Life Cycle Assessment of a Fossil-Fuel Powered Passenger Bus: A case study of a 12 m Ashok Leyland Bus

BIO: Lakshmanan S is a Public Policy graduate with a background in Chemical Engineering and 2+ years of work experience in regulatory compliance. He has worked on sustainability, ESG strategy, and life cycle assessment projects in the transport sector. Skilled in policy research, stakeholder mapping, and data analysis, he brings both technical and policy perspectives to climate and energy issues.

Project Outline: In his capstone, Lakhmanan conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a 12-meter diesel bus to understand its environmental impact across production, use, and end-of-life stages. The study found that most emissions arise during the use phase due to diesel fuel consumption. It follows ISO standards and uses internal data combined with global emission factors, reporting emissions per passenger-kilometre. The study identifies key emission hotspots and recommends cleaner fuels, better supplier practices, and a shift towards electric buses in line with national policies such as FAME-II and PM-eBus Sewa.