Study on the Quantitative Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions in Sewage-Sludge Treatment System

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 Even though some countries have withdrawn their commitment and others have been reluctant to adopting definite targets for emission reduction, many countries have already established a designated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.

Taking Stock of Strategies on Climate Change and the Way Forward: A Strategic Climate Change Framework for Australia

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 ...

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

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 increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a global concern due to its impact on climate change. To address this challenge, the development of corporate GHG inventories is crucial, enabling organizations to understand and mitigate their emissions. This study aims to statistically analyze whether there was a significant increase in GHG emissions over a 10-year period by organizations from various sectors of the economy that voluntarily published their inventories in the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. Data were obtained from the inventories of 66 organizations that published at 2013 and 2022 in the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. The data was processed and analyzed using Minitab software to determine the significance level of the increase in GHG emissions. A total increase of 159,264,734.26 tCO2e in GHG emissions was observed from 2013 to 2022, with 29 organizations reporting higher emissions and 37 showing reductions. However, statistical analysis demonstrated that there was no significant increase in GHG emissions over the study period. The results highlight the importance of organizations conducting their GHG inventories to enhance transparency and make strategic decisions aimed at mitigating their emissions. Publishing inventories allows for monitoring progress and identifying priority areas for effective interventions. No significant increase in GHG emissions was observed over the 10-year period; therefore, this study reinforces the importance of preparing GHG inventories by organizations. The findings can impact public policies on climate change, supporting the introduction of regulations that mandate the development of inventories and the setting of emission reduction and offsetting targets.

COVID-19 impact on an academic Institution's greenhouse gas inventory: The case of Cornell University

While actions for addressing global climate change should not be delayed,an open and compatible method for quantifying the greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions of cities or local regions is critical required to support policies.Urban GHG inventory is fundamental for accounting GHG emissions in cities.In general,it reflects both emission structure and trend.Compiling GHG inventories at urban scale is a basic demand of low-carbon city construction in China,and also a foundation for China′s future development. Although use the methods of national GHG inventories as reference,GHG inventories for cities have their own characteristics on principles and methodology systems.The present urban GHG inventory usually uses the experiences of GHG inventory methodologies developed by IPCC(The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change),ICLEI(International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) and Draft International Standard for Determining Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Cities.However,there are still no systemic and standardized methods and indexes for urban GHG inventories,because different organizations have established different approaches for inventorying urban GHG emissions.Though unified framework,such as IPCC or ICLEI,is used,treatments on some emission sources(electricity and cross-boundary transport) or divisions of sub-sectors are different.Due to these issues,it is unsuitable for comparison between cities.At the same time,the calculation results of China′s urban GHG emissions have little comparability with those of western cities,owing to differences of definitions and scales. China′s urban GHG emission inventory research is just at the beginning and achievements need to be extended and the performance of urban GHG emission inventory still has a long way to go.Based on present methodologies of compiling urban GHG emission inventories and typical case studies,both domestic and international,we were willing to establish a common standard by which inventory of urban emissions should be followed.Considering the special characteristics of China′s urban structure,and the problems which would be faced during the accounting progress,China′s urban GHG inventories should take its administrative area as spatial boundary and three main gases,carbon dioxide,methane and nitrous oxide,should be concluded.Consumption-based mode should be chose in order to reflect emission amount and structure more truly and more comprehensive.The most recent IPCC guidelines can be used for determining emissions from four aspects,energy(stationary and mobile sources),industrial processes and product use(IPPU),agriculture,forestry and other land use(AFOLU;where significant),and waste.While it is impractical to quantify all of the emissions associated with the indirect ways of urban GHG emissions,such as myriad of goods and materials consumed in cities,urban GHG inventories should also include out-of-boundary emissions from the generation of electricity and district heating which are consumed in cities(including transmission and distribution losses),emissions from aviation and marine vessels carrying passengers or freight away from cities,out-of-boundary emissions from waste that is generated in cities.The GHG emissions embodied in the food,water,fuels and building materials consumed in cities should also be reported as additional information items if possible.Uncertainty assessment and quality assurance are encouraged and should follow IPCC guidelines.

The production of six regionally important cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including pine, eucalyptus, unmanaged hardwoods, forest residues, switchgrass, and sweet sorghum, was analyzed using consistent life cycle methodologies and system boundaries to identify feedstocks with the lowest cost and environmental impacts. Supply chain analysis models were created for each feedstock calculating costs and supply chain requirements for the production 453,592 dry tonnes of biomass per year. Cradle-to-gate environmental impacts from these supply systems were quantified for nine mid-point indicators using SimaPro 7.2 LCA software. Conversion of grassland to managed forest for bioenergy resulted in large reductions in GHG emissions, due to carbon sequestration associated with direct land use change. However, converting forests to energy cropland resulted in large increases in GHG emissions. Production of forest-based feedstocks for biofuels resulted in lower delivered cost, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower overall environmental impacts than the studied agricultural feedstocks. Forest residues had the lowest environmental impact and delivered cost per dry tonne. Using forest-based biomass feedstocks instead of agricultural feedstocks would result in lower cradle-to-gate environmental impacts and delivered biomass costs for biofuel production in the southern U.S.

