Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories Research Articles

Emission and Sink of Greenhouse Gases in Soils of Moscow

The first inventory and zoning of the emission and sink of methane and carbon dioxide in the urban structure of greenhouse gases from soils and surface technogenic formations (STFs) (Technosols) on technogenic, recrementogenic, and natural sediments have been performed with consideration for the global warming potential under conditions of different formation rate of these gases, underflooding, and sealing. From gas geochemical criteria and anthropogenic pedogenesis features, the main sources of greenhouse gases, their intensity, and mass emission were revealed. The mass fractions of emissions from the sectors of waste and land use in the inventories of greenhouse gas emissions have been determined. New sources of gas emission have been revealed in the first sector, the emissions from which add tens of percent to the literature and state reports. In the second sector, emissions exceed the available data in 70 times. Estimation criteria based on the degree of manifestation and chemical composition of soil-geochemical anomalies and barrier capacities have been proposed. The sink of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and the internal (latent) sink of methane in soils and STFs have been determined. Ecological functions of soils and STFs have been shown, and the share of latent methane sink has been calculated. The bacterial oxidation of methane in soils and STFs exceeds its emission to the atmosphere in almost hundred times.

Inventory and projection of greenhouse gases emissions for Sumatera Utara Province

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions which result in global warming is a serious problem for the human being. Total globally anthropogenic GHG emissions were the highest in the history of the year 2000 to 2010 and reached 49 (4.5) Giga ton CO2eq per year in 2010. Many governments addressed their commitment to reducing GHG emission. The Government of Indonesia (GoI) has released a target in reducing its GHG emissions by 26% from level business as usual by 2020, and this target can be increased up to 41% by international aid. In this study, the GHG emissions for Sumatera Utara province are assessed and divided into six sectors. They are Agricultural, Land Use and Forestry, Energy, Transportation, Industrial, and Waste sectors. The results show that total GHG emissions for Sumatera Utara province in the baseline year 2010 is 191.4 million tons CO2eq. The business-as-usual projection of the GHG emission in 2020 is 354.5 million tons CO2eq. Mitigation actions will reduce GHG emissions up to 30.5% from business as usual emission in 2020.

Development of a high-resolution spatial inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for Poland from stationary and mobile sources

Greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories at national or provincial levels include the total emissions as well as the emissions for many categories of human activity, but there is a need for spatially explicit GHG emission inventories. Hence, the aim of this research was to outline a methodology for producing a high-resolution spatially explicit emission inventory, demonstrated for Poland. GHG emission sources were classified into point, line, and area types and then combined to calculate the total emissions. We created vector maps of all sources for all categories of economic activity covered by the IPCC guidelines, using official information about companies, the administrative maps, Corine Land Cover, and other available data. We created the algorithms for the disaggregation of these data to the level of elementary objects such as emission sources. The algorithms used depend on the categories of economic activity under investigation. We calculated the emissions of carbon, nitrogen sulfure and other GHG compounds (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O, SO2, NMVOC) as well as total emissions in the CO2-equivalent. Gridded data were only created in the final stage to present the summarized emissions of very diverse sources from all categories. In our approach, information on the administrative assignment of corresponding emission sources is retained, which makes it possible to aggregate the final results to different administrative levels including municipalities, which is not possible using a traditional gridded emission approach. We demonstrate that any grid size can be chosen to match the aim of the spatial inventory, but not less than 100 m in this example, which corresponds to the coarsest resolution of the input datasets. We then considered the uncertainties in the statistical data, the calorific values, and the emission factors, with symmetric and asymmetric (lognormal) distributions. Using the Monte Carlo method, uncertainties, expressed using 95% confidence intervals, were estimated for high point-type emission sources, the provinces, and the subsectors. Such an approach is flexible, provided the data are available, and can be applied to other countries.

Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural sources in order to plan for needs of low carbon economy at local level in Poland

Agriculture is often not included in the baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories created for local low carbon economy plans in Poland and other European countries. We therefore estimate the size of the carbon footprint from agricultural sources and indicate the share of agriculture in the total GHG emissions in selected Polish communes (LAU level 2). We propose a solution whereby local government units can estimate their carbon footprint independently and monitor the impact of actions taken to reduce emissions. The value of the carbon footprint from agriculture in the selected communes varies from .5 to 46.5 thousand Mg CO2eq/year, with a mean value of 12.6 thousand Mg CO2eq/year and a standard deviation of 11.4 thousand Mg CO2eq/year. Per capita, these values range from 10 kg CO2eq/year to 8.4 Mg CO2eq/year, with a mean of 1.1 Mg CO2eq/year and a standard deviation of 1.5 Mg CO2eq/year. In all communes, the contribution of agriculture to total emissions is at an average of 14% (values range from .2 to 57.4%). The obtained results confirm the appropriateness of including emissions from the agricultural sector and other related sources in low carbon economy plans.

