Exergy consumption analysis of the transportation sector of Senegal

Abstract

Exergy analysis has become widely recognized and adopted as a powerful tool for physical and engineering systems analysis. In this paper, it was applied to transportation modes. Transport is second after the residential sector in Senegal when it comes to energy consumption and relies on imported fossil fuels. In 2013, it consumed around 32 PJ which represented 30% of total energy consumed in the country. Exergy use dynamics shows that roadways dominate and have been experiencing an increase in exergy utilization since 2000. Air transport which played important role till 2006 has very little contribution in 2013. The mean weighted exergy efficiency is low, 13.74% that is, more than 80% of exergy used is lost. This low performance is partly due to poor infrastructure, old car fleet and low level of organization. Therefore, appropriate measures should be applied to modernize the transportation sector, and specifically reduce fossil fuels use.