The availability of fossil resources is predicted to decrease in the near future: they are a non-renewable source, they cause environmental concerns, and they are subjected to price instability. Utilization of biomass as raw material in a biorefinery is a promising alternative to fossil resources for production of energy carriers and chemicals, as well as for mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security. This paper focuses on a biorefinery concept which produces bioethanol, bioenergy, and biochemicals from switchgrass, a lignocellulosic crop. Results are compared with a fossil reference system producing the same products/services from fossil sources. The biorefinery system is investigated using a Life Cycle Assessment approach, which takes into account all the input and output flows occurring along the production chain. This paper elaborates on methodological key issues like land use change effects and soil N2O emissions, whose influence on final outcomes is weighted in a sensitivity analysis. Since climate change mitigation and energy security are the two most important driving forces for biorefinery development, the assessment has a focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative primary energy demand (distinguished into fossil and renewable), but other environmental impact categories (e.g., abiotic depletion, eutrophication, etc.) are assessed as well. The use of switchgrass in a biorefinery offsets GHG emissions and reduces fossil energy demand: GHG emissions are decreased by 79% and about 80% of non-renewable energy is saved. Soil C sequestration is responsible for a large GHG benefit (65 kt CO2-eq/a, for the first 20 years), while switchgrass production is the most important contributor to total GHG emissions of the system. If compared with the fossil reference system, the biorefinery system releases more N2O emissions, while both CO2 and CH4 emissions are reduced. The investigation of the other impact categories revealed that the biorefinery has higher impacts in two categories: acidification and eutrophication. Results are mainly affected by raw material (i.e., switchgrass) production and land use change effects. Steps which mainly influence the production of switchgrass are soil N2O emissions, manufacture of fertilizers (especially those nitrogen-based), processing (i.e., pelletizing and drying), and transport. Even if the biorefinery chain has higher primary energy demand than the fossil reference system, it is mainly based on renewable energy (i.e., the energy content of the feedstock): the provision of biomass with sustainable practices is then a crucial point to ensure a renewable energy supply to biorefineries. This biorefinery system is an effective option for mitigating climate change, reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, and enhancing cleaner production chains based on local and renewable resources. However, this assessment evidences that determination of the real GHG and energy balance (and all other environmental impacts in general) is complex, and a certain degree of uncertainty is always present in final results. Ranges in final results can be even more widened by applying different combinations of biomass feedstocks, conversion routes, fuels, end-use applications, and methodological assumptions. This study demonstrated that the perennial grass switchgrass enhances carbon sequestration in soils if established on set-aside land, thus, considerably increasing the GHG savings of the system for the first 20 years after crop establishment. Given constraints in land resources and competition with food, feed, and fiber production, high biomass yields are extremely important in achieving high GHG emission savings, although use of chemical fertilizers to enhance plant growth can reduce the savings. Some strategies, aiming at simultaneously maintaining crop yield and reduce N fertilization application through alternative management, can be adopted. However, even if a reduction in GHG emissions is achieved, it should not be disregarded that additional environmental impacts (like acidification and eutrophication) may be caused. This aspect cannot be ignored by policy makers, even if they have climate change mitigation objectives as main goal.

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.

