Texas is the largest state by area in the US after Alaska,and one of the top states in the production and consumption of electricity with many coal-fired plants.Coal-fired power plants emit greater than 70% of polluta...Texas is the largest state by area in the US after Alaska,and one of the top states in the production and consumption of electricity with many coal-fired plants.Coal-fired power plants emit greater than 70% of pollutants in the energy sector.When coal is burned to produce electricity,nitrogen oxides(NO_(x))are released into the air,one of the main pollutants that threaten human health and lead to a large number of premature deaths.The key to effective air quality management is the strict compliance of all plants with emission standards.However,not all Texas coal plants have the environmental equipment to lower pollutant emissions.Nitrogen dioxide(NO2)observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument(TROPOMI)were used to evaluate the emissions for Texas power plants.Data from both the Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database(EGRID)and the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research(EDGAR)were used to examine emissions.It was found that NOx emissions for Texas power plants range from 1.53 kt/year to 10.99 kt/year,with the Martin Lake,Limestone and Fayette Power Project stations being the top emitters.WA Parish and Martin Lake stations have the strongest NOx fluxes,with both exhibiting significant seasonal variability.Comparisons of bottom-up inventories for EDGAR and EGRID show a high correlation(r=0.956)and a low root mean square error(0.766).A more reasonable control policy would lead to much reduced NOx emissions.展开更多
An integral part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is carbon footprint accounting.EPA categorizes facility carbon footprints in three scopes.Scope-2 emissions include electricity,heat or steam purchased...An integral part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is carbon footprint accounting.EPA categorizes facility carbon footprints in three scopes.Scope-2 emissions include electricity,heat or steam purchased from a utility provider.This paper evaluates the existing calculation methods for scope-2 CO2 emissions for purchased electricity.The electricity grid in US is complex and is divided spatially into states,eGRID regions,balancing authorities(BAs),and utilities.Up to hourly temporal granularity can be obtained from available datasets.A matrix is developed that categorizes different datasets based on the complexity to calculate the carbon emission factors.Spatial and temporal variations are evaluated.There are significant spatial overlap between regions in different categories and emission factors within a region show sub-regional variation.An area analysis is done using zip-code polygons to determine whether a state or balancing authority is smaller for all the overlapping cases.Temporal variations in emission factors are significant depending on the balancing authority considered.A single method to calculate scope-2 emission factors may not be accurate and efficient in every case and a nuanced assessment of emission factors is warranted.An implementation pathway for a“smart carbon calculator”—one that gives accurate carbon footprint that is the spatially and temporally most granular is suggested.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the Basic Research Top Talent Plan of Lanzhou Jiaotong University(2022JC05).
文摘Texas is the largest state by area in the US after Alaska,and one of the top states in the production and consumption of electricity with many coal-fired plants.Coal-fired power plants emit greater than 70% of pollutants in the energy sector.When coal is burned to produce electricity,nitrogen oxides(NO_(x))are released into the air,one of the main pollutants that threaten human health and lead to a large number of premature deaths.The key to effective air quality management is the strict compliance of all plants with emission standards.However,not all Texas coal plants have the environmental equipment to lower pollutant emissions.Nitrogen dioxide(NO2)observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument(TROPOMI)were used to evaluate the emissions for Texas power plants.Data from both the Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database(EGRID)and the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research(EDGAR)were used to examine emissions.It was found that NOx emissions for Texas power plants range from 1.53 kt/year to 10.99 kt/year,with the Martin Lake,Limestone and Fayette Power Project stations being the top emitters.WA Parish and Martin Lake stations have the strongest NOx fluxes,with both exhibiting significant seasonal variability.Comparisons of bottom-up inventories for EDGAR and EGRID show a high correlation(r=0.956)and a low root mean square error(0.766).A more reasonable control policy would lead to much reduced NOx emissions.
文摘An integral part of the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is carbon footprint accounting.EPA categorizes facility carbon footprints in three scopes.Scope-2 emissions include electricity,heat or steam purchased from a utility provider.This paper evaluates the existing calculation methods for scope-2 CO2 emissions for purchased electricity.The electricity grid in US is complex and is divided spatially into states,eGRID regions,balancing authorities(BAs),and utilities.Up to hourly temporal granularity can be obtained from available datasets.A matrix is developed that categorizes different datasets based on the complexity to calculate the carbon emission factors.Spatial and temporal variations are evaluated.There are significant spatial overlap between regions in different categories and emission factors within a region show sub-regional variation.An area analysis is done using zip-code polygons to determine whether a state or balancing authority is smaller for all the overlapping cases.Temporal variations in emission factors are significant depending on the balancing authority considered.A single method to calculate scope-2 emission factors may not be accurate and efficient in every case and a nuanced assessment of emission factors is warranted.An implementation pathway for a“smart carbon calculator”—one that gives accurate carbon footprint that is the spatially and temporally most granular is suggested.
