VEIN v0.2.2: an R package for bottom–up vehicular emissions inventories

Abstract. Emission inventories are the quantification of pollutants from different sources. They provide important information not only for climate and weather studies but also for urban planning and environmental health protection. We developed an open-source model (called Vehicular Emissions Inventory – VEIN v0.2.2) that provides high-resolution vehicular emissions inventories for different fields of studies. We focused on vehicular sources at street and hourly levels due to the current lack of information about these sources, mainly in developing countries.The type of emissions covered by VEIN are exhaust (hot and cold) and evaporative considering the deterioration of the factors. VEIN also performs speciation and incorporates functions to generate and spatially allocate emissions databases. It allows users to load their own emission factors, but it also provides emission factors from the road transport model (Copert), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Brazilian databases. The VEIN model reads, distributes by age of use and extrapolates hourly traffic data, and it estimates emissions hourly and spatially. Based on our knowledge, VEIN is the first bottom–up vehicle emissions software that allows input to the WRF-Chem model. Therefore, the VEIN model provides an important, easy and fast way of elaborating or analyzing vehicular emissions inventories under different scenarios. The VEIN results can be used as an input for atmospheric models, health studies, air quality standardizations and decision making.

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VEIN v0.2.2: an R package for bottom-up Vehicular Emissions Inventories

Geoscientific Model Development Discussions ◽

10.5194/gmd-2017-193 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 1-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sergio Ibarra-Espinosa ◽

Rita Ynoue ◽

Shane O&apos;Sullivan ◽

Edzer Pebesma ◽

María de Fátima Andrade ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

Transport Model ◽

Road Transport ◽

R Package ◽

The United States ◽

Source Model ◽

Vehicular Emissions ◽

Bottom Up ◽

The Road ◽

Emissions Inventories

Emission inventories are the quantification of pollutants from different sources. They provide important information not only for climate and weather studies, but also for urban planning and environmental health protection. We developed an open source model (named VEIN v0.2.2) that provides high resolution vehicular emissions inventories for different fields of studies. We focused on vehicular sources at street and hourly levels % they are the major source of air pollution in megacities. due to the current lack of information about these sources, mainly in developing countries. The type of emissions covered by VEIN are: exhaust (hot and cold) and evaporative considering the deterioration of the factors. VEIN also performs speciation and incorporates functions to generate and spatially allocate emissions databases. It allows users to load their own emissions factors, but it also provides emissions factors from the road transport model (Copert), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Brazilian databases. The VEIN model reads, distributes by age of use and extrapolates hourly traffic data, and estimates hourly and spatially emissions. Based on our knowledge, VEIN is the first bottom-up vehicle emissions software that allows input to the WRF-Chem model. Therefore, the VEIN model provides an important, easy and fast way of elaborating or analyzing vehicular emissions inventories, under different scenarios. The VEIN results can be used as an input for atmospheric models, health studies, air quality standardizations and decision making.

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Standartox: Standardizing Toxicity Data

Data ◽

10.3390/data5020046 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 46

Author(s):

Andreas Scharmüller ◽

Verena C. Schreiner ◽

Ralf B. Schäfer

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

Web Application ◽

Test Organism ◽

R Package ◽

The United States ◽

Ecosystem Functions ◽

Test Results ◽

Specific Chemical ◽

Aggregated Data ◽

Synthetic Hormones

An increasing number of chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and synthetic hormones are in daily use all over the world. In the environment, chemicals can adversely affect populations and communities and in turn related ecosystem functions. To evaluate the risks from chemicals for ecosystems, data on their toxicity, which are typically produced in standardized ecotoxicological laboratory tests, is required. The results from ecotoxicological tests are compiled in (meta-)databases such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ECOTOXicology Knowledgebase (ECOTOX). However, for many chemicals, multiple ecotoxicity data are available for the same test organism. These can vary strongly, thereby causing uncertainty of related analyses. Given that most current databases lack aggregation steps or are confined to specific chemicals, we developed Standartox, a tool and database that continuously incorporates the ever-growing number of test results in an automated process workflow that ultimately leads to a single aggregated data point for a specific chemical-organism test combination, representing the toxicity of a chemical. Standartox can be accessed through a web application and an R package.

