPM emissions in Iran. In 2008 more than 22 % of total NO x, 19.2 % of total SO x and 43 % of total SPM emissions were due to gasoil consumption in this sector. Table IV shows the trend of pollutants emissions from all sectors and the share of transportation sector in Iran from 1996 to 2008.[4] VI. AIR QUALITY POLICIES IN TEHRAN The air quality in Tehran,capital of Iran, is worse than other parts of the Iran. The air quality in Tehran is mainly deteriorated because of mobile sources. In addition to the huge amount of pollutants produced by mobile and stationary sources, Tehran s geographic situation is increasing the pollution. The city is hemmed in by the Alborz mountains to the North, causing pollutants to become trapped, hovering over Tehran when inversion occur and the wind is not strong enough to blow the pollution away. Tehran s high altitude also makes fuel combustion less efficient, adding even more to the pollution problem.[2] In Tehran more than 15,000,000 trips occur daily through the city,but this highly populated city has inefficient public transportation and the share public transportation in all trips are very low. Tehran daytime population estimated at 12.5 million and a resident nighttime population estimated at 8.5 million.[3] In 1990s, the concerns about the air quality of Tehran increased and some studies about air pollution control in Tehran started. After a request from municipality of Tehran, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) studied about air pollution control in Tehran, which was finalized in December The title of study was The Study on Integrated Master Plan for Air Pollution Control in the Greater Tehran.[5] Also the Air Quality Control Center (AQCC), on behalf of the Municipality of Tehran and three Swedish firms SWECO, SMHI (Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) and MTC (Motor Test Center) in of study was Tehran Transport Emission Reduction Project.[7] In 2000 according to section 35 of Clean Air Act 1995, cabinet of Iran, with consideration of some important conclusions and suggestions which were found from those mentioned studies approved an integrated master plan for air pollution control in Tehran. Timetable for implementing this Action Plan was ten years, which commenced in The master plan is concentrating on the reduction of emissions from transport, which is responsible for 80 % of air pollution in the city. There is a detailed action plan and schedule for this program. The executing agency, the office of Plan to Reduce Air Pollution in Tehran, which is a part of DOE, actively promotes these measures. This was a program which combines legislation, enforcement and activities for public awareness. Despite of duties of the ministries and organizations relating to the master plan regulation, the results of implementing was not acceptable. However implementation of the master plan was behind schedule and the targets for emission reduction have not been reached due to lack of funds and weak coordination among sector ministries and other organizations involved in the process. The government had also imposed levies, taxes and charges on polluting enterprises.[2,5] In table III we can see the number of clean,healthy,unhealthy and very unhealthy days in Tehran from 2003 to 2009.[8] VII. CONCLUSIONS It is clear that lots of efforts have been made to reduce air pollution by national government and Municipality of Tehran. Some of efforts are passing laws, regulations, standards, establishing some relating organizations and companies, studies by helping international agencies, approval of master plan and implementing of some parts of master plan. However the results of implementing of master plan are not completely satisfying according to the program. There is relatively enough and acceptable laws, regulations and standards. However effectiveness of them is not properly acceptable. Because executing of some sections of laws and regulations need budget, suitable interaction between the municipalities, Ministry of Oil, the DOE, Ministry of Industry, Traffic Police and Radio and Television organization, a powerful management system to enforce related authorities, people to comply the laws and enough equipments and expertise. Compliance of public relating to the laws is not enough, because people need to be V2-121

5 educated and be aware about laws and impacts of air pollution to human health.[2] There are some reasons for lack of unreasonable progress of the master plan for reduction of the air pollution, which are as follows: Weakness in executing of legislations, regulations and standards, for example according to the section 5 Clean Air Act 1995 any motor vehicle with no inspection sticker must be stopped by the traffic police.[1] But unfortunately, this control hasn t been permanent; as soon as the air pollution becomes critical, severity of control increases and when the crisis resolved, implementation of this section of the law stops. The related ministries and organizations are too busy to concentrate enough on the decisions regarding the air pollution. For certain ministries (for example the Ministry of Industry) reduction of air pollution in Tehran may not be the first priority and industrial development and increasing quantities of productions is more important than air pollution control (especially in car manufacturing).[2] Lack of an efficient, specialized and well-equipped supervising body and system for supervising the TABLE IV. performance of the ministries and organizations that are responsible for executing the solutions for reduction of the air pollution. TABLE III. THE SITUATION OF AIR QUALITY IN TEHRAN (DAYS) Year clean healthy unhealthy Very unhealthy POLLUTANTS EMISSIONS IN IRAN AND THE SHARE OF TRANSPORTATION SECTOR IN EMISSIONS (TONS) NO Year X SO X CO SPM Transport all % Transport all % Transport all % Transport all % , , ,069 1,159, ,168,382 4,263, , , , , ,518 1,172, ,338,136 4,430, , , , , ,343 1,087, ,810,020 4,908, , , , , ,242 1,103, ,002,008 5,097, , , , , ,045 1,151, ,461,405 5,557, , , , , ,045 1,190, ,889,325 5,989, , , ,670 1,056, ,360 1,182, ,504,356 6,606, , , ,088 1,111, ,732 1,138, ,282,205 7,388, , , ,808 1,169, ,793 1,431, ,845,632 7,956, , , ,004 1,256, ,322 1,537, ,640,983 8,749, , , ,845 1,346, ,657 1,675, ,512,573 9,619, , , ,749 1,378, ,219 2,849, ,331,409 8,456, , , ,245 1,808, ,770 3,197, ,685,865 8,973, , , REFERENCES [1] Islamic Republic of Iran, Environmental Code of Islamic Republic of Iran, Department of Environment,Bureau of Legislation and Parliamentarian Affairs, [2] G. Assadollah-Fardi, Air Quality Management in Tehran, Environmental Software and Services, Austria, [3] Wikipedia Encyclopedia, [4] The Ministry of Power, Iran Energy Balance, Office of Energy and Electricity, from 1991 to [5] M. Shafiepoor Motlagh, S. Arif, M.M. Farasiabi and N. Lucas, Environmental Energy Review in Iran, Proc. 19 th World Energy Congress, June 2004, Sydney, Australia [6] International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, Annual report,2010 [7] Air Quality Control Center (AQCC), TERP: Tehran Transport Emission Reduction Project, SWECO, MTC, SMHI joint venture, tehran, 1997 [8] Air Quality Control Center (AQCC), Tehran Air Pollution Monitoring Reports, from 2003 to 2009, V2-122