Summary of emissions reduction technology programs

The NASA emissions reduction contract programs for EPA aircraft engine classes P2 (turboshaft engines), T1 (jet engines with thrust under 8000 lb), T4 (JT8D) engines), and T2 (jet engines with thrust over 8000 lb) are discussed. The most important aspects of these programs, the commonality of approaches used, the test results, and assessments regarding applications of the derived technology are summarized

Making an impact: The influence of policies to reduce emissions from aviation on the business travel patterns of individual corporations

The contribution of aviation to global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is projected to triple by 2050. As nations strive to meet CO2 reduction targets, policy interventions to manage the growth of emissions arising from air travel are likely. Here, we investigate the potential influence of aviation emissions reduction policies on the business travel patterns of individual corporations. Using travel data from six UK-based companies, we find that increased ticket prices can deliver substantial emissions cuts, particularly on premium class flights, and may provide strong financial incentives to seek modal and/or technological alternatives to flying. We also find that corporations from different business sectors vary in their responsiveness to arange of policy options. Finally, we examine questionnaire data to determine whether companies more broadly are going beyond compliance to mitigate their environmental impact by managing travel-related emissions voluntarily. Although many corporations are measuring and reporting emissions, only a limited number are willing to implement in-house reduction policies prior to regulation

The development of an innovative SME-focused toolset integrating carbon footprint calculation with lean manufacturing waste reduction techniques

This paper seeks to explore the role that SMEs can play in the drive to reduce UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with the recent European Union (EU) targets; a 30% reduction by 2020 and a 60% reduction by 2050 (DEFRA, 2007). In the UK 99% of all VAT registered companies are classified as SME’s and between them they account for 47% of the annual UK turnover (Directgov, 2007) As yet there are no legislative drivers for SMEs to reduce emissions however it is suggested that market forces may be a key driver for SMEs to begin reducing their GHG emissions

The Impact of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Crop Agriculture: A Spatial- and Production-Level Analysis

With the Waxman-Markey Bill passing the House and the administration’s push to reduce carbon emissions, the likelihood of the implementation of some form of a carbon emissions policy is increasing. This study estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the six largest row crops produced in Arkansas using 57 different production practices predominantly used and documented by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. From these GHG emission estimates, a baseline state “carbon footprint†was estimated and a hypothetical GHG emissions reduction of 5, 10, and 20 percent was levied on Arkansas agriculture using a cap-and-trade method. Using current production technology and traditional land use choices, results show that the trading of carbon-emitting permits to reduce statewide GHG emissions by 5 percent from the baseline would enhance GHG emissions efficiency measured as net crop farm income generated per unit of carbon emissions created. The 5 percent reduction in GHG emissions does cause marginal reductions in acres farmed and has marginal income ramifications. Beyond the 5 percent reduction target, gains in GHG emissions efficiency decline but remain positive in most counties through the 10 percent GHG reduction target. However, with a 10 percent GHG reduction, acreage and income reductions more than double compared to the 5 percent level. When GHG emissions are reduced by 20 percent from the baseline, the result is a major cropping pattern shift coupled with significant reductions in traditional row crop acreage, income, and GHG emissions efficiency.greenhouse gas emissions, carbon equivalents, sustainability, cap and trade, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Emissions control for ground power gas turbines

The similarities and differences of emissions reduction technology for aircraft and ground power gas turbines is described. The capability of this technology to reduce ground power emissions to meet existing and proposed emissions standards is presented and discussed. Those areas where the developing aircraft gas turbine technology may have direct application to ground power and those areas where the needed technology may be unique to the ground power mission are pointed out. Emissions reduction technology varying from simple combustor modifications to the use of advanced combustor concepts, such as catalysis, is described and discussed

Trade, Technique and Composition Effects: What is Behind the Fall in World-Wide SO2 Emissions 1990-2000?

Combining unique data bases on emissions with sectoral output and employment data, we study the sources of the fall in world-wide SO2 emissions and estimate the impact of trade on emissions. Contrarily to concerns raised by environmentalists, an emission-decomposition exercise shows that scale effects are dominated by technique effects working towards a reduction in emissions. A second exercise comparing the actual trade situation with an autarky benchmark estimates that trade, by allowing clean countries to become net importers of emissions, leads to a 10% increase in world emissions with respect to autarky in 1990, a figure that shrinks to 3.5% in 2000. Additionally, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that emissions related to transport are of the same magnitude. In a third exercise, we use linear programming to simulate extreme situations where world emissions are either maximal or minimal. It turns out that effective emissions correspond to a 90% reduction with respect to the worst case, but that another 80% reduction could be reached if emissions were minimal.Trade, Growth, Environment, Decomposition, Embodied Emissions in Trade, Transport

