A Win-Win Solution to Abate Aviation CO2 Emissions

We outline a benchmark carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity system with tradable permits for the aviation industry that will incent in-sector emission abatement opportunities that cost less than the social cost of carbon (SCC). The system sets benchmark emission intensities (CO2 emissions per revenue ton kilometer) by route group and facilitates flexibility in meeting the benchmarks by allowing airlines to sell permits if they operate more efficiently than the benchmarks, and buy permits if they do not meet the benchmarks. The CO2 benchmark system could operate concurrently with existing measures to mitigate aviation CO2 emissions, will reduce the number of offsets needed to achieve carbon-neutral growth, and provide another (optional) lever to address fairness issues in climate regulations. Moreover, by providing a blueprint for other industries to price marginal emissions at the SCC, a CO2 benchmark system could preserve the ‘carbon budget’ for use by high-cost abatement industries such as the aviation industry.The author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Litterman Family Trus

Transbasin water transfers

Presented at the 2001 USCID water management conference, Transbasin water transfers on June 27-30, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.As the headwaters for seven major rivers, water resources in Colorado have been diverted for use for over 150 years. Transbasin diversions have been developed to move water from one river basin to another, including transmountain diversions, which move water over the continental divide. Transmountain diversions have historically been developed to provide water for irrigated agriculture and municipal purposes. This paper briefly discusses the development of each of Colorado's 30 transmountain diversions between the Colorado, South Platte, Arkansas and Rio Grande river basins, and provides a summary of diversions for recent years

The Future of Coal in China

As the world’s largest consumer of total primary energy and energy from coal, and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), China is now taking an active role in controlling CO2 emissions. Given current coal use in China, and the urgent need to cut emissions, ‘clean coal’ technologies are regarded as a promising solution for China to meet its carbon reduction targets while still obtaining a considerable share of energy from coal. Using an economy-wide model, this paper evaluates the impact of two existing advanced coal technologies—coal upgrading and ultra-supercritical (USC) coal power generation—on economic, energy and emissions outcomes when a carbon price is used to meet China’s CO2 intensity target out to 2035. Additional deployment of USC coal power generation lowers the carbon price required to meet the CO2 intensity target by more than 40% in the near term and by 25% in the longer term. It also increases total coal power generation and coal use. Increasing the share of coal that is upgraded leads to only a small decrease in the carbon price. As China’s CO2 intensity is set exogenously, additional deployment of the two technologies has a small impact on total CO2 emissions.The authors thank John Reilly for helpful comments and suggestions, and gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this work provided by the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change through a consortium of industrial sponsors and Federal grants. For a complete list of sponsors see http://globalchange.mit.edu/sponsors

First record of Pseudohaida rothi Hatch (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Omaliinae) from Canada

Pseudohaida rothi Hatch is reported for the first time from Canada from an old-growth, temperate rain forest on Vancouver Island, B.C. Records of other rare species of the subfamily Omaliinae are given together with a brief discussion of the importance of the remaining intact old-growth forests in preserving the biodiversity contained in the forest regions of Canada

Joining the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic through the Head Start Program in Lowell, MA

What is Head Start? Head Start, a federally funded program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, promotes school readiness and family well-being in children from birth to age five who meet specific criteria. Lowell Head Start Partnership The Lowell Head Start program is engaged in efforts to combat the opioid epidemic after an incident involving an overdose by a parent in the center. To support the Lowell Head Start program, our team forged collaborations with facilities close to Head Start in Lowell by creating informational pamphlets that detail services offered to people with substance use disorders in Lowell. Opioid trends in Lowell Lowell is a very diverse city, with 40% of the population being non-white and 25% being foreign born. Lowell has a highest poverty rate at 19.1%, in the region, a low median household income at $49,164, and a high rate of unemployment according to the 2016 greater Lowell community health needs assessment (CHNA). Opioid overdose death rate in Lowell is 43 fatalities per 100,000 – a rate greater than double the average fatality rate in the state of Massachusetts. Quick overview of project To capitalize on the statewide and local efforts to bring opioid addition out in the open, the presenters created an informational pamphlet as a resource and educational tool for families that seek or are referred for services. Description of many relevant provisional services are expanded upon in the capstone project submission – including detox, hotline and support services, medication management, behavioral health, counseling and relapse tools training. Additionally, the presenters actively forged connections with local community organizations serving those struggling with opioid use disorder. Please see capstone document for additional information regarding specific resources. Conclusions With the significant rise in fatal overdoses in the city of Lowell, many departments and programs have been developed to combat the opioid epidemic. This project aims to provide vital information to the Head Start Program and the families they serve, and to provide established resources available in Lowell, such as medication disposals, Narcan and signs of overdose training, needle drop-off services, available hotlines, and city-wide programs, including Lowell Community Opioid Outreach Programs, MA Opioid Abuse and Prevention Collaborative of Greater Lowell, and Partnerships for Success Program.https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/capstones/1011/thumbnail.jp

The Impact of Advanced Biofuels on Aviation Emissions and Operations in the U.S.

