Energy Effectiveness Assessment of Composting Technologies

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

Mitigating Curtailment and Carbon Emissions through Load Migration between Data Centers

Executive Summary: The California Climate Action Registry, which was initially established in 2000 and began operation in Fall 2002, is a voluntary registry for recording annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The purpose of the Registry is to assist California businesses and organizations in their efforts to inventory and document emissions in order to establish a baseline and to document early actions to increase energy efficiency and decrease GHG emissions. The State of California has committed to use its ''best efforts'' to ensure that entities that establish GHG emissions baselines and register their emissions will receive ''appropriate consideration under any future international, federal, or state regulatory scheme relating to greenhouse gas emissions.'' Reporting of GHG emissions involves documentation of both ''direct'' emissions from sources that are under the entity's control and indirect emissions controlled by others. Electricity generated by an off-site power source is consider ed to be an indirect GHG emission and is required to be included in the entity's report. Registry participants include businesses, non-profit organizations, municipalities, state agencies, and other entities. Participants are required to register the GHG emissions of all operations in California, and are encouraged to report nationwide. For the first three years of participation, the Registry only requires the reporting of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, although participants are encouraged to report the remaining five Kyoto Protocol GHGs (CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6). After three years, reporting of all six Kyoto GHG emissions is required. The enabling legislation for the Registry (SB 527) requires total GHG emissions to be registered and requires reporting of ''industry-specific metrics'' once such metrics have been adopted by the Registry. The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was asked to provide technical assistance to the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) related to the Registry in three areas: (1) assessing the availability and usefulness of industry-specific metrics, (2) evaluating various methods for establishing baselines for calculating GHG emissions reductions related to specific actions taken by Registry participants, and (3) establishing methods for calculating electricity CO2 emission factors. The third area of research was completed in 2002 and is documented in Estimating Carbon Dioxide Emissions Factors for the California Electric Power Sector (Marnay et al., 2002). This report documents our findings related to the first areas of research. For the first area of research, the overall objective was to evaluate the metrics, such as emissions per economic unit or emissions per unit of production that can be used to report GHG emissions trends for potential Registry participants. This research began with an effort to identify methodologies, benchmarking programs, inventories, protocols, and registries that u se industry-specific metrics to track trends in energy use or GHG emissions in order to determine what types of metrics have already been developed. The next step in developing industry-specific metrics was to assess the availability of data needed to determine metric development priorities. Berkeley Lab also determined the relative importance of different potential Registry participant categories in order to asses s the availability of sectoral or industry-specific metrics and then identified industry-specific metrics in use around the world. While a plethora of metrics was identified, no one metric that adequately tracks trends in GHG emissions while maintaining confidentiality of data was identified. As a result of this review, Berkeley Lab recommends the development of a GHG intensity index as a new metric for reporting and tracking GHG emissions trends.Such an index could provide an industry-specific metric for reporting and tracking GHG emissions trends to accurately reflect year to year changes while protecting proprietary data. This GHG intensity index changes while protecting proprietary data. This GHG intensity index would provide Registry participants with a means for demonstrating improvements in their energy and GHG emissions per unit of production without divulging specific values. For the second research area, Berkeley Lab evaluated various methods used to calculate baselines for documentation of energy consumption or GHG emissions reductions, noting those that use industry-specific metrics. Accounting for actions to reduce GHGs can be done on a project-by-project basis or on an entity basis. Establishing project-related baselines for mitigation efforts has been widely discussed in the context of two of the so-called ''flexible mechanisms'' of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol) Joint Implementation (JI) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Electricity consumption will encompass a large converse about connected with international electricity demand while in the next 2 decades. Newly, this improving rate connected with fossil fuels and also issues about the environmentally friendly consequences connected with gas emissions get renewed the attention in the progress connected with alternative electricity resources. Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Modify Minimization offers a good estimation on the chapter for the technological, scientific, environmentally friendly, financial and also societal aspects of this factor connected with six renewable energy (RE) options for the minimization connected with weather adjust. This functioning chapter on environmentally friendly Energy Solutions and Local climate Change Minimization presents an assessment on the literature for the scientific chemical, technological, environment, economic in addition to social areas of the contribution connected with six environmentally friendly energy (RE) sources on the mitigation connected with climate alter. This chapter is definitely an overview of presentation of the Local climate Change Minimization expansion on the essential results. Considering this significant component of Renewable Energy Sources can be reduce carbon dioxide, there is an international relating to reducing carbon emissions. Due to the fact most of the United Nations wanted to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is carbon dioxide, there is a can be a global concern on minimizing carbon emissions. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) resulting from the provision of the services of one have contributed significantly to improve the historical concentrations of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere of MIT. The IPCC (AR4) concluded that “most of the observed global climate improving as it is very likely that as a result of the improvement observed in the concentrations of anthropogenic gases mit techniques this mid of 20th century confirms Recent Files the use of fossil power accounts for most of the international anthropogenic GHG emissions”. Emissions always grow, in addition to CO2 concentrations of it had increased to more than 390 ppm, or perhaps 39% above pre-industrial levels, by holding from 2014-5. There are many options for reducing GHG emissions from energy system while satisfying the desire for global energy services. Some of these possible alternatives, such as energy conservation and competition, switching fossil fuel, RE, nuclear, plus carbon capture and hard drive (CCS) was evaluated from the AR4. A full assessment related to any profile minimization options will likely involve an evaluation of respective potential alongside minimization with his bargain with sustainable development as well as all associated risks, and costs. This phase will focus on the role that this display technology related to RE can participate in within the portfolio related to mitigation alternatives. In this sense, the only policies can be given to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, to improve the implementation of green energy, and such encouraging technological innovation. At inclusion, supporting components, such as feed-in tariffs, rules Renewable side view in addition to tax insurance policies are used by governments to help develop green energy generation in addition to the implementation of the efficiency of energy use save energy. In this chapter, the various insurance policies could possibly be placed on reducing carbon emissions, for instance improving green energy deployment and also significant technologies. A pair of main clarifications may be realizing to scale back carbon emissions and also overcome the issue connected with weather adjust: exchange fossil fuel having green electricity options wherever possible and also enhancing energy proficiency. In this chapter, many of us discuss most up-to-date performance connected with technology intended for improving green electricity deployment and also electricity work with proficiency.

