Evaluation of effects of lightening trucks on environment by LCA

Trucks exhaust 95% of CO/sub 2/ in traveling. Therefore improvement of fuel efficiency is most effective to reduce environmental loads and lightening vehicle bodies is the best way for it. We categorized trucks as small, midsize, and large trucks, and calculated the efficiency of lightening each truck by life cycle assessment (LCA). We used carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for weight saving instead of steel. Since making CFRP needs much larger energy than steel, the following the three ways are effective in lightening trucks by CFRP: (1) To reduce basic unit of producing CFRP. (2) To lengthen total mileage. (3) To increase load capacity by the amount of weight saving.