Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis for emissions reductions in the New Zealand transport sector through to 2050

The CEPA (Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis) method for energy planning has been modified for improved application to large transport systems. The modified method is applied to investigate the feasibility of NZ (New Zealand) reaching a 1990 emission levels for transport by 2050. The transportation sector has been traditionally a difficult area to transition to high levels of renewable energy because of the strong dependency on fossil fuels. For New Zealand, possible steps for low carbon emissions from transport are: (1) electrification of all rail, (2) wide-spread adoption of energy efficient vehicle technologies, (3) partial electrification of light passenger vehicles through plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle technologies, and (4), introduction of liquid fuels from biomass as an alternative to liquid fuels from petroleum.