Legislation to cap and trade greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was approved by a 219-212 vote of the United States House of Representatives on June 26, 2009. Cap and trade policy articulated in the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act of 2009 regulates GHGs including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and nitrogen trifluoride. Debate over the ACES act focused heavily on economic issues contrasted against concerns about climate change1. However, discussion largely ignored the potential for cap and trade legislation to contribute to reductions in levels of other harmful air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and ozone precursors that share emission sources with GHGs. Under the bill, domestic GHG emissions are to be capped at 2005 annual levels, and reduced to 17% of those marks by 20502. The bill provides for an initial round of pollution permits to be made available, some free, others at auction. Subsequently, these permits can be bought and sold in the open market by organizations such as utility companies and manufacturing firms. A key provision in the ACES act requires the president to impose tariffs on countries that do not implement similar regulations on GHG emissions. While other potentially viable legislation, such as a tax on carbon emissions, has been proposed3, the current cap and trade legislation is the first bill to pass in either the House or Senate. The greenhouse gases regulated under the ACES act do not generally pose serious direct health risks. For example, nitrous oxide is used in dental procedures, and carbon dioxide is an ingredient in carbonated beverages. Other GHGs, like nitrogen trifluoride and sulfur hexafluoride, are not harmful at their current concentration levels, but can be hazardous to persons working with them if safety precautions are not taken. Instead, substantial human health benefits from cap and trade legislation could potentially come from reductions in ambient levels of harmful pollutants, such as particulate matter and ozone, that share emissions sources with GHGs. For example, 94% of CO2 emissions in the US result from combustion of fossil fuels, with electricity generation and transportation alone comprising nearly 70%. These are also the leading source of sulfur dioxide, fine particles having diameter small than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), and precursors to ozone such as mono-nitrogen oxides (NOx)4. While the time scale for potential impacts of cap and trade legislation on climate change and related health benefits is likely decades or centuries, ancillary air pollution mitigation could have immediate health benefits. In two nationwide epidemiological studies, daily levels of ambient ozone and PM2.5 have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory mortality5 and to increased risk of emergency hospital admissions, especially for heart failure6, respectively. Estimates of the potential health benefits attributable to reductions in harmful air pollutants resulting from mitigation of GHG emissions, at the city, region and national, have been substantial7. While US cap and trade legislation would likely reduce domestic air pollution levels, two caveats deserve consideration. First, methods for reducing GHG emissions typically reduce air pollution levels, but not always. This problem can be highlighted using airplanes as an example8. Two methods to reduce CO2 emissions from airplanes are to decrease aircraft weight or increase engine combustion temperatures. The former reduces both GHG and air pollution emissions, whereas the later reduces GHG emissions at the cost of increasing precursors to ozone. In the broader context of energy production, it is likely cap and trade legislation would drive a shift away from fossil fuel combustion to sources such as solar technology that produce much less air pollution. However, the exact technology development path is still uncertain. A second problem is the potential for domestic cap and trade legislation to transfer US emissions to newly industrialized nations. Countries facing lower production costs associated with looser regulations on GHG emissions would have an economic advantage over manufacturing industries in the US. However, increased air pollution from new manufacturing could be a key public health issue for developing regions, such as China's Pearl River delta, where air pollution levels are already much higher than standards in the US9. The economic and physical systems that would be affected by cap and trade legislation are extremely complex, and impacts on air pollution will have to be considered in a broad context. For example, while the absence of tariffs would likely push manufacturing, air pollution and related negative health effects to developing regions, those regions might experience health benefits associated with increased per capita income. The discussion is similarly complex in the physical domain. For example, some air pollutants, such as sulfate particulate matter, can contribute to short term climate cooling. Though still somewhat unclear, there is an emerging debate over the possibility that air pollution mitigation could actually exacerbate global warming in the short term10. While it faces potentially significant opposition and alteration in the Senate, the cap and trade bill recently passed in the House has progressed further through Congress than any other similar legislation. There is tremendous potential for legislation regulating GHG emissions, via cap and trade or other strategies, to simultaneously decrease emissions of harmful air pollutants and reduce morbidity and mortality attributable to cardiovascular and respiratory illness. Such improvements in public health have been linked to economic benefits from recovered workforce productivity8, and add important support for progress on cap and trade legislation versus delayed action.