We analyze the economic and emissions impacts on U.S. commercial aviation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s renewable jet fuel goal when met using advanced fermentation (AF) fuel from perennial grasses. These fuels have recently been certified for use in aircraft and could potentially provide greater environmental benefits than aviation biofuels approved previously. Due to uncertainties in the commercialization of AF technologies, we consider a range of assumptions concerning capital costs, energy conversion efficiencies and product slates. In 2030, estimates of the implicit subsidy required to induce consumption of AF jet fuel range from $0.45 to$20.85 per gallon. These correspond to a reference jet fuel price of $3.23 per gallon and AF jet fuel costs ranging from 4.01 to$24.41 per gallon. In all cases, as renewable jet fuel represents around 1.4% of total fuel consumed by commercial aviation, the goal has a small impact on aviation operations and emissions relative to a case without the renewable jet fuel target, and emissions continue to grow relative to those in 2005. Costs per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent abated by using biofuels range from $42 to$652.This work is funded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Defense Logistics Agency Energy (DLA Energy) through Project 47 of the Partnership for Air Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER). The Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and a consortium of government and industrial sponsors (for the complete list see http://globalchange.mit.edu/sponsors/all)

The Impact of Water Scarcity on Food, Bioenergy and Deforestation

We evaluate the impact of explicitly representing irrigated land and water scarcity in an economy-wide model on food prices, bioenergy production and deforestation both with and without a global carbon policy. The analysis develops supply functions of irrigable land from a water resource model resolved at 282 river basins and applies them within a global economy-wide model of energy and food production, land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions. The irrigable land supply curves are built on basin-level estimates of water availability, and the costs of improving irrigation efficiency and increasing water storage, and include other water requirements within each basin. The analysis reveals two key findings. First, explicitly representing irrigated land at has a small impact on food, bioenergy and deforestation outcomes. This is because this modification allows more flexibility in the expansion of crop land (i.e. irrigated and rainfed land can expand in different proportions) relative to when a single type of crop land is represented, which counters the effect of rising marginal costs for the expansion of irrigated land. Second, due to endogenous irrigation and storage responses, changes in water availability have small impacts on food prices, bioenergy production, land-use change and the overall economy, even with large scale (~150 exajoules) bioenergy production.Primary funding for this research was through a sponsored research agreement with BP. The authors also acknowledge support in the basic development of the Economic Projection and Policy Analysis model from the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is funded by a consortium of industrial sponsors and Federal grants including core funding in support of basic research under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA‑XA‑83600001) and U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science (DE‑FG02‑94ER61937). For a complete list of sponsors see for complete list see http://globalchange.mit.edu/sponsors/current.html)

Emissions From Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations During Wet and Dry Periods in the Southeastern United States

Air quality modeling is a recent development in atmospheric science dedicated to simulating the characteristics of surface emissions within the context of a variety of meteorological conditions. In western Kentucky, there are several concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that emit a variety of gases, including sulfur dioxide (SO2). The hypothesis was that the concentration and spread of SO2 emissions from these sources would differ between wet and dry periods over the CAFO locations. In this thesis, point emissions from locations representing CAFOs in western Kentucky and the transit of SO2throughout the southeastern U.S. were simulated in multiple sensitivity experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRFChem). Simulations were performed for the convective precipitation events that occurred over western Kentucky between July 7 and July 13, 2012. The spatial coverage of SO2 emissions originating from the locations was reduced during precipitation events and expanded during dry periods. The average concentration of SO2 over the study area was also higher during the breaks between precipitation events than during times when precipitation was occurring. The highest concentrations of SO2 exceeding 1,000 pptv remained within close range of the emission locations for the majority of the simulations, except for when local surface winds were blowing at higher speeds. Most emissions from the locations remained limited to the surface and 850 mb levels