Remote sensing of methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from waste incineration

Incomplete combustion processes lead to the formation of many gaseous byproducts that can be challenging to monitor in flue gas released via chimneys. This study presents ground-based remote sensing approaches to make greenhouse gas (GHG) flux measurements of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from a waste incineration chimney at distances of 150–200 m. The study found emission of N2O (corresponding to 30–40 t yr−1), which is a consequence of adding the reduction agent urea to decrease NOX emissions due to NOX regulation; a procedure that instead increases N2O emissions (which is approximately 300 times more potent as a GHG than CO2 on a 100-year time scale). CH4 emissions of 7–11 t yr−1 was also detected from the studied chimney despite the usage of a high incineration temperature. For this particular plant, local knowledge is high and emission estimates at corresponding levels have been reported previously. However, emissions of CH4 are often not included in GHG emission inventories for waste incineration. This study highlights the importance of monitoring combustion processes, and shows the possibility of surveying CH4 and N2O emissions from waste incineration at distances of several hundred meters.

High-resolution spatial distribution and associated uncertainties of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector

Agricultural activity plays a significant role in the atmospheric carbon balance as a source and sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and has high mitigation potential. The agricultural emissions display evident geographical differences in the regional, national, and even local levels, not only due to spatially differentiated activity, but also due to very geographically different emission coefficients. Thus, spatially resolved inventories are important for obtaining better estimates of emission content and design of GHG mitigation processes to adapt to global carbon rise in the atmosphere. This study develops a geoinformation approach to a high-resolution spatial inventory of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector, following the categories of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines. Using the Corine Land Cover data, a digital map of emission sources is built, with elementary areal objects that are split up by administrative boundaries. Various procedures are developed for disaggregation of available emission activity data down to a level of elementary emission objects, conditional on covariate information, such as land use, observable in the elementary object scale. Among them, a statistical scaling method suitable for spatially correlated areal emission sources is applied. As an example of implementation of this approach, the spatial distribution of methane (CH4) and Nitrogen Oxide (N2O) emissions was obtained for areal emission sources in the agriculture sector in Poland with a spatial resolution of 100 m. We calculated the specific total emissions for different types of animal and manure systems as well as the total emissions in CO2-equivalent. We demonstrated that the emission sources are located highly nonuniformly and the emissions from them vary substantially, so that average data may provide insufficient approximation. In our case, over 11% smaller emission was estimated using spatial approach as compared with the national inventory report where average data were used. In addition, we quantified uncertainties associated with the developed spatial inventory and analysed the dominant components in total emission uncertainties in the agriculture sector. We used the activity data from the lowest possible (municipal) level. The depth of disaggregation of these data to the level of arable lands is minimal, and hence, the relative uncertainty of spatial inventory is smaller when comparing with traditional gridded emissions. The proposed technique allows us to discuss factors driving the geographical distribution of GHG emissions for different categories of the agricultural sector. This may be particularly useful in high-resolution modelling of GHG dispersion in the atmosphere.

Study of urban carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) accounting based on the comparable GPC framework: a case of the underdeveloped city, Nanning, China

It is innovative to account for the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) of underdeveloped regions such as Nanning city of China. Meanwhile, the ‘Global Protocol for Community-scale greenhouse gas emission inventories (GPC)’ has been considered a worldwide comparable framework for calculating urban CO2e emission (CE). So, the CEs of Nanning were calculated during 1994–2015 by the GPC methodology in this paper. The results show the total CE of Nanning, containing the electricity CE of Scope 2, grew rapidly from 6.56 Mt in 1994 to 55.44 Mt in 2015, with an annual average increasing rate of 10.69% and amount of 2.33 Mt. The biggest three contributors were industrial energy consumption, transportation and industrial processes, which contributed 29.72–61.09, 10.75–41.87 and 7.40–14.99%, respectively, to the total CE. Almost always, more than 90.94% of Nanning’s CE was related to coal. When considering only the CEs from coal, oil and gas, both these CEs per unit area and per GDP of Nanning were always greater than those of the world, although less than those of China due to the underdeveloped status of Nanning in most years. So, it was necessary for Nanning to pursue the pattern of low-carbon development, and some corresponding countermeasures were recommended.