Energy-related activities are a major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A growing body of knowledge clearly depicts the links between human activities and climate change. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil and other human activities has released carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other heat-trapping GHG emissions into the atmosphere and thus increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 emissions. The main human activities that emit CO2 emissions are (1) the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity, accounting for about 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 31% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, (2) the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel to transport people and goods, accounting for about 31% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 26% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, and (3) industrial processes such as the production and consumption of minerals and chemicals, accounting for about 15% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 12% of total ...

The world population is expected to grow to about 10 billion in 2050. To supply the future human population with food while sustaining a liveable planet, food should be produced sustainably. One of the most urgent environmental issues is climate change, induced by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The dairy sector is a large contributor to GHG emissions. Important GHGs related to milk production are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), mainly emitted during feed production, enteric fermentation, and manure management. Diseases in dairy cows can reduce milk production, reproduction performance and longevity, and increase the amount of discarded milk. The objectives of this thesis were to estimate the impact of diseases (subclinical ketosis, clinical mastitis, and foot lesions) on GHG emissions, and to understand the relation between impact of diseases on GHG emissions and economic performance. First, a dynamic stochastic simulation model was developed to simulate the dynamics of the diseases and the associated production losses (reduced milk production, discarded milk, a prolonged calving interval, and removal (culling or dying on the farm)) per cow during one lactation. This model was combined with a life cycle assessment to quantify the impact of diseases on GHG emissions per ton fat-and-protein-corrected milk (kg CO2equivalents/t FPCM) from cradle to farm gate. Processes included were feed production, enteric fermentation, and manure management. The emissions of GHGs of cows with a disease increased on average by 21 (2.3%) kg CO2e/t FPCM per case of subclinical ketosis, by 58 (6.2%) kg CO2e/t FPCM per case of clinical mastitis, by 4 (0.4%) kg CO2e/ t FPCM per case of digital dermatitis, by 39 (4.3%) kg CO2e/ t FPCM per case of white line disease, and by 33 (3.6%) kg CO2e/ t FPCM per case of sole ulcer. An economic analyses was performed to estimate the costs of subclinical ketosis and related diseases. The total costs of subclinical ketosis were €130 per case per year. Comparing the impact of production contributors from a GHG emissions and economic perspective showed that a reduction in milk production had the highest impact on the economic performance, whereas removal and discarded milk had the highest impact on increase in GHG emissions. Prevalence, pathogen type, farm management (e.g. culling, feed, and manure), and prices (e.g. milk and feed) will affect the impact of production contributors on GHG emissions and economic performance. Therefore, specific farm analyses are needed to estimate the impact of diseases for a specific dairy farm. Diseases in dairy cows increase GHG emissions by approximately 0.4 Mton per year, which equals 15% of the Dutch governmental goal of GHG emission reductions in agriculture in 2030. Reducing diseases can decrease GHG emissions, can increase the income of the farmer, and can improve animal welfare. Therefore, reducing diseases can contribute to sustainable development of the dairy sector.

