Natural Gas as a Marine Propulsion Fuel: Energy and Environmental Benefits in Urban Ferry Service

2000 ◽  
Vol 1738 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Farrell ◽  
Mark Glick
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Implications

Although transportation has major energy and environmental policy implications, not all sectors are treated equally, and ships often are overlooked. However, ships are a significant source of air pollution and account for a nontrivial portion of U.S. petroleum demand. Moderate emissions standards for new marine engines have been proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, but these will take well over a decade to become effective once they are enacted, and there are no energy policy provisions for ships. Nonetheless, ships offer cost-effective options for both emissions reductions and the use of alternative fuels. Aware of these issues, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Transportation Technologies and the Gas Research Institute sponsored a study of the potential use of natural gas as the fuel for passenger ferries as part of their Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Initiative. The results of the study are discussed, with a focus on the energy and environmental issues related to maritime operations in the United States. The challenges and opportunities of a specific project to design, construct, and operate several natural gas-powered ferries in Boston Harbor are discussed. A significant reduction in air pollution and a large increase in the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel are expected from this project, but the greenhouse gas emission impacts are ambiguous. Further, an emissions monitoring and analysis program is described that would greatly improve the accuracy of maritime emissions inventories and would enable ships to take part in existing emissions trading programs in port cities around the country. Such a development would create significant economic incentives to encourage ferry owners to invest in clean fuel technologies, which could have major implications for energy and environmental policy.

scholarly journals Pollution Tradeoffs for Conventional and Natural Gas-Based Marine Fuels

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2235 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Winebrake ◽  
James J. Corbett ◽  
Fatima Umar ◽  
Daniel Yuska
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Marine Transportation ◽  
Near Term

This paper presents a life-cycle emissions analysis of conventional and natural gas-based marine transportation in the United States. We apply a total fuel cycle—or “well-to-propeller”—analysis that evaluates emissions along the fuel production and delivery pathway, including feedstock extraction, processing, distribution, and use. We compare emissions profiles for methanol, liquefied natural gas, and low sulfur marine fuel in our analysis, with a focus on exploring tradeoffs across the following pollutants: greenhouse gases, particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides. For our greenhouse gas analysis, we apply global warming potentials that consider both near-term (20-year) and long-term (100-year) climate forcing impacts. We also conduct uncertainty analysis to evaluate the impacts of methane leakage within the natural gas recovery, processing, and distribution stages of its fuel cycle. Our results indicate that natural-gas based marine fuels can provide significant local environmental benefits compared to distillate fuel; however, these benefits come with a near-term—and possibly long-term—global warming penalty, unless such natural gas-based fuels are derived from renewable feedstock, such as biomass. These results point to the importance of controlling for methane leaks along the natural gas production process and the important role that renewable natural gas can play in the shipping sector. Decision-makers can use these results to inform decisions related to increasing the use of alternative fuels in short sea and coast-wise marine transportation systems.

scholarly journals The Feasibility of Renewable Natural Gas in New Jersey

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1618
Author(s):  
Anneliese Dyer ◽  
Amelia Christine Miller ◽  
Brianna Chandra ◽  
Juan Galindo Maza ◽  
Carley Tran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Outreach Program ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Renewable Natural Gas

With traditional natural gas being one of the top options for heating in the United States and the present threat of climate change, there is a demand for an alternative clean fuel source. A Renewable Natural Gas Implementation Decision-Making Conceptual Model was created to provide a framework for considering the feasibility of renewable natural gas (RNG) projects and applied to New Jersey, specifically investigating landfills and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Data from the US EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program and New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection Sewage Sludge databases were used to identify seven landfills and 22 WWTPs as possible locations for RNG projects. Landfills were found to have a higher potential for producing RNG, on average potentially producing enough RNG to heat 12,792 homes per year versus 1227 for the average WWTP. Additionally, landfills, while having higher capital expenses, have lower projected payback periods, averaging 5.19 years compared to WWTP’s 11.78 years. WWTPs, however, generally are located closer to existing natural gas pipelines than landfills and when they produce more than 362 million standard cubic feet per year (MMSCFY) of biogas are financially feasible. RNG projects at Monmouth County Reclamation Center, Ocean County Landfill, and Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission WWTP show the greatest potential. Greenhouse gas emission reductions from RNG projects at these facilities utilizing all available biogas would be 1.628 million metric tons CO2 equivalents per year, synonymous to removing over 351,000 passenger vehicles from the road each year. In addition, expanding federal and state incentives to encompass RNG as a heating fuel is necessary to reduce financial barriers to RNG projects throughout the US. Overall, this paper supports the hypothesized conceptual model in examining the feasibility of RNG projects through examples from New Jersey and confirms the potential for RNG production utilizing existing waste streams.