ABSTRACTWaste production increases with the increase in population, urbanization rate and people’s income. Solid waste is a contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which can cause global warming. At the Conference of Parties 25 (COP 25) in Madrid 2019, the Indonesian government is still commited to reducing GHG emissions and working to reduce/limit the increase in temperature below 1.50C. Karangasem regency is an area located in the eastern part of Bali Island, which administratively is one of the regency in Bali Province. The population of Karangasem regency in 2018 based on results of population registration was 414,800 people. The population is spread across 8 sub-districs with the population growth rate in Karangasem averaging 0.88% per year. The distribution of the population will be directly proportional to the distribution of solid waste produced. The method for calculating municipal solid waste will be carried out using the First Order Decay method contained in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Guidelines. From the calculation results, GHG emission have been obtained in each sub-district in Karangasem regency. Total GHG emission in 2019 amounted to 11,764 tonnes of CO2-e. Mapping the area in Karangasem district to determine the amount of waste produced by each district is deemed necessary as a mitigation effort to be implemented. In this study, a mapping of each sub-district was carried out on the basis of Geographical Information System (GIS). It is necessary to carry out a GHG inventory at the district level, to determine how much GHG emission are generated from the waste sector. After the GHG emission in known, a mapping of each sub-district will be made to determine the level of emission produced, so that this GHG emission reduction mitigation action will focus more on the sub-districts that produce the most emission first followed by other sub-districts.Keywords: Waste, GHG Inventory, First Order Decay, Geographic Information System.ABSTRAKProduksi limbah meningkat seiring dengan meningkatnya jumlah penduduk, tingkat urbanisasi dan pendapatan masyarakat. Sampah merupakan salah satu penyumbang emisi gas rumah kaca (GRK) yang dapat menyebabkan adanya pemanasan global (global warming). Pada Conference of Parties 25 (COP 25) di Madrid tahun 2019, pemerintah Indonesia masih berkomitmen untuk dapat menurunkan emisi gas rumah kaca dan berupaya untuk mengurangi/membatasi peningkatan suhu dibawah 1,50C. Kabupaten Karangasem, merupakan daerah yang berada di belahan timur Pulau Bali, yang secara administratif merupakan salah satu kabupaten dalam wilayah Provinsi Bali. Jumlah penduduk Kabupaten Karangasem pada tahun 2018 berdasarkan hasil registrasi penduduk adalah 414.800 jiwa. Jumlah penduduk tersebut tersebar dalam 8 kecamatan dengan angka pertambahan penduduk di Karangasem rata-rata 0,88% per tahun. Sebaran jumlah penduduk akan berbanding lurus dengan sebaran limbah padat yang dihasilkan. Metode penghitungan limbah padat kota akan dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode First Order Decay yang terdapat pada IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Guidelines. Dari hasil perhitungan telah didapatkan emisi GRK di tiap-tiap kecamatan yang ada di Kabupaten Karangasem. Total emisi GRK pada tahun 2019 yaitu sebesar 11.764 ton CO2-e. Pemetaan wilayah di kabupaten392 Jurnal Teknologi Informasi dan Komputer, Volume 6, Nomor 3, Oktober 2020Karangasem untuk mengetahui jumlah sampah yang dihasilkan tiap kecamatan dipandang perlu dilaksanakan sebagai upaya mitigasi yang akan dilaksanakan. Pada penelitian ini dilaksanakan pemetaan tiap-tiap kecamatan dengan basis Sistem Informasi Geografis (SIG). Inventarisasi GRK di tingkat kabupaten ini perlu dilakukan, untuk mengetahui sampai berapa besar emisi GRK yang dihasilkan dari sektor limbah tersebut. Setelah emisi GRK sudah diketahui, maka akan dibuat sebuah pemetaan tiap-tiap kecamatan untuk mengetahui tingkat emisi yang dihasilkan, sehingga aksi mitigasi penurunan emisi GRK ini akan lebih fokus pada kecamatan-kecamatan yang menghasilkan emisi paling besar terlebih dahulu dilanjutkan dengan kecamatan yang lainnya.Kata Kunci : Limbah, Inventarisasi GRK, First Order Decay, Sistem Informasi Geografis.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from the offshore fisheries industry in the Republic of Korea (Korea) were examined in response to growing concerns about global warming and the contribution of emissions from different industrial sectors. Fuel usage and GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O) were analysed using the ‘Tier 1’ method provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from the offshore fishery, which is the primary domestic seafood production sector in Korea. In 2013, fuel usage in the offshore fishery accounted for 59.7% (557,463 KL) of total fuel consumption of fishing vessels in Korea. Fuel consumption and thus GHG emissions were not stable through time in this industry, increasing by 2.4% p.a. for three consecutive years, from 2011 to 2013, despite a decrease in the number of vessels operating. GHG emissions generated in offshore fisheries also changed through time and increased from 1,442,975 tCO2e/year in 2011 to 1,477,279 tCO2e/year in 2013. Changes in both fuel use and GHG emissions per kg offshore fish production appeared to be associated with decreasing catch rates by the fleet, which in turn were a reflection of decrease in fish biomass. Another important feature of GHG emissions in this industry was the high variation in GHG emission per kg fish product among different fishing methods. The long line fishery had approximately three times the emissions of the average production while the jigging fishery was more than two times higher than the average. Lowest emissions were from the trawl sector, which is regarded as having greatest environmental impact using traditional biodiversity metrics although had lowest environmental impact in terms of fuel and GHG emission metrics used in this study. The observed deterioration in fuel efficiency of the offshore fishery each year is of concern but also demonstrates that fuel efficiency can change, which shows there is opportunity to improve efficiency with changes to fishery management and harvesting operations.

International concern is now focused on reducing green house gas (GHG) emissions which drive climate change. The use of fossil fuels, either flaring natural gas and burning fossil fuels, are predicted contributing GHG emissions. As a consequence, International cooperation through United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has pointed to increase policy interest in developing CO2 and GHG emission trading system. The system would allow the countries who have opportunities to reduce CO2 and GHG emission (generally developing countries) and sell or trade GHG emission reduction to the countries (generally developed countries). The second part of this paper will be emphasized on oil and gas reserves, production, refineries,and utilization. Indonesia oil resource as of January 1st, 2006 amounts to about 56.60 BBO, while gas resources as of January 1st, 2006 is about 334.5 TSCF. Indonesia has nine refineries owned by PT Pertamina (Persero) and six refineries owned by private. Indonesia has also voluntary participated in reducing GHG emissions by formulating energy policy, doing research on carbon capture and storage (CCS), and developing innovative projects. This paper will highlight the energy policy, research program and innovative projects for reducing GHG emission from oil and gas activities in Indonesia

Life cycle assessment of sludge anaerobic digestion combined with land application treatment route: Greenhouse gas emission and reduction potential