Energy and exergy utilization in transportation sector of Saudi Arabia

In this paper we present an analysis of energy and exergy utilization in the transportation sector of Saudi Arabia by considering the sectoral energy and exergy flows for the years of 1990-2001. Energy and exergy analyses are conducted for its three subsectors, namely road, air and marine, and hence the energy and exergy efficiencies are obtained for comparison. Road subsector appears to be the most efficient one compared to air and marine subsectors. It is found that the energy efficiencies in air and marine subsectors are found to be equal to the corresponding exergy efficiencies due to the values of exergy grade function. A comparison of the overall energy and exergy efficiencies of Saudi Arabian transportation sector with the Turkish transportation sector is also presented for the year 1993 based on the data available. Although the sectoral coverage is not same for both countries, it is still useful to illustrate the situation on how sub-sectoral energy and exergy efficiencies vary over the years. Turkish transportation sector appears to be a bit more efficient for that particular year. It is believed that the present technique is practical and useful for analyzing sectoral energy and exergy utilization to determine how efficient energy and exergy are used in transportation sector. It is also be helpful to establish standards, based on exergy, to facilitate applications in industry and in other planning processes such as energy planning. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.