LNG Use in Freight Rail Industry as an Economic and Environmental Driver: A Technical, Operational and Economic Assessment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio C. Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Rail Freight ◽  
Emission Standards ◽  
Rail Industry

Freight rail carriers have been continuously challenged to reduce costs and comply with increasingly stringent environmental standards, into a continuously competing and environmentally driven industry. In this context, current availability and relative abundance of clean and low cost non conventional gas reserves have aroused a comprehensive reevaluation of rail industry into fuel option, especially where freight rail are strongly diesel based. Countries in which rail sector is required to play an important role in transport matrix, where fuel expenditures currently accounts for a significant share of operational costs, like Australia, Brazil, United States and other continental countries, can be seen as strong candidates to adopt fuel alternatives to diesel fueled freight railways. Moreover, from an environmental perspective, the use of alternative fuels (like natural gas) for locomotive traction may allow rail freight carriers to comply with emission standards into a less technologically complex and costly way. In this context, liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled freight locomotives are seen as a strong potential near-term driver for natural gas use in rail sector, with its intrinsic cost and environmental benefits and with the potential to revolutionize rail industry much like the transition from steam to diesel experienced into the fifties, as well as the more recent advent of use of alternating current diesel-electric locomotives. LNG rail fueled approach has been focused on both retrofitting existing locomotive diesel engines, as well as on original manufactured engines. Given the lower polluting potential of natural gas heavy engines, when compared to diesel counterparts, LNG locomotives can be used to comply with increasingly restrictive Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emission standards with less technological complexity (engine design and aftertreatment hardware) and their intrinsic lower associated costs. Prior to commercial operation of LNG locomotives, there are some technical, operational and economic hurdles that need to be addressed, i.e. : i) locomotive engine and fuel tender car technological maturity and reliability improvement; ii) regulation improvement, basically focused on operational safety and interchange operations; iii) current and long term diesel - gas price differential, a decisive driver, and, finally, iv) LNG infrastructure requirements (fueling facilities, locomotives and tender car specifications). This work involved an extensive research into already published works to present an overview of LNG use in freight rail industry into a technical, operational and economical perspective, followed by a critical evaluation of its potential into some relevant freight rail markets, such as United States, Brazil and Australia, as well as some European non electrified rail freight lines.

scholarly journals Impact of Air Pollution on the Health of the Population in Parts of the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6454
Author(s):  
Radim J. Sram
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Local Heating ◽  
The United States ◽  
Respiratory Morbidity ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Impact

Thirty years ago, Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic was one of the most air polluted areas in Europe. After political changes, the Czech government put forward a research program to determine if air pollution is really affecting human health. This program, later called the “Teplice Program”, was initiated in collaboration with scientists from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). This cooperation made possible the use of methods on the contemporary level. The very high concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in the air showed, for the first time, the impact of air pollutants on the health of the population in mining districts: adverse pregnancy outcomes, the impact of air pollution on sperm morphology, learning disabilities in children, and respiratory morbidity in preschool children. A surprising result came from the distribution of the sources of pollution: 70% of PM10 pollution came from local heating and not from power plants as expected. Thanks to this result, the Czech government supported changes in local heating from brown coal to natural gas. This change substantially decreased SO2 and PM10 pollution and affected mortality, especially cardiovascular mortality.

scholarly journals Gathering Pipeline Methane Emissions in Utica Shale Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Ground-Based Mobile Sampling

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Z. Li ◽  
Mumbi Mundia-Howe ◽  
Matthew D. Reeder ◽  
Natalie J. Pekney
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Dispersion Modeling ◽  
Utica Shale ◽  
Sampling Campaign ◽  
Pipeline Systems ◽  
Aerial Vehicle

The United States Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Inventory only recently updated the emission factors of natural gas gathering pipelines in April 2019 from the previous estimates based on a 1990s study of distribution pipelines. Additional measurements are needed from different basins for more accurate assessments of methane emissions from natural gas midstream industries and hence the overall climate implications of natural gas as the interim major energy source for the next decade. We conducted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey and a ground-based vehicle sampling campaign targeting gathering pipeline systems in the Utica Shale from March to April in 2019. Out of 73 km of pipeline systems surveyed, we found no leaks on pipelines and two leaks on an accessory block valve with leak rates of 3.8 ± 0.4 and 7.6 ± 0.8 mg/s. The low leak frequency phenomenon was also observed in the only existing gathering pipeline study in Fayetteville Shale. The UAV sampling system facilitated ease of access, broadened the availability of pipelines for leak detection, and was estimated to detect methane leaks down to 0.07 g/s using Gaussian dispersion modeling. For future UAV surveys adopting similar instrument setup and dispersion models, we recommend arranging controlled release experiments first to understand the system’s detection limit and choosing sampling days with steady and low wind speeds (2 m/s).

scholarly journals Quantifying the Public Health Benefits of Reducing Air Pollution: Critically Assessing the Features and Capabilities of WHO’s AirQ+ and U.S. EPA’s Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program—Community Edition (BenMAP—CE)

