Assessing public acceptance of the life cycle of CO2-based fuels: Does information make the difference?

Reducing the high CO2 emissions from the transportation sector requires alternatives to current fossil-based power trains. One possible approach is the development of alternative fuels produced from CO2, water, and renewable energy. Besides technological feasibility of required process steps (CO2 capture, CO2 transport, fuel production infrastructure), a successful adoption requires acceptance of alternative CO2-based fuels and their infrastructure. This study focuses on public acceptance of CO2-based fuels' life cycle by laypeople (N = 325) using conjoint analysis. The laypeople evaluated life cycle scenarios consisting of diverse options regarding CO2 capture, transport, and production infrastructure. To analyze the impact of information on acceptance evaluations, all respondents received information on energy efficiency and environmental impact of the process step options (2nd evaluation stage). The results revealed that CO2 source and transport are most relevant for participants' decisions. Significant impacts of information were found: higher levels of information changed extremely the evaluation of the CO2 capture options (e.g., air capture, chemical plant). The results highlight the importance of investigating laypeople's evaluations of life cycle scenarios, emphasize the relevance of providing adequate information to laypeople, and enable to derive information recommendations to reach a sustained public adoption of alternative fuels and their life cycle.