There are two types of approaches for analyzing various aspects related to green-house gas (GHG) emissions, i.e., top-down and bottom-up approaches. Although the top-down approach focuses on macro-economic perspectives, the bottom-up approach is more suitable to investigate GHG emissions at an industry level utilizing domain-specific knowledge. For example, a bottom-up analysis requires a wide variety of data such as energy demands, conversion factors, and energy efficiency, which may be obtained by analyzing industrial process data. This study aims to provide a bottom-up approach for analyzing GHG emissions from shipbuilding processes in Korea. Reference energy system and energy balance for shipbuilding processes are derived for bottom-up modeling. Based on the midterm forecast on energy demands of the Korean shipbuilding industry, it is shown that the business-as-usual GHG emissions may be obtained. Relevant mitigation measures are then investigated to analyze their mitigation potentials for low-carbon ship production. 1. Introduction Global climate change has recently drawn an increasing attention due to its adverse effects on our environment. Since the inception of Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Frame-work conventions on climate change, local and international experts have long called for more international cooperation in coping with global warming. The main idea of international cooperative efforts is to impose binding obligations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on participating countries. Even though some countries have withdrawn their commitment and others have been reluctant to adopting definite targets for emission reduction, many countries have already established a designated national authority to manage their GHG emissions. Korea has also established a national authority called "GHG Inventory and Research Center (GIR)" in 2010. One of the most important roles of GIR is to manage the national GHG emission levels and set the abatement target of various sectors through an efficient and integrated management of GHG-related information. Recently, GIR has conducted a series of research projects to analyze GHG emissions of industrial sectors in cooperation with a group of experts. This study presents the results from the analysis of GHG emissions and mitigation potentials for the shipbuilding processes in Korea. It should be noted that the scope of this study is limited to constructions processes in a shipyard even though the shipbuilding industry may encompass a broader range of industrial sectors such as steel production and transport. Adopting Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impacts (MESSAGE) developed by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in 1980s (Messner 1997), a bottom-up mathematical programming model is generated to derive the business-as-usual (BAU) GHG emissions in the construction processes in a shipyard. Abatement potentials of several technical abatement measures are also analyzed to help shipbuilders effectively cope with the issue of climate change.

Whole-farm systems modelling of greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral suckler beef cow production systems

Enhancing resource use efficiency of alfalfa with appropriate irrigation and fertilization strategy mitigate greenhouse gases emissions in the arid region of Northwest China

Well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions of electric versus combustion vehicles from 2018 to 2030 in the US

Efficiency Potential of Solar Thermochemical Reactor Concepts with Ecological and Economical Performance Analysis of Solar Fuel Production

