scholarly journals Estimating US fossil fuel CO2emissions from measurements of14C in atmospheric CO2

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (24) ◽  
pp. 13300-13307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sourish Basu ◽  
Scott J. Lehman ◽  
John B. Miller ◽  
Arlyn E. Andrews ◽  
Colm Sweeney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Net Ecosystem Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reference Network ◽  
Random Errors ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Atmospheric Observations

We report national scale estimates of CO2emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement production in the United States based directly on atmospheric observations, using a dual-tracer inverse modeling framework and CO2andΔ14CO2measurements obtained primarily from the North American portion of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. The derived US national total for 2010 is 1,653 ± 30 TgC yr−1with an uncertainty (1σ) that takes into account random errors associated with atmospheric transport, atmospheric measurements, and specified prior CO2and14C fluxes. The atmosphere-derived estimate is significantly larger (>3σ) than US national emissions for 2010 from three global inventories widely used for CO2accounting, even after adjustments for emissions that might be sensed by the atmospheric network, but which are not included in inventory totals. It is also larger (>2σ) than a similarly adjusted total from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but overlaps EPA’s reported upper 95% confidence limit. In contrast, the atmosphere-derived estimate is within1σof the adjusted 2010 annual total and nine of 12 adjusted monthly totals aggregated from the latest version of the high-resolution, US-specific “Vulcan” emission data product. Derived emissions appear to be robust to a range of assumed prior emissions and other parameters of the inversion framework. While we cannot rule out a possible bias from assumed prior Net Ecosystem Exchange over North America, we show that this can be overcome with additionalΔ14CO2measurements. These results indicate the strong potential for quantification of US emissions and their multiyear trends from atmospheric observations.

Quantifying US Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions Using Precise Measurements of 14C in Atmospheric CO2

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Lehman ◽  
Sourish Basu ◽  
John Miller ◽  
Arlyn Andrews ◽  
Colm Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Atmospheric Transport ◽  
Trend Detection ◽  
Reference Network ◽  
Random Errors ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us

<p>We report the first national scale estimates of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in the US based directly on atmospheric observations, using a dual-tracer inverse modeling framework and CO<sub>2</sub> and Δ<sup>14</sup>CO<sub>2</sub>measurements obtained primarily from the North American portion of NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. The derived US national total for 2010 is 1653±60 TgC/yr, with an uncertainty (2σ) that takes into account random errors associated with atmospheric transport, atmospheric measurements, and specified prior CO<sub>2</sub> and <sup>14</sup>C fluxes. The atmosphere-derived estimate is significantly (>3σ) larger than US national emissions for 2010 from three global inventories widely-used for CO<sub>2</sub> accounting, even after adjustments for emissions that might be sensed by the atmospheric network but which are not included in inventory totals. In contrast, the atmosphere-derived estimate is within 1σ of a similarly adjusted 2010 annual total and 9 of 12 adjusted monthly totals aggregated from the latest release of the high-resolution, US-specific “Vulcan” emissions data product. Here we focus our presentation on determination and reduction of methodological uncertainties and future applications of the method for annual emissions detection and emissions trend detection at scales ranging from the US as a whole to contiguous groups of US states, such as those participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.</p>

scholarly journals Emissions of CH4and N2O over the United States and Canada based on a receptor-oriented modeling framework and COBRA-NA atmospheric observations

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Kort ◽  
Janusz Eluszkiewicz ◽  
Britton B. Stephens ◽  
John B. Miller ◽  
Christoph Gerbig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Atmospheric Observations

scholarly journals Continued emissions of carbon tetrachloride from the United States nearly two decades after its phaseout for dispersive uses

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (11) ◽  
pp. 2880-2885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Hu ◽  
Stephen A. Montzka ◽  
Ben R. Miller ◽  
Arlyn E. Andrews ◽  
John B. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Carbon Tetrachloride ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
The Us ◽  
Atmospheric Observations ◽  
Surrounding Areas

National-scale emissions of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) are derived based on inverse modeling of atmospheric observations at multiple sites across the United States from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s flask air sampling network. We estimate an annual average US emission of 4.0 (2.0–6.5) Gg CCl4 y−1 during 2008–2012, which is almost two orders of magnitude larger than reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (mean of 0.06 Gg y−1) but only 8% (3–22%) of global CCl4 emissions during these years. Emissive regions identified by the observations and consistently shown in all inversion results include the Gulf Coast states, the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and the Denver area in Colorado. Both the observation-derived emissions and the US EPA TRI identified Texas and Louisiana as the largest contributors, accounting for one- to two-thirds of the US national total CCl4 emission during 2008–2012. These results are qualitatively consistent with multiple aircraft and ship surveys conducted in earlier years, which suggested significant enhancements in atmospheric mole fractions measured near Houston and surrounding areas. Furthermore, the emission distribution derived for CCl4 throughout the United States is more consistent with the distribution of industrial activities included in the TRI than with the distribution of other potential CCl4 sources such as uncapped landfills or activities related to population density (e.g., use of chlorine-containing bleach).