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Mixed Use of Bio-Oil in Oil Power Plants: Should It Be Considered When Developing NH3 Emission Factors?

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084235 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4235

Author(s):

Seongmin Kang ◽

Jiyun Woo ◽

Eui-Chan Jeon

Keyword(s):

Heavy Oil ◽

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

Emission Factor ◽

Power Plants ◽

The United States ◽

Emission Factors ◽

Mixing Ratio ◽

Nh3 Emission ◽

Recent Climate ◽

Bio Oil

In order to cope with recent climate change, Korea is reducing the use of heavy oil in petroleum-fired power plants and mixing bio-oils. Accordingly, this must be taken into account when calculating the emissions of air pollutants. However, in the case of Korea, when calculating NH3 emissions, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission factor is applied as it is to calculate emissions, and for petroleum power plants, the heavy oil emission factor proposed by EPA is used as it is to calculate emissions. In petroleum power plants, bio-oil is not mixed in a certain amount and used at a different ratio depending on the situation of the power plant. Therefore, in this study, the NH3 emission factor according to the mixing ratio of bio-heavy oil is calculated and the mixing ratio is calculated. As a result of the analysis, the emission factor according to bio-oil and the mixed ratio was found to be in the range of 0.010~0.033 kg NH3/kL, and it was lower than the heavy oil emission factor 0.096 kg NH3/kL of EPA currently used in Korea. This is because the amount of NH3 through the slip is also small since the use of NH3 for reduction is also low because the NOx emission from the use of bio-oil is low. Considering all of these points, we have statistically analyzed whether emission factors should be developed and applied. As a result of the confirmation, the difference according to the mixed consumption rate was not large.

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Development of a vehicle emission inventory with high temporal–spatial resolution based on NRT traffic data and its impact on air pollution in Beijing – Part 1: Development and evaluation of vehicle emission inventory

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-16-3161-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 16 (5) ◽

pp. 3161-3170 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Boyu Jing ◽

Lin Wu ◽

Hongjun Mao ◽

Sunning Gong ◽

Jianjun He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Resolution ◽

Vehicle Emissions ◽

Emission Inventory ◽

Road Transport ◽

Companion Paper ◽

Emission Factors ◽

Vehicle Emission ◽

Traffic Data ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Macro Scale

Abstract. This paper presents a bottom-up methodology based on the local emission factors, complemented with the widely used emission factors of Computer Programme to Calculate Emissions from Road Transport (COPERT) model and near-real-time traffic data on road segments to develop a vehicle emission inventory with high temporal–spatial resolution (HTSVE) for the Beijing urban area. To simulate real-world vehicle emissions accurately, the road has been divided into segments according to the driving cycle (traffic speed) on this road segment. The results show that the vehicle emissions of NOx, CO, HC and PM were 10.54  ×  104, 42.51  ×  104 and 2.13  ×  104 and 0.41  ×  104 Mg respectively. The vehicle emissions and fuel consumption estimated by the model were compared with the China Vehicle Emission Control Annual Report and fuel sales thereafter. The grid-based emissions were also compared with the vehicular emission inventory developed by the macro-scale approach. This method indicates that the bottom-up approach better estimates the levels and spatial distribution of vehicle emissions than the macro-scale method, which relies on more information. Based on the results of this study, improved air quality simulation and the contribution of vehicle emissions to ambient pollutant concentration in Beijing have been investigated in a companion paper (He et al., 2016).

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REMI model: Bottom-up emissions inventories for cities with lack of data

10.47260/jesge/7119 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 277-288

Author(s):

Sergio Ibarra-Espinosa ◽

Rita Ynoue

Keyword(s):

Emission Factors ◽

Traffic Information ◽

Common Denominator ◽

South American ◽

Engine Emissions ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Emissions Inventory ◽

