Title: Improvement of greenhouse by reducing gas emissions using replacement policy

Authors: Yousif Al Ali; Meftah Hrairi; Ibrahim Al Kattan

Addresses: Dubai Taxi Corporation, P.O. Box 2647, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Engineering Systems Management, American University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: This study aims to build a vehicle replacement model for air quality improvement by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. The model based on linear programming with the objective to reduce the total cost considering different depreciation methods. The decision variables are; the mileage of the vehicles, age of the vehicles, the annual operating and maintenance costs, and the estimated cost of emissions hazard. The application of the proposed model is based upon the fleet replacement model for mid-sized vehicles in the transportation department of Dubai municipality in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Retaining the current fleet policy without implementing a new replacement model will continue to increase the rate of CO₂ emissions. The proposed replacement model has been tested using three different depreciation approaches. The results show that the proposed replacement model has reduced the gas emissions and improved air quality. This application could be used as a benchmark for many other transportation departments in the UAE. The model shows promising results for improvement of the fleet performance including the reduction of greenhouse emission.

Keywords: vehicle replacement; air quality; air pollution; public health; greenhouse gases; GHG emissions; emission costs; gas emissions; replacement policies; linear programming; total costs; depreciation methods; decision variables; vehicle mileage; vehicle age; annual costs; operating costs; maintenance costs; fleet replacement; mid-sized vehicles; transportation; Dubai; municipalities; local government; United Arab Emirates; UAE; fleet policies; carbon dioxide; CO2; carbon emissions; benchmarking; municipal departments; energy technology; energy policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2012.052127

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2012 Vol.8 No.3/4/5/6, pp.323 - 335

Accepted: 18 Sep 2012
Published online: 27 Aug 2014 *

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