scholarly journals Analysis of Environmental Productivity on Fossil Fuel Power Plants in the U.S.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6907
Author(s):  
Yung-Hsiang Lu ◽  
Ku-Hsieh Chen ◽  
Jen-Chi Cheng ◽  
Chih-Chun Chen ◽  
Sian-Yuan Li
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Malmquist Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fossil Fuel Power Plants

In 2007, the Clean Air Act officially included greenhouse gases, making fossil fuel power plants the first of key industries regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. How do we measure the impact of the regulations on these power plants’ productivity? Previous studies that attempt to answer this question have provided inadequate answers because their samples cover the periods only up to 2007, and they often use greenhouse gases as the only proxy for the undesirable output. This paper collects data from 133 fossil fuel power plants in the United States and covers 2004 to 2013. These power plants are divided into Sun Belt and Frost Belt based on their geographical locations. To measure the undesirable outputs, we used both carbon dioxide and toxic emissions as the proxies. The estimation model includes the construction of a generalized common stochastic frontier (metafrontier) and a Malmquist productivity index. We used the index to measure the change in productivity for the power plants before and after the implementation of the regulation. The results indicate that, since regulation in 2007, the overall production efficiency of the power plants has declined incessantly while productivity has seen a sustained downward trend despite two surges in growth.

scholarly journals The Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), version 2016 (ODIAC2016): A global, monthly fossil-fuel CO<sub>2</sub> gridded emission data product for tracer transport simulations and surface flux inversions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiro Oda ◽  
Shamil Maksyutov ◽  
Robert J. Andres
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Tracer Transport ◽  
Fuel Type ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Data Product ◽  
Open Source Data ◽  
Source Data

Abstract. Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 (ODIAC) is a global high-spatial resolution gridded emission data product that distributes carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The emission spatial distributions are estimated at a 1×1 km spatial resolution over land using power plant profiles (emission intensity and geographical location) and satellite-observed nighttime lights. This paper describes the latest version of the ODIAC emission data product (ODIAC2016) and presents analyses that help guiding data users, especially for atmospheric CO2 tracer transport simulations and flux inversion analysis. Since the original publication in 2011, we have made modifications to our emission modeling framework in order to deliver a comprehensive global gridded emission data product. Major changes from the 2011 publication are 1) the use of emissions estimates made by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) by fuel type (solid, liquid, gas, cement manufacturing, gas flaring and international aviation and marine bunkers), 2) the use of multiple spatial emission proxies by fuel type such as nightlight data specific to gas flaring and ship/aircraft fleet tracks and 3) the inclusion of emission temporal variations. Using global fuel consumption data, we extrapolated the CDIAC emissions for the recent years and produced the ODIAC2016 emission data product that covers 2000-2015. Our emission data can be viewed as an extended version of CDIAC gridded emission data product, which should allow data users to impose global fossil fuel emissions in more comprehensive manner than original CDIAC product. Our new emission modeling framework allows us to produce future versions of ODIAC emission data product with a timely update. Such capability has become more significant given the CDIAC's shutdown. ODIAC data product could play an important role to support carbon cycle science, especially modeling studies with space-based CO2 data collected near real time by ongoing carbon observing missions such as Japanese Greenhouse Observing SATellite (GOSAT), NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) and upcoming future missions. The ODIAC emission data product is distributed from http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/dataset/ODIAC/ with a DOI.

scholarly journals Incorporation of Remote PM2.5 Concentrations into the Downscaler Model for Spatially Fused Air Quality Surfaces

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Brett Gantt ◽  
Kelsey McDonald ◽  
Barron Henderson ◽  
Elizabeth Mannshardt
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Data Fusion ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Input Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Slight Reduction ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
The Mean

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented a Bayesian spatial data fusion model called the Downscaler (DS) model to generate daily air quality surfaces for PM2.5 across the contiguous U.S. Previous implementations of DS relied on monitoring data from EPA’s Air Quality System (AQS) network, which is largely concentrated in urban areas. In this work, we introduce to the DS modeling framework an additional PM2.5 input dataset from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network located mainly in remote sites. In the western U.S. where IMPROVE sites are relatively dense (compared to the eastern U.S.), the inclusion of IMPROVE PM2.5 data to the DS model runs reduces predicted annual averages and 98th percentile concentrations by as much as 1.0 and 4 μg m−3, respectively. Some urban areas in the western U.S., such as Denver, Colorado, had moderate increases in the predicted annual average concentrations, which led to a sharpening of the gradient between urban and remote areas. Comparison of observed and DS-predicted concentrations for the grid cells containing IMPROVE and AQS sites revealed consistent improvement at the IMPROVE sites but some degradation at the AQS sites. Cross-validation results of common site-days withheld in both simulations show a slight reduction in the mean bias but a slight increase in the mean square error when the IMPROVE data is included. These results indicate that the output of the DS model (and presumably other Bayesian data fusion models) is sensitive to the addition of geographically distinct input data, and that the application of such models should consider the prediction domain (national or urban focused) when deciding to include new input data.

