Paper Title
Biomethane for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Brazil and The U.S.: Opportunities for Urban Management And Climate Change
Abstract
The predictions of rapid economic growth, increasing population and urbanization by 2050 indicate an increasing water demand of 30%, requiring 45% more energy, and 60% more food. This research focused on a renewable source of energy, the biomethane generated from organic waste, and aims to present current and future perspectives of this source for Brazil and the United States. The implementation of condominial production of biomethane from livestock waste with application in urban mobility was assessed, based on the “farm to fuel” concept. This arrangement converts animal manure into electric, thermal, and vehicular energy use, and biofertilizer, providing multiple economic, environmental, and social benefits in rural and urban areas, such as reduction of ground and surface water pollution, decrease of fossil fuels dependence, mitigation of greenhousegases emissions (85% compared to diesel), among others. Biomethane can supply the total amount of diesel and gasoline imported in Brazil and 44% of the total diesel demand. The U.S. biomethane potential can replace 16% of diesel demand and significantly diversify the energy matrix, which is especially relevant considering that the U.S. has one of the highest power consumptions in the world. Besides that, the use of biomethane for urban mobility would avoid the emission of 28,423,983 kg CO2e per year in Brazil and 74,327,145 kg CO2e in the U.S.
Key words- biomethane, climate change, urban sustainable mobility.