Spatial apportionment of urban greenhouse gas emission inventory and its implications for urban planning: A case study of Xiamen, China

Cities have become a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and controlling urban GHG emissions is a critical response to global climate change. Many previous studies on urban GHG emissions focused on inventories, changes and impact factors but few investigated the distribution of spatial sources within a city. Although inventories of a city can give information of GHG emissions from different sectors, urban government and planners need to know where emissions occur and how (or why) they occur where they do. It is thus important to spatially apportion GHG emission within a city for the practical application of GHG emission management and policies. In this study, we develop a framework for the spatial apportionment of urban GHG emissions. Xiamen is taken as a typical rapidly urbanizing city in China to demonstrate the framework of spatial apportionment. Results show that the ranking of GHG emission intensity for different land-use types of the city is manufacturing, mining, warehouse land, service industry land, transportation land, residential land and agriculture land with a ratio of 89:54:23:14:1. The vast majority of land for GHG sequestration was located in the peripheral area of the city and most land-use types in the central region of Xiamen had high GHG emissions. The implication for low-carbon urban planning is then discussed in terms of structure and connection strategies. Integrated with socioeconomic factors and urban land-use distribution, the spatial apportionment of GHG emission inventory can provide a more accurate analysis of emission sources and better management of emission sources through urban planning.

Time series analysis models for estimation of greenhouse gas emitted by different sectors in Turkey

ABSTRACTDue to the increasing global warming in the world, analyzing greenhouse gas emissions is a crucial issue. This study has examined greenhouse gas emissions in Turkey according to energy sector, industrial processes sector, agriculture sector and waste sector. Then, time series analysis models are used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions based on sectors. Models' performances are tested using mean error, mean absolute error and root mean square error. The results show that forecasting models have a good potential to estimate the national greenhouse gas emissions for different sector within a reasonable error. The study results will help organize and estimate the national greenhouse gas emissions inventory.

A more realistic approach to electric vehicle contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in the city

Transport electrification through battery electric vehicle (BEV) is currently regarded as a solution for clean mobility, perfect for metropolitan decarbonization, with high impact and short-term feasibility. However, it is necessary to consider that this technological deployment will constitute only a partial solution for the problem regarding the availability of automotive fuel and its impact on air quality. Suitability of electric powertrain as a substitute for the Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) is not under discussion, nor its main environmental potential benefits (no contribution to pollution, no emissions of particles or nitrogen oxides) at a local level, but the generation of electricity to be stored in the batteries pollutes the environment during its production at power plant level. Global Zero-Emissions (ZE) transport solution goes through supplying electricity using renewable energy sources (such as wind, solar and geothermal), together with a change in social habits. In this paper, the use of electric vehicles and its influence in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventories is analyzed. Calculation of the GHG emissions associated to the use of BEVs is put under question, and a new approach for assessing realistic GHG emissions at power plant level puts in evidence the inaccuracy of the existing methods.

Implementing city-level carbon accounting: A comparison between Madrid and London

A change of focus from the current production-based Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions inventory to an integrated production-consumption carbon accounting system would improve the quality of city-level inventories. London is one of the few cities in the world which has reported its GHG emission inventory using Consumption-Based (CB) methodologies. Although Madrid has adopted the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) to report their GHG emissions, the city has never officially reported its GHG inventory using CB methodologies. Thus, the goal of this study is to analyze the challenges that must be faced by the production-based GHG emission inventory of Madrid in order to estimate GHG emissions from their supply chains and final consumers using the London's GHG emissions inventory experience. From the comparison between the 2010 GHG emission inventories of Madrid and London some challenges could emerge that Madrid's decision-makers might need to face regarding urban carbon accounting practices. As results, this paper shows that if GHG emissions from urban supply chains and final consumers are considered, the total GHG emissions reported by the Madrid inventory could double. This increase is similar to what London experienced when comparing production-based and integrated production-consumption GHG inventories. Besides, some difficulties related to lack of information were found when estimating GHG emissions associated with those goods and services consumed in Madrid. It would be useful to develop a full CB inventory using environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) matrices, more city-level primary data, and local cradle-to-grave factors, following the methodology applied by the London inventory. These actions would allow a more accurate calculation of urban supply chains and final consumer GHG emissions in Madrid. Finally, further research is recommended in order to improve the current knowledge about the contributions of the energy, transport and waste sectors to GHG emissions in both, Madrid and London.