scholarly journals Atmospheric measurement of point source fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 29059-29095
Author(s):  
J. C. Turnbull ◽  
E. D. Keller ◽  
W. T. Baisden ◽  
G. Brailsford ◽  
T. Bromley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Source ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Dispersion Model ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Plume Dispersion ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Gas Treatment ◽  
Atmospheric Observations ◽  
Meteorological Observations

Abstract. We use the Kapuni Gas Treatment Plant to examine methodologies for atmospheric monitoring of point source fossil fuel CO2 (CO2ff) emissions. The Kapuni plant, located in rural New Zealand, removes CO2 from locally extracted natural gas and vents that CO2 to the atmosphere, at a rate of ~0.1 Tg carbon per year. The plant is located in a rural dairy farming area, with no other significant CO2ff sources nearby, but large, diurnally varying, biospheric CO2 fluxes from the surrounding highly productive agricultural grassland. We made flask measurements of CO2 and 14CO2 (from which we derive the CO2ff component) and in situ measurements of CO2 downwind of the Kapuni plant, using a Helikite to sample transects across the emission plume from the surface up to 100 m a.g.l. We also determined the surface CO2ff content averaged over several weeks from the 14CO2 content of grass samples collected from the surrounding area. We use the WindTrax plume dispersion model to compare the atmospheric observations with the emissions reported by the Kapuni plant, and to determine how well atmospheric measurements can constrain the emissions. The model has difficulty accurately capturing the fluctuations and short-term variability in the Helikite samples, but does quite well in representing the observed CO2ff in 15 min averaged surface flask samples and in ~1 week integrated CO2ff averages from grass samples. In this pilot study, we found that using grass samples, the modeled and observed CO2ff emissions averaged over one week agreed to within 30%. The results imply that greater verification accuracy may be achieved by including more detailed meteorological observations and refining 14CO2 sampling strategies.

Scanning electron microscopy of asbestos-containing material where the asbestos fibers are considered locked in a binder

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 472-473
Author(s):  
J. R. Millette ◽  
R. S. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Asbestos Fibers ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Binder Material ◽  
Scanning Electron

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has labeled as “friable” those building materials that are likely to readily release fibers. Friable materials when dry, can easily be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder using hand pressure. Other asbestos containing building materials (ACBM) where the asbestos fibers are in a matrix of cement or bituminous or resinous binders are considered non-friable. However, when subjected to sanding, grinding, cutting or other forms of abrasion, these non-friable materials are to be treated as friable asbestos material. There has been a hypothesis that all raw asbestos fibers are encapsulated in solvents and binders and are not released as individual fibers if the material is cut or abraded. Examination of a number of different types of non-friable materials under the SEM show that after cutting or abrasion, tuffs or bundles of fibers are evident on the surfaces of the materials. When these tuffs or bundles are examined, they are shown to contain asbestos fibers which are free from binder material. These free fibers may be released into the air upon further cutting or abrasion.

Municipal Wastewater Treatment Technology Transfer Activities of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 685-698
Author(s):  
J. J. Convery ◽  
J. F. Kreissl ◽  
A. D. Venosa ◽  
J. H. Bender ◽  
D. J. Lussier
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Outreach Program ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Transfer Programs

Technology transfer is an important activity within the ll.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Specific technology transfer programs such as the activities of the Center for Environmental Research Information, the Innovative and Alternative Technology Program, as well as the Small Community Outreach Program are used to encourage the utilization of cost-effective municipal pollution control technology. Case studies of three technologies including a plant operations diagnostic/remediation methodology, alternative sewer technologies and ultraviolet disinfection are presented. These case studies are presented retrospectively in the context of a generalized concept of how technology flows from science to utilization which was developed in a study by Allen (1977). Additional insights from this study are presented on the information gathering characteristics of engineers and scientists which may be useful in designing technology transfer programs. The recognition of the need for a technology or a deficiency in current practice are important stimuli other than technology transfer for accelerating the utilization of new technology.

Health risk assessment of occupational exposure to heavy metals in a steel casting unit of a steelmaking plant using Monte–Carlo simulation technique

2021 ◽  
pp. 074823372110195
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Dehghani ◽  
Fariborz Omidi ◽  
Reza Ali Fallahzadeh ◽  
Bahman Pourhassan
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Occupational Exposure ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Steel Casting ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulation Technique ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Casting Unit

The present work aimed to evaluate the health risks of occupational exposure to heavy metals in a steel casting unit of a steel plant. To determine occupational exposure to heavy metals, personal air samples were taken from the workers’ breathing zones using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health method. Noncancer and cancer risks due to the measured metals were calculated according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency procedures. The results indicated that the noncancer risks owing to occupational exposure to lead (Pb) and manganese were higher than the recommended value in most of the workstations. The estimated cancer risk of Pb was also higher than the allowable value. Moreover, the results of sensitivity analysis indicated that the concentration, inhalation rate, and exposure duration were the most influencing variables contributing to the calculated risks. It was thus concluded that the present control measures were not adequate and further improvements were required for reducing the exposure levels.

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