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Sacks ◽  
Neal Fann ◽  
Sophie Gumy ◽  
Ingu Kim ◽  
Giulia Ruggeri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Analysis Program ◽  
Common Input ◽  
The Public ◽  
Software Packages

Scientific evidence spanning experimental and epidemiologic studies has shown that air pollution exposures can lead to a range of health effects. Quantitative approaches that allow for the estimation of the adverse health impacts attributed to air pollution enable researchers and policy analysts to convey the public health impact of poor air quality. Multiple tools are currently available to conduct such analyses, which includes software packages designed by the World Health Organization (WHO): AirQ+, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA): Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program—Community Edition (BenMAP—CE), to quantify the number and economic value of air pollution-attributable premature deaths and illnesses. WHO’s AirQ+ and U.S. EPA’s BenMAP—CE are among the most popular tools to quantify these effects as reflected by the hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and technical reports over the past two decades that have employed these tools spanning many countries and multiple continents. Within this paper we conduct an analysis using common input parameters to compare AirQ+ and BenMAP—CE and show that the two software packages well align in the calculation of health impacts. Additionally, we detail the research questions best addressed by each tool.

scholarly journals Determination of indoor air quality in collective living spaces utilizing Fuzzy logic analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-300
Author(s):  
Ahmet Cosgun ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Negative Effects

Individuals have to work in collective living spaces which might be indoor or outdoor areas. In indoor works, people spend approximately 90% of their time in a closed space. There are many parameters affecting indoor air quality. Among these, for indoor and outdoor, important parameters can be listed as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), particles, nitrogen oxides (NOx), various microorganisms, harmful allergens, and powders. Some health problems might emerge in people who stay in indoor environments for a long time. For instance, newborns and infants are more likely to stay indoors. It is the primary reason for occurring many acute and chronic diseases at an early age, as babies and children are more sensitive to environmental pollutants. Recently published studies, which report that appendicitis failures might be fatal and air pollution can increase the rate of these failures, are remarkable. On the other hand, there are many negative effects of polluted indoor air on human health such as attention deficit and excessive daytime sleepiness. Moreover, the negative effects of this kind of indoor air quality on human learning and perception can not be neglected. The researchers focusing on indoor air quality are conducting studies showing that air pollution has an effect on physical activity and neurological interaction in humans. Even though air pollutants in outdoor air content were evaluated with fuzzy logic method in many studies, there are quite few studies using the fuzzy approach for indoor air quality. In this study, through the standard formula developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calculations were made using fuzzy logic in MATLAB utilizing air quality index. In the study, indoor air quality measurement parameters were evaluated with the “Mamdani” method used in fuzzy logic. In the study, the model suitable for the logic structure created with the fuzzy tool in MATLAB was analyzed with the help of Mamdani method, and the suitability of evaluating the indoor air quality with artificial intelligence was investigated. A set of suggestions has been made evaluating and criticizing the results

scholarly journals Indoor Air Quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Seguel ◽  
Richard Merrill ◽  
Dana Seguel ◽  
Anthony C. Campagna
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Providers

Many health care providers are concerned with the role environmental exposures play in the development of respiratory disease. While most individuals understand that outdoor air quality is important to their health status, many are unaware of the detrimental effects indoor air pollution can potentially have on them. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates both outdoor and indoor air quality. According to the EPA, indoor levels of pollutants may be up to 100 times higher than outdoor pollutant levels and have been ranked among the top 5 environmental risks to the public. There has been a strong correlation between air quality and health, which is why it is crucial to obtain a complete environmental exposure history from a patient. This article focuses on the effects indoor air quality has on the respiratory system. Specifically, this article will address secondhand smoke, radon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, house cleaning agents, indoor mold, animal dander, and dust mites. These are common agents that may lead to hazardous exposures among individuals living in the United States. It is important for health care providers to be educated on the potential risks of indoor air pollution and the effects it may have on patient outcomes. Health problems resulting from poor indoor air quality are not easily recognized and may affect a patient’s health years after the onset of exposure.

scholarly journals Hazardous Air Pollutants Associated with Upstream Oil and Natural Gas Development: A Critical Synthesis of Current Peer-Reviewed Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane A. Garcia-Gonzales ◽  
Seth B.C. Shonkoff ◽  
Jake Hays ◽  
Michael Jerrett
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hazardous Air Pollutants ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Natural Gas Development ◽  
The Us ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas

Increased energy demands and innovations in upstream oil and natural gas (ONG) extraction technologies have enabled the United States to become one of the world's leading producers of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists 187 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects. Several of these HAPs have been measured at elevated concentrations around ONG sites, but most have not been studied in the context of upstream development. In this review, we analyzed recent global peer-reviewed articles that investigated HAPs near ONG operations to ( a) identify HAPs associated with upstream ONG development, ( b) identify their specific sources in upstream processes, and ( c) examine the potential for adverse health outcomes from HAPs emitted during these phases of hydrocarbon development.

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