Life-cycle modeling framework for generating energy and greenhouse gas emissions inventory of emerging technologies in the chemical industry

Assessing the life-cycle energy and environmental impacts of emerging technologies is critical to promote sustainable chemical production because such assessment can provide policy makers with useful insights for future investment and technology deployment; it also provides manufacturers and researchers with quantitative understandings of technology potential, possible bottlenecks, and future Research, Development, and Deployment directions. However, this is a challenging task for emerging technologies due to the lack of inventory data. In this paper, a general and flexible modeling framework was developed to generate the inventory data for new technologies in the chemical industry from a life cycle perspective. The modeling framework is applied to an emerging technology in the U.S. ethylene industry, ethane oxidative dehydrogenation, for demonstration. Broadly, the work described in this paper provides a decision-support method that can be further used by researchers, environment/energy analysts, and policy makers to evaluate the net benefits of innovative technologies, guide early-stage technology development and investment decisions, and conduct strategic planning for meeting energy and emissions reduction goals of the U.S. chemical industry.

Sectoral assessment of greenhouse gas emissions in Pakistan.

In this study, an attempt has been made to develop inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Pakistan at the national and sectoral level. The emission profile includes carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). In 2012, GHG emissions from different sectors of economy are estimated at 367Tg CO2eq. Out of this, CO2 emissions were 179Tg; CH4 emissions were 107Tg CO2eq; and N2O emissions were 81Tg CO2eq. Energy and agriculture sectors contribute approximately 89% of national GHG emissions. Industrial processes, waste, and land use change and forestry (LUCF) sectors contribute the remaining 11% GHG emissions. A comparison with the 1994 GHG emission inventory of Pakistan shows that GHG emissions in Pakistan from 1994 to 2012 have increased at an annual growth rate of 4.1% and yet anticipated to increase further for meeting the national developmental goals; however, the per capita emissions in Pakistan will remain low when compared with the global average.

Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions in China 1990–2013

AbstractConsidering the little attention given to building China's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories, a long timescale and detailed GHG inventory is presented based on the latest released official statistical data in China from 1990 to 2013. GHG emissions estimated by different versions of statistical data are compared and analyzed, and the effects of data adjustment on GHG emission reduction targets are discussed. The inventory covers the sources of energy activities, industrial processes, agricultural activities, waste treatments, and reports four types of GHGs: CO2, CH4, N2O, and F‐GHGs. The total GHG emissions in China increased from 3487.7 Mt CO2‐eq in 1990 to 12550.2 Mt CO2‐eq in 2013. As the largest emission source, energy activities increased its share from 77.8% to 82.1% during the period. In GHG gas type, CO2 emissions accounted for 86.2% of the total in 2013, followed by CH4 (8.1%), N2O (3.3%) and F‐GHGs (2.4%). CO2 emissions were mainly emitted from energy activities, while the total CH4 emissions were essentially determined by sources of coal mining, enteric fermentation and rice cultivation. Both direct emission from agricultural lands and adipic acid production accounted for over 50% of N2O emissions. China's F‐GHG emissions increased by 129.3 times during the period. In addition, after the energy data revision, CO2 emissions from energy activities was estimated significantly larger than most previous studies. The data revision also had a profound effect on the accomplishment of CO2 emission reduction target in relative quantity. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CO2 emission data for Chinese cities

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories and basic data sources for energy consumption in cities are important for the mitigation of carbon emissions and the development of low-carbon strategies. However, recent IPCC reports and other studies have highlighted significant data gaps in the place-based literature for cities’ carbon emissions and their drivers. In the last few years, literature related to cities’ carbon emissions in China has grown rapidly. This study reviews the literature on city-level carbon emissions in China and examines the emission estimates. A detailed literature search, a regression analysis, and an inductive analysis of city carbon emission data were conducted. Our findings showed that approximately 45% of prefecture-level cities have emission estimates with different levels. The CO2 emission data available for prefecture-level cities are scarce. The methodologies, sectoral coverage, and other aspects of the estimates are limited. The energy-related carbon emissions of the cities differ significantly across city typologies in China. The values of Intensity of Concern (IC) and Clustering Intensity (CI) are spatially aggregated, with the highest values in eastern China, middle values in the central area, and lowest values in western China. There are significant differences and gaps in the carbon emissions inventories and capabilities of low-carbon development in Chinese cities. A number of advanced cities could act as model cities for data collection, and reliable basic data sources could be provided for low-carbon development by perfecting the nation’s carbon emissions accounting system, the statistical system, and shared mechanisms.

