Data and specifications

NTM presents relevant fuels data. Present default and more specific data  are not yet available in NTMCalc. 4.0. Please note that these data are only available for logged in NTM members i.e.  a part of membership value (you receive the message 404 if not logged in). Please join for access and contribute to our commonly beneficial development.

Go to NTM default fuels and electricity data.

For more specific background to NTM fuels data: Go to Technical Notations.

Aim

The aim of this our principles for energy carriers in transport is to clarify the general NTM view on how energy use and emissions from electric motors and combustion engines should be quantified in a comparable and aligned way based on common standards.

The NTM data is subject to regular changes in relation to scientific and regulatory changes.

Background

Ever since the start of NTM the environmental effects of fuels and their production as well as electricity and its generation have been scrutinized and heavily discussed. The core questions have been:

• Relevant and comparable system boundaries
• Robust assessment of consumption and production

The principal guideline for NTM is to include relevant and comparable system boundaries where data is sufficiently reliable. The consumer choice of a specified energy carrier based on actual production methods should be reflected in the environmental performance where data preferable should be provided by the supplier. If a sold fraction of a specified energy carrier leads to a residual fraction (e.g. electricity) with another performance this must be reflected in the specification of that residual fuel or electricity. These allocation principals are easy to accept in general but when it comes to details, they commonly need further specifications and very thorough book keeping procedures.

For fluid fuels, based on various biomass feedstocks, the actual biomass used must be reflected in performance data. For these fuels the question is primarily concentrated on the relevant system boundary and which and how certain effects from production should be included or not.

Originally the debate on environmental effects from electricity generation only involved electric rail operation, but as new electric and plug-in electric motors now enters the market for cars, buses, trucks and even ships and aircrafts the issue embraces the full transport sector.

More on fuels

Energy use, GHG emission and air pollutants emissions from fuels production (well-to-tank) shall by order of preference be based on:

• The value specified by the fuel supplier according to European Commission Directive 2009/30/EC and any amendments to this directive.
• Other value provided that:

– The data declaration includes corresponding source, and justification for its use;

– The data declaration includes all operational processes, i.e. wtt and ttw

– If bio fuel is used, the methodology is consistent with Directive 2009/30/EC and any amendments to this directive.

More on electricity

Energy use, GHG emission and air pollutants emissions from electricity production (well-to-tank) shall by order of preference be:

• Value specified by the electricity supplier for the production-certified electricity bought
• Value for the electricity bought, specified by the electricity supplier for its production in the relevant electricity grid within which the transport operation is performed.
• As a last resort, average value for electricity supplied to consumers in the relevant average electricity grid within which the transport operation is performed.

Note 1. In order to avoid double counting, production certified electricity sold should be excluded in remaining average mix of electricity sold by the electricity supplier.

Note 2. The relevant electricity grid can be either the national grid, or one of several unconnected grids within the country, or the grid shared by several countries. The identification of the relevant electricity grids (over Europe at least) should be specified by the relevant entity.

Note 3. NTM supports environmental impact assessment of carried out transport services, but not assessment of future changes in whole transport systems. Hence the NTM environmental impact assessment includes only existing relevant average production as described in the above list of preference.