Abstract. This paper summarizes currently available data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from African natural ecosystems and agricultural lands. The available data are used to synthesize current understanding of the drivers of change in GHG emissions, outline the knowledge gaps, and suggest future directions and strategies for GHG emission research. GHG emission data were collected from 75 studies conducted in 22 countries (n = 244) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were by far the largest contributor to GHG emissions and global warming potential (GWP) in SSA natural terrestrial systems. CO2 emissions ranged from 3.3 to 57.0 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1, methane (CH4) emissions ranged from −4.8 to 3.5 kg ha−1 yr−1 (−0.16 to 0.12 Mg CO2 equivalent (eq.) ha−1 yr−1), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions ranged from −0.1 to 13.7 kg ha−1 yr−1 (−0.03 to 4.1 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1). Soil physical and chemical properties, rewetting, vegetation type, forest management, and land-use changes were all found to be important factors affecting soil GHG emissions from natural terrestrial systems. In aquatic systems, CO2 was the largest contributor to total GHG emissions, ranging from 5.7 to 232.0 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1, followed by −26.3 to 2741.9 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1 (−0.89 to 93.2 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1) and 0.2 to 3.5 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 (0.06 to 1.0 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1). Rates of all GHG emissions from aquatic systems were affected by type, location, hydrological characteristics, and water quality. In croplands, soil GHG emissions were also dominated by CO2, ranging from 1.7 to 141.2 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1, with −1.3 to 66.7 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1 (−0.04 to 2.3 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1) and 0.05 to 112.0 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 (0.015 to 33.4 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1). N2O emission factors (EFs) ranged from 0.01 to 4.1 %. Incorporation of crop residues or manure with inorganic fertilizers invariably resulted in significant changes in GHG emissions, but results were inconsistent as the magnitude and direction of changes were differed by gas. Soil GHG emissions from vegetable gardens ranged from 73.3 to 132.0 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1 and 53.4 to 177.6 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 (15.9 to 52.9 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1) and N2O EFs ranged from 3 to 4 %. Soil CO2 and N2O emissions from agroforestry were 38.6 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1 and 0.2 to 26.7 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 (0.06 to 8.0 Mg CO2 eq. ha−1 yr−1), respectively. Improving fallow with nitrogen (N)-fixing trees led to increased CO2 and N2O emissions compared to conventional croplands. The type and quality of plant residue in the fallow is an important control on how CO2 and N2O emissions are affected. Throughout agricultural lands, N2O emissions slowly increased with N inputs below 150 kg N ha−1 yr−1 and increased exponentially with N application rates up to 300 kg N ha−1 yr−1. The lowest yield-scaled N2O emissions were reported with N application rates ranging between 100 and 150 kg N ha−1. Overall, total CO2 eq. emissions from SSA natural ecosystems and agricultural lands were 56.9 ± 12.7 × 109 Mg CO2 eq. yr−1 with natural ecosystems and agricultural lands contributing 76.3 and 23.7 %, respectively. Additional GHG emission measurements are urgently required to reduce uncertainty on annual GHG emissions from the different land uses and identify major control factors and mitigation options for low-emission development. A common strategy for addressing this data gap may include identifying priorities for data acquisition, utilizing appropriate technologies, and involving international networks and collaboration.

Better information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation potential in the agricultural sector is necessary to manage these emissions and identify responses that are consistent with the food security and economic development priorities of countries. Critical activity data (what crops or livestock are managed in what way) are poor or lacking for many agricultural systems, especially in developing countries. In addition, the currently available methods for quantifying emissions and mitigation are often too expensive or complex or not sufficiently user friendly for widespread use.The purpose of this focus issue is to capture the state of the art in quantifying greenhouse gases from agricultural systems, with the goal of better understanding our current capabilities and near-term potential for improvement, with particular attention to quantification issues relevant to smallholders in developing countries. This work is timely in light of international discussions and negotiations around how agriculture should be included in efforts to reduce and adapt to climate change impacts, and considering that significant climate financing to developing countries in post-2012 agreements may be linked to their increased ability to identify and report GHG emissions (Murphy et al 2010, CCAFS 2011, FAO 2011).

The Earth`s capacity to support life depends on the moderating influences of gases that envelop the planet and warm its surface and protect it from harmful radiation. These gases are referred to as ``greenhouse gases.`` Their warming capacity, called ``the greenhouse effect,`` is essential to maintaining a climate hospitable to all plant, animal, and human life. In recent years, however, there has been increasing concern that human activity may be affecting the intricate balance between the Earth`s absorption of heat from the sun and its capacity to reradiate excess heat back into space. Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities may be an important mechanism that affects global climate. Thus, research is intensifying to improve our understanding of the role human activities might play in influencing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. On the basis of scientific findings of the past few decades, the US Government and the international community at large are now taking steps toward stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions. This report contributes to that process. Mandated by Congress this report provides estimates of US emissions of the principal greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorcarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and nonmethane volatile organic compounds. Estimates are for the period 1985 to 1990. Preliminary estimates for 1991 have also been included, whenever data were available.