Mobile Sources ◽

Emissions Inventories ◽

American Cities

Abstract Emissions inventorying is a complex task with regulatory and/or scientific environmental purposes. In South American cities, when the task is performed, the common denominator is lack of data and documentation, and vehicles are usually the main source of pollutant of emerging and consolidated megacities. Therefore, emissions inventories is becoming more important, especially for mobile sources. In this manuscript we present the model REMI (R-EMssions-Inventory) for developing bottom-up emissions inventory for vehicles in cities with lack of data (Ibarra & Ynoue, 2016). The program was written in R (R CORE TEAM 2016) using several libraries. The program consists in several R scripts organized in folders with Inputs& Outputs. For traffic inputs uses counts or simulations, and also, it can be as a top-down method with statistical traffic information. REMI classifies vehicule data by fuel, size of motor, use and gross weight anually up to 50 years, according to EEA/EMEP guidelines and Copert (Ntziachristos, 2014). REMI has several options for emission factors, 1) Emission factors from Ntziachristos (2014), 2) local emission factors or 3) mixed emission factors. In the future REMI will include HBEFA emission factors. REMI also incorporates deterioration factors. Currently REMI estimate hot-engine emissions of 27 pollutants. Keywords: REMI, vehicular, emissions inventory, R, bottom-up.

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ESTIMATIVA DAS EMISSÕES DE POLUENTES ATMOSFÉRICOS GERADAS POR VEÍCULOS LEVES EM SANTA MARIA DE JETIBÁ, ES

Ciência e Natura ◽

10.5902/2179460x20279 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 38 ◽

pp. 337

Author(s):

Wanderson De Paula Pinto ◽

Gemael Barbosa Lima ◽

Juliano Bras Zanetti ◽

Idarlete Boecker Percílios ◽

Edilson Sarter Braum

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

The United States ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Motor Vehicles ◽

Emissions Inventories ◽

Manufacturing Technologies ◽

The City ◽

Santa Maria ◽

Growth Economic

With population growth, economic development and the increase of motorized fleet, the pollution sources without proper control are making worse the quality of the environment. The increase of the current vehicles fleet in Santa Maria de Jetibá has contributed to raising the concentration of pollutants in the city atmosphere. In this context, this study aimed to conduct a study of emissions from leakage of light motor vehicles in the municipality of Santa Maria de Jetibá - ES in 2009. The methodology was based on methods for the preparation of vehicle emissions inventories of the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States and the Primeiro Inventário Nacional de Emissões Atmosférica por Veículos Automotores Rodoviários prepared by Ministério do Meio Ambiente. From the results of this research, there is a considerable reduction in pollutant emissions under study since 1990. This decrease can be attributed to the suitability of vehicle manufacturing technologies and due to the implementation of Law number 8723 of October 28, 1993, laying down detailed rules for the issuance of automotive pollutants.

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Majority of US urban natural gas emissions unaccounted for in inventories

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2105804118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (44) ◽

pp. e2105804118

Author(s):

Maryann R. Sargent ◽

Cody Floerchinger ◽

Kathryn McKain ◽

John Budney ◽

Elaine W. Gottlieb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Environmental Protection Agency ◽

Loss Rate ◽

Transport Model ◽

Methane Emissions ◽

Urban Region ◽

Atmospheric Measurements ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

End Use

Across many cities, estimates of methane emissions from natural gas (NG) distribution and end use based on atmospheric measurements have generally been more than double bottom-up estimates. We present a top-down study of NG methane emissions from the Boston urban region spanning 8 y (2012 to 2020) to assess total emissions, their seasonality, and trends. We used methane and ethane observations from five sites in and around Boston, combined with a high-resolution transport model, to calculate methane emissions of 76 ± 18 Gg/yr, with 49 ± 9 Gg/yr attributed to NG losses. We found no significant trend in the NG loss rate over 8 y, despite efforts from the city and state to increase the rate of repairing NG pipeline leaks. We estimate that 2.5 ± 0.5% of the gas entering the urban region is lost, approximately three times higher than bottom-up estimates. We saw a strong correlation between top-down NG emissions and NG consumed on a seasonal basis. This suggests that consumption-driven losses, such as in transmission or end-use, may be a large component of emissions that is missing from inventories, and require future policy action. We also compared top-down NG emission estimates from six US cities, all of which indicate significant missing sources in bottom-up inventories. Across these cities, we estimate NG losses from distribution and end use amount to 20 to 36% of all losses from the US NG supply chain, with a total loss rate of 3.3 to 4.7% of NG from well pad to urban consumer, notably larger than the current Environmental Protection Agency estimate of 1.4% [R. A. Alvarez et al., Science 361, 186–188 (2018)].

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

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100148198 ◽

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.

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

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1989.0271 ◽

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.

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