The role of consumption in material reduction opportunities: the impact of product lifetime in supplying the UK steel demand

Most of the products purchased in the UK are manufactured in other countries. As a result, worldwide greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions released to manufacture all products purchased in the UK are significantly higher than the UK territorial emissions. More than one half of global industrial emissions result from the use of steel, cement, paper, plastics, and aluminium. In this paper, the UK consumption of products that embody these five materials is estimated. For steel, which is the most widely used among these five materials, consumption and accumulation patterns are examined across four product categories. The impact of steel product lifetime extension is examined for the UK as one option for material demand reduction at the consumption stage of the supply chain. Different levels of steel product lifetimes are simulated for the UK in 2050 and their impacts are examined in terms of UK steel production, implicit steel imports, and global carbon dioxide emissions. Steel product lifetime extension promotes a reduction in the need for steel imports, by reducing the demand for new steel, which leads to lower carbon dioxide emissions required to supply the UK steel demand. The results demonstrate the criticality of a focus on the consumption stage, since any interventions made towards demand reduction of end-use goods leads to material reduction across the supply chain

Conspicuously absent: shipping emissions in climate change policy

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement relies on state actors to meet self-determined greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by self-determined means. In this Issues in Brief, Rebecca Cowing explores the unique emissions reduction challenges posed by the integrated, multi-state nature of maritime shipping. Ninety percent of all international trade by volume is transported by ship, accounting for nearly three percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. While the world’s highest-emitting countries set goals to cap or reduce emissions in the near future, marine shipping emissions continue to rise, and are expected to account for 6-14 percent of the global share by 2050. Cowing explores the question of who “owns” shipping emissions and presents the four options under consideration for the past two decades for allocating those emissions to individual countries. She concludes that without a robust methodology for assigning responsibility of shipping emissions and the proper incentives for states to include these emissions in their national totals, it will be nearly impossible to meaningfully reduce emissions from the sector. Rebecca Cowing is a 2016 graduate of Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies with a Master’s in International Relations and Environmental Policy. Her master’s thesis examined the complexities of international maritime shipping and the difficulties surrounding the mitigation of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. She currently works for the World Wildlife Fund in the Chinese Markets division

Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Germany: Stagnating in 2004

CO2 emissions from energy consumption in Germany fell by nearly 1% in 2004 from the previous year to a good 834 million tonnes. However, taking into account temperature effects and the reduction in stocks of light heating oil in 2004, which was considerable but is not reflected in the statistics, emissions remained practically unchanged. So the tendency to only a moderate reduction in emissions, that has been apparent for some years now, continued. Nevertheless, Germany is still one of the few industrial countries where CO2 emissions are now lower than at the start of the 1990s.2 Energyinduced CO2 emissions have been reduced by nearly 16% since the (internationally agreed) base year 1990. But as the reduction has been only slight since the mid-1990s the Federal Government's former national reduction target of lowering CO2 emissions by one quarter from the 1990 level by 2005 has now been abandoned. However, the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions so that within the period 2008 to 2012 they will be 21% lower as a whole than in the base year 1990 or 1995 has been made binding in international law.3 This results from the European 'burden sharing' to achieve the targets in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, which became binding in international law on 16 February 2005. Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany were reduced by 18.5% - actually around 19% after temperature adjustment - by 2003 from the base year, mainly due to a greater reduction in methane emissions compared with CO2. However, total greenhouse gas emissions have scarcely altered since the end-1990s, so unless the climate protection measures are continued with persistence there is a risk of failing to meet the target for 2008/2012 as well. So there is still considerable need for action. Emissions trading could make a crucial contribution, if appropriate limits for emissions are made binding.

The role of energy efficiency in reducing Scottish and UK CO2 emissions

In 2003, the UK government launched its long-anticipated White Paper on energy, the centrepieces of which were ambitious targets for the production of electricity from renewable technologies and the long-term aspiration of a 60% reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In the White Paper it was recognised that such a dramatic reduction in emissions will require significant changes in the way in which energy is produced and used. However there has been a general failure to recognise the fact that in order to meet emissions targets, the UK will have to significantly reduce its energy consumption; this is not helped by the general misconception in the UK that reductions in CO2 emissions will occur simply by increasing the production of electricity from renewable sources. Specifically, this paper highlights the current trends in renewables deployment and energy demand, with a specific focus on Scotland, where the authorities have set more ambitious renewables targets than the rest of the UK. As will be demonstrated in this paper, without energy demand reduction, the deployment of renewables alone will not be sufficient to curtail growth in UK CO2 emissions. This is illustrated using a case study of the Scottish housing sector; whilst this case study is necessarily local in scope, the results have global relevance. The paper will also address the magnitude of energy savings required to bring about a reduction in emissions and assesses the status of the policies and technologies that could help bring such reductions about