Toward Accurate, Policy-Relevant Fossil Fuel CO2 Emission Landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (16) ◽  
pp. 9896-9907
Author(s):  
Kevin Robert Gurney ◽  
Yang Song ◽  
Jianming Liang ◽  
Geoffrey Roest
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Fossil Fuel

scholarly journals Solar Power in the Island Nation, Mauritius

2020 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 00007
Author(s):  
Dhirajsing Rughoo
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
A Priori ◽  
High Humidity ◽  
Solar Photovoltaic ◽  
Environment Pollution ◽  
Tropical Islands ◽  
High Cloud ◽  
Cloud Coverage

The challenges to integrating a greater share of renewable energy, more specifically solar energy into the power grid in tropical islands are that these islands have a complex microclimate, high humidity and high cloud coverage. Because of this, the power output from solar photovoltaic (SPV) plants is severely affected. In this manuscript, the results of a study carried out on the performance of a 15.2 MW solar photovoltaic (SPV) plant in the island nation Mauritius is presented. The net annual yield was 22 162 MWh and has avoided 22 162 metric t of CO2 emission into the atmosphere. An attempt is also made to develop a model to forecast the power that can be generated from the SPV plants at that location. The grid operator, the national Central Electricity Board (CEB) needs to know a priori, the energy mix for the subsequent few days so that the level of operation of fossil fuel fired thermal plants can be tuned accordingly to minimize the environment pollution of this pristine island.

scholarly journals Gini and Entropy-Based Spread Indexes for Primary Energy Consumption Efficiency and CO2 Emission

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 4938
Author(s):  
Hellinton H. Takada ◽  
Celma O. Ribeiro ◽  
Oswaldo L. V. Costa ◽  
Julio M. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Primary Energy Consumption ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Global Spread

Primary energy consumption is one of the key drivers of global CO2 emissions that, in turn, heavily depends on the efficiency of involved technologies. Either improvement in technology efficiency or the expansion of non-fossil fuel consumption requires large investments. The planning and financing of such investments by global policy makers or global energy firms require, in turn, reliable measures of associated global spread and their evolution in time, at least from the point of view of the principles for responsible investment (PRI). In this paper, our main contribution is the introduction of index measures for accessing global spread (that is, measures of inequality or inhomogeneity in the statistical distribution of a related quantity of interest) of technology efficiency and CO2 emission in primary energy consumption. These indexes are based on the Gini index, as used in economical sciences, and generalized entropy measures. Regarding primary energy sources, we consider petroleum, coal, natural gas, and non-fossil fuels. Between our findings, we attest some stable relations in the evolution of global spreads of technology efficiency and CO2 emission and a positive relation between changes in global spread of technology efficiency and use of non-fossil fuel.

scholarly journals Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> source and sink patterns over the Indian region

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suvarna Fadnavis ◽  
K. Ravi Kumar ◽  
Yogesh K. Tiwari ◽  
Luca Pozzoli
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spots ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽  
Global Model ◽  
Indian Region ◽  
Co2 Uptake ◽  
Increasing Trends ◽  
Fossil Fuel Emissions

Abstract. In this paper we examine CO2 emission hot spots and sink regions over India as identified from global model simulations during the period 2000–2009. CO2 emission hot spots overlap with locations of densely clustered thermal power plants, coal mines and other industrial and urban centres; CO2 sink regions coincide with the locations of dense forest. Fossil fuel CO2 emissions are compared with two bottom-up inventories: the Regional Emission inventories in ASia (REAS v1.11; 2000–2009) and the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR v4.2) (2000–2009). Estimated fossil fuel emissions over the hot spot region are  ∼  500–950 gC m−2 yr−1 as obtained from the global model simulation, EDGAR v4.2 and REAS v1.11 emission inventory. Simulated total fluxes show increasing trends, from 1.39 ± 1.01 % yr−1 (19.8 ± 1.9 TgC yr−1) to 6.7 ± 0.54 % yr−1 (97 ± 12 TgC yr−1) over the hot spot regions and decreasing trends of −0.95 ± 1.51 % yr−1 (−1 ± 2 TgC yr−1) to −5.7 ± 2.89 % yr−1 (−2.3 ± 2 TgC yr−1) over the sink regions. Model-simulated terrestrial ecosystem fluxes show decreasing trends (increasing CO2 uptake) over the sink regions. Decreasing trends in terrestrial ecosystem fluxes imply that forest cover is increasing, which is consistent with India State of Forest Report (2009). Fossil fuel emissions show statistically significant increasing trends in all the data sets considered in this study. Estimated trend in simulated total fluxes over the Indian region is  ∼  4.72 ± 2.25 % yr−1 (25.6 TgC yr−1) which is slightly higher than global growth rate  ∼  3.1 % yr−1 during 2000–2010.

