1. Policy-Relevant Assessment of Urban CO 2 Emissions.
- Author
-
Lauvaux T, Gurney KR, Miles NL, Davis KJ, Richardson SJ, Deng A, Nathan BJ, Oda T, Wang JA, Hutyra L, and Turnbull J
- Subjects
- Cities, Fossil Fuels, Carbon Dioxide analysis, Greenhouse Gases
- Abstract
Global fossil fuel carbon dioxide (FFCO
2 ) emissions will be dictated to a great degree by the trajectory of emissions from urban areas. Conventional methods to quantify urban FFCO2 emissions typically rely on self-reported economic/energy activity data transformed into emissions via standard emission factors. However, uncertainties in these traditional methods pose a roadblock to implementation of effective mitigation strategies, independently monitor long-term trends, and assess policy outcomes. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of the integration of a dense network of greenhouse gas sensors with a science-driven building and street-scale FFCO2 emissions estimation through the atmospheric CO2 inversion process. Whole-city FFCO2 emissions agree within 3% annually. Current self-reported inventory emissions for the city of Indianapolis are 35% lower than our optimal estimate, with significant differences across activity sectors. Differences remain, however, regarding the spatial distribution of sectoral FFCO2 emissions, underconstrained despite the inclusion of coemitted species information.- Published
- 2020
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