Inventory of greenhouse gases emissions from gasoline and diesel consumption in Nigeria

Emissions from fossil fuel combustion are of global concern due to their negative effects on public health and environment. This paper is an inventory of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) released into the environment through consumption of fuels (gasoline and diesel) in Nigeria from 1980 to 2014. The fuel consumption data for the period in view were sourced from bulletins released by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) and were utilized for GHGs estimation based on default emission factors (69300 kg/TJ (CO 2 ; gasoline), 74100 kg/TJ (CO 2 ; diesel), 18 kg/TJ (CH 4 ; gasoline), 3.85 kg/TJ (CH 4 ; diesel), 1.9 kg/TJ (N 2 O; gasoline) and 2.25 kg/TJ (N 2 O; diesel). In addition, the uncertainty and sensitivity analyses associated with the inventory were carried out. Total amount of GHGs emitted into the environment for the period under consideration was 7.30 x 10 8 tCO 2e (5.20 x 10 8 tCO 2e and 2.10 x 10 8 tCO 2e of gasoline and diesel, respectively). It is worth noting that gasoline consumption accounted for 71.23% of the total amount of GHGs with CO 2 making up 98.72 % (CH 4 = 1.39 % and N 2 O = 0.61 %) of the emissions. For this study, uncertainty of estimate was between -80.93 % and 78.36 % while volume of diesel is more sensitive than the volume of gasoline of the input parameters. National policy and enforcement on low or neutral emission fuels utilization are amongst the recommended actions toward reducing GHG emissions in the country. Keywords: Emissions; inventory; petroleum products; greenhouse gases; carbon dioxide

Comparing Madrid and Salvador GHG emission inventories: Implications for future researches

This paper compares the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission inventories of Madrid and Salvador and discusses some implications for future researches, focusing on city-level carbon accounting (CLCA) of emissions from urban supply chains (USC) and final consumers. To carry out this study, secondary data were collected from official documents of municipal governments of these two cities. According to the results, there are differences in stationary energy GHG emissions due to the big distinction concerning electricity emission factors used by each city. Air transportation GHG emissions are also very different. These two cities share some common figures regarding road transportation and per capita waste sector GHG emissions. In the conclusion section, we discuss opportunities for improvement of the cities’ GHG emission inventories as well as some implications for policy-making and future researches on carbon accounting, with focus on an integrated production-consumption system.

Challenges in developing an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions of Chinese cities: A case study of Beijing

A comprehensive GHG inventory provides an overview and the information of sources of emissions, and can serve as a sound scientific basis for mitigation actions. This study was the first initiative to develop a complete and transparent GHG inventory of Beijing, to document the current situation and to help governmental officials to clarify their priorities for reducing GHG emissions. The authors investigated and calculated the emission sources defined by the GPC, and assessed data accuracy. The contents of the detailed inventory were documented and are open for research verification and for methodological references for other cities. The results showed that three emission sources, i.e. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption, CO2 emissions from industrial production and CH4 emissions from landfills, contributed 97% of Beijing's GHGs. Considering the problem of missing data and low data quality, the authors suggested that instead of seeking to compile a complete inventory, Chinese cities should first report their GHG emissions from these sources, while improving the data quality for the long run. The authors anticipate that the findings reported in this paper will help to strengthen city-level GHG inventory research in China and throughout the world.

Benchmarking natural gas and coal-fired electricity generation in the United States

This study answers a critical question facing the energy sector in the United States: how does natural gas compare to coal as a climate change mitigation technique? Although natural gas burns cleaner than coal, methane leakage potentially undermines the climate benefits of fuel switching. This study investigates the impact of methane leakage using a novel plant-level lifecycle emissions inventory of greenhouse gas emissions associated with coal mining, transportation, and combustion at 337 existing coal power plants in the United States. Individual plant emissions rates ranged from 901 to more than 2200 kgCO2e/MWh (100-yr GWP); generation-weighted average was 1046 kgCO2e/MWh. Our study finds that the “breakeven” leakage rates for natural gas to have short and long term climate benefits over coal range from 4.4 to 20.9%, depending on the timeframe, plant efficiency, and upstream coal emissions. Emissions benefits can be maximized by replacing highest emitting coal plants with new natural gas plants. Finally, we find fugitive methane emissions can limit carbon reductions from natural gas carbon capture; above 2% leakage, methane leakage reduces CCS benefits by up to half for 20-yr GWP.

Sustainability and Environmental Management: Emissions Accounting for Ports

ABSTRACTSeaports are global hubs for the transportation of goods. They play an important role in today's global societies and are critical nodes in transportation networks. Sustainable energy use impacts people, the world's environment, and is relevant to the operation and maintenance of ports.In this article, an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the port of Chennai is made by accounting for the various port facilities, the housing areas, and the fishing harbour, all managed by the port of Chennai. GHG emissions are quantified by following the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Port Climate Initiative (WPCI). Our estimate of GHG emissions for the financial year 2014-15 indicates that 280,558 tonnes of CO2e/year were generated by the port and port related activities. The detailed estimation of energy consumption and emissions generated by the individual systems are useful for energy engineers when implementing energy conservation measures and renew...