scholarly journals CO, NO<sub>x</sub> and <sup>13</sup>CO<sub>2</sub> as tracers for fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub>: results from a pilot study in Paris during winter 2010

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 7343-7358 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lopez ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
M. Delmotte ◽  
A. Colomb ◽  
V. Gros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Liquid Fuel ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Gas Combustion ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Diurnal Cycles ◽  
Fossil Fuel Consumption ◽  
Plant Respiration ◽  
Air Mass Origin

Abstract. Measurements of the mole fraction of the CO2 and its isotopes were performed in Paris during the MEGAPOLI winter campaign (January–February 2010). Radiocarbon (14CO2) measurements were used to identify the relative contributions of 77% CO2 from fossil fuel consumption (CO2ff from liquid and gas combustion) and 23% from biospheric CO2 (CO2 from the use of biofuels and from human and plant respiration: CO2bio). These percentages correspond to average mole fractions of 26.4 ppm and 8.2 ppm for CO2ff and CO2bio, respectively. The 13CO2 analysis indicated that gas and liquid fuel contributed 70% and 30%, respectively, of the CO2 emission from fossil fuel use. Continuous measurements of CO and NOx and the ratios CO/CO2ff and NOx/CO2ff derived from radiocarbon measurements during four days make it possible to estimate the fossil fuel CO2 contribution over the entire campaign. The ratios CO/CO2ff and NOx/CO2ff are functions of air mass origin and exhibited daily ranges of 7.9 to 14.5 ppb ppm−1 and 1.1 to 4.3 ppb ppm−1, respectively. These ratios are consistent with different emission inventories given the uncertainties of the different approaches. By using both tracers to derive the fossil fuel CO2, we observed similar diurnal cycles with two maxima during rush hour traffic.

Water Impacts of CO2 Emission Performance Standards for Fossil Fuel-fired Power Plants

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (20) ◽  
pp. 11769-11776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuchi Talati ◽  
Haibo Zhai ◽  
M. Granger Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Performance Standards ◽  
Emission Performance

scholarly journals Los Angeles megacity: a high-resolution land–atmosphere modelling system for urban CO<sub>2</sub> emissions

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (14) ◽  
pp. 9019-9045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sha Feng ◽  
Thomas Lauvaux ◽  
Sally Newman ◽  
Preeti Rao ◽  
Ravan Ahmadov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Co2 Concentrations ◽  
Emissions Modelling ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 Concentrations ◽  
Modelling System

Abstract. Megacities are major sources of anthropogenic fossil fuel CO2 (FFCO2) emissions. The spatial extents of these large urban systems cover areas of 10 000 km2 or more with complex topography and changing landscapes. We present a high-resolution land–atmosphere modelling system for urban CO2 emissions over the Los Angeles (LA) megacity area. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Chem model was coupled to a very high-resolution FFCO2 emission product, Hestia-LA, to simulate atmospheric CO2 concentrations across the LA megacity at spatial resolutions as fine as  ∼  1 km. We evaluated multiple WRF configurations, selecting one that minimized errors in wind speed, wind direction, and boundary layer height as evaluated by its performance against meteorological data collected during the CalNex-LA campaign (May–June 2010). Our results show no significant difference between moderate-resolution (4 km) and high-resolution (1.3 km) simulations when evaluated against surface meteorological data, but the high-resolution configurations better resolved planetary boundary layer heights and vertical gradients in the horizontal mean winds. We coupled our WRF configuration with the Vulcan 2.2 (10 km resolution) and Hestia-LA (1.3 km resolution) fossil fuel CO2 emission products to evaluate the impact of the spatial resolution of the CO2 emission products and the meteorological transport model on the representation of spatiotemporal variability in simulated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. We find that high spatial resolution in the fossil fuel CO2 emissions is more important than in the atmospheric model to capture CO2 concentration variability across the LA megacity. Finally, we present a novel approach that employs simultaneous correlations of the simulated atmospheric CO2 fields to qualitatively evaluate the greenhouse gas measurement network over the LA megacity. Spatial correlations in the atmospheric CO2 fields reflect the coverage of individual measurement sites when a statistically significant number of sites observe emissions from a specific source or location. We conclude that elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the LA megacity are composed of multiple fine-scale plumes rather than a single homogenous urban dome. Furthermore, we conclude that FFCO2 emissions monitoring in the LA megacity requires FFCO2 emissions modelling with  ∼  1 km resolution because coarser-resolution emissions modelling tends to overestimate the observational constraints on the emissions estimates.

scholarly journals Estimation of fossil-fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions using satellite measurements of "proxy" species

