Moving from Walkability? Evaluation Traditional and Merging Data Sources for Evaluating Changes in Campus-Generated Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Universities are increasingly committing to reduce campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions, whether voluntarily or in response to a legal mandate. As an initial step to keeping these commitments, universities need an accounting of baseline greenhouse gas emissions levels and means of monitoring changes in campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions over time. Commute-generated greenhouse gas emissions from travel to and from campus by students and employees are among the most difficult to quantify. This report examines some of the challenges associated with estimating campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions and evaluates ways to address those challenges. The purpose of this study is to identify changes in campus-generated travel behavior at California Polytechnic State University based on the results of three successive campus-wide travel surveys; to evaluate alternative data sources that have the potential to supplement or replace campus travel surveys as a source of data for campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions; and to evaluate alternate methods to estimating greenhouse gas emissions from campus-generated vehicle miles traveled, depending on the presence of campus-specific information about vehicle fleet characteristics. The results of successive travel surveys suggest that the campus population has become more car-dependent over time. Comparison of survey results with data collected from automating traffic counting devices and mobile device data suggest that surveys that are limited to members of the campus community are likely to undercount campus-generated vehicle miles traveled by excluding infrequent, but potentially long, trips by campus visitors. Finally, we find that using campus-specific information on the model years of vehicles used to commute to campus yields higher estimates of campus-generated greenhouse gas emissions, relative to average regional emissions rates

Reallocating Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emission in EU15 Countries

This research work uses an alternative approach for modeling agricultural greenhouse gas emissions as an undesirable output, based on the zero sum gains DEA model (ZSG-DEA BCC model). This approach reallocates agricultural greenhouse gas emissions among EU15 countries. The reallocation analysis of greenhouse gas emissions permits countries that increase their emissions negotiate the emissions reduction with the others. This negotiation process might create a quota trade system for agricultural activity.DEA, Zero Sum Gains, Movement along the Efficient Frontier, Smoothed Frontier, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, Q56,

Impacts of Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Livestock Trade Flows

The policies that regulate greenhouse gas emissions would provide a significant burden to emission industries as well as final consumers, which can lead to a strong influence on international trade flows of commodities. This study examines the impact of regulating greenhouse gas emissions on livestock trade flows using a commodity specific gravity model approach. This study finds that regulating greenhouse gas emissions has a negative effect on livestock trade flows from countries restricting greenhouse gas emissions to unrestricting countries, from restricting to restricting countries, and from unrestricting to restricting countries.gravity model, livestock, regulating greenhouse gas emission, trade, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Resurrecting a Doctrine on its Deathbed: Revisiting Federal Common Law Greenhouse Gas Litigation After Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA

This Note considers how the Supreme Court’s decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA (UARG) may have created a new opening for federal common law nuisance litigation as a means to address climate change. The Court’s earlier decision in American Electric Power v. Connecticut (AEP) held that federal nuisance claims targeting greenhouse gas emissions were completely displaced by the Clean Air Act. However, the holding in AEP was premised on the assumption that the Clean Air Act uniformly addressed greenhouse gases throughout the statute. UARG upended this assumption, holding that there are sections of the Clean Air Act that do not encompass greenhouse gases. Therefore, there may be sources of greenhouse gas emissions that are not regulated by the statute. Based on the displacement analysis employed in AEP, this would mean that the federal common law of nuisance would not be displaced as to these sources. The Clean Air Act’s coverage of the greenhouse gas emissions from one important category of sources—existing stationary sources—is an open question. Until recently, the D.C. Circuit appeared poised to answer at least part of this question in West Virginia v. EPA , the case challenging the Obama administration’s signature carbon dioxide regulation—the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan was premised on Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, and the D.C. Circuit’s en banc decision would have resolved whether and to what extent Section 111(d) can be used to regulate certain existing sources’ greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Trump administration has proposed to rescind the regulation, and it appears increasingly unlikely that the D.C. Circuit will issue a decision on the merits of the litigation. Therefore, it remains unclear whether Section 111(d) addresses existing sources’ greenhouse gas emissions. As this Note shows, the only other section of the Clean Air Act that might encompass these sources’ greenhouse gas emissions is Section 115, but this is far from certain. This Note argues that a federal common law nuisance suit should be leveraged in the face of this uncertainty. The result would be salutary, win or lose. On the one hand, the suit could result in a holding that either Section 111(d) or Section 115 encompasses greenhouse gases, which would mean that the federal common law would indeed be displaced. This holding could then be used to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate existing sources’ greenhouse gas emissions under those sections. On the other hand, if the court finds that the Clean Air Act does not address existing sources’ greenhouse gas emissions, then these sources would be subject to substantial litigation risk. This exposure, in turn, could induce these sources to ask Congress to draft legislation that addresses their greenhouse gas emissions, thereby displacing any future common law claims. In the end, the desired outcome of the federal nuisance suit is the same: to catalyze comprehensive regulatory or legislative coverage of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, which is imperative to avert the most devastating effects of climate change

Climate Change Mitigation Potential in South Africa: A National to Sectoral Analysis

This paper discusses some of the impacts attributed to climate change that are likely to hit Southern Africa as a result of increasing global greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. As South Africa is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and currently ranked first in Africa, the paper assesses the country.s greenhouse gas emissions profile and possible future projections of emissions and their implications. It then discusses the strategic interventions proposed by South Africa in reducing the gap in emissions between what is required by science and what would happen if development continues at current rates without abating greenhouse gas emissions. Given that the majority of emissions are a result of energy consumption, the paper provides practical solutions to themes such as energy efficiency mostly for the industrial and commercial sectors. With international treaties on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. Kyoto protocol), there are business opportunities in the area of climate change mitigation. Thus, the paper finally discusses the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scenario in South Africa and how the country can benefit from other emission trading schemes being practiced in different regions of the world.

A Question