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 13509-13540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor B. Konovalov ◽  
Evgeny V. Berezin ◽  
Philippe Ciais ◽  
Grégoire Broquet ◽  
Ruslan V. Zhuravlev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Inventory Data ◽  
Satellite Measurements ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Emission Estimate

Abstract. Fossil-fuel (FF) burning releases carbon dioxide (CO2) together with many other chemical species, some of which, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO), are routinely monitored from space. This study examines the feasibility of estimation of FF CO2 emissions from large industrial regions by using NO2 and CO column retrievals from satellite measurements in combination with simulations by a mesoscale chemistry transport model (CTM). To this end, an inverse modeling method is developed that allows estimating FF CO2 emissions from different sectors of the economy, as well as the total CO2 emissions, in a given region. The key steps of the method are (1) inferring "top-down" estimates of the regional budget of anthropogenic NOx and CO emissions from satellite measurements of proxy species (NO2 and CO in the case considered) without using formal a priori constraints on these budgets, (2) the application of emission factors (the NOx-to-CO2 and CO-to-CO2 emission ratios in each sector) that relate FF CO2 emissions to the proxy species emissions and are evaluated by using data of "bottom-up" emission inventories, and (3) cross-validation and optimal combination of the estimates of CO2 emission budgets derived from measurements of the different proxy species. Uncertainties in the top-down estimates of the NOx and CO emissions are evaluated and systematic differences between the measured and simulated data are taken into account by using original robust techniques validated with synthetic data. To examine the potential of the method, it was applied to the budget of emissions for a western European region including 12 countries by using NO2 and CO column amounts retrieved from, respectively, the OMI and IASI satellite measurements and simulated by the CHIMERE mesoscale CTM, along with the emission conversion factors based on the EDGAR v4.2 emission inventory. The analysis was focused on evaluation of the uncertainty levels for the top-down NOx and CO emission estimates and "hybrid" estimates (that is, those based on both atmospheric measurements of a given proxy species and respective bottom-up emission inventory data) of FF CO2 emissions, as well as on examining consistency between the FF NO2 emission estimates derived from measurements of the different proxy species. It is found that NO2 measurements can provide much stronger constraints to the total annual FF CO2 emissions in the study region than CO measurements, the accuracy of the NO2-measurement-based CO2 emission estimate being mostly limited by the uncertainty in the top-down NOx emission estimate. Nonetheless, CO measurements are also found to be useful as they provide additional constraints to CO2 emissions and enable evaluation of the hybrid FF CO2 emission estimates obtained from NO2 measurements. Our most reliable estimate for the total annual FF CO2 emissions in the study region in 2008 (2.71 ± 0.30 Pg CO2) is found to be about 11 and 5 % lower than the respective estimates based on the EDGAR v.4.2 (3.03 Pg CO2) and CDIAC (2.86 Pg CO2) emission inventories, with the difference between our estimate and the CDIAC inventory data not being statistically significant. In general, the results of this study indicate that the proposed method has the potential to become a useful tool for identification of possible biases and/or inconsistencies in the bottom-up emission inventory data regarding CO2, NOx, and CO emissions from fossil-fuel burning in different regions of the world.

Opportunities for CO2 Capture and Storage in Iranian Electricity Generation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshid Zabihian ◽  
Alan S. Fung
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Co2 Capture ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Pure Oxygen ◽  
Co2 Capture And Storage ◽  
And Storage

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) systems are technologies that can be used to reduce CO2 emissions by different industries where combustion is part of the process. A major problem of CCS system utilization in electricity generation industry is their high efficiency penalty in power plants. For different types of power plants fueled by oil, natural gas and coal, there are three main techniques that can be applied: • CO2 capture after combustion (post-combustion); • CO2 capture after concentration of flue gas by using pure oxygen in boilers and furnaces (oxy-fuel power plant); • CO2 capture before combustion (pre-combustion). More than 90% of electricity generation in Iran is based on fossil fuel power plants. Worldwide, electricity generation is responsible for 54% of GHG emissions. Thus, it is vital to reduce CO2 emission in fossil fuel-fired power plants. In this paper, it is shown that, by applying CO2 capture systems in power generation industry, very low CO2 emission intensity is possible but the energy and economic penalties are substantial. The analyses showed that for different technologies efficiency penalty could be as high as 25% and cost of electricity might increase by more than 65%. Two scenarios for Iranian electricity generation sector were investigated in this paper: installing CCS in the existing power plants with current technologies and replacing existing power plants by natural gas combined cycle plants equipped with CO2 capture system. The results revealed that the GHG intensity can be reduced from 610 to 79 gCO2eq/kWh in the first scenario and to 54 gCO2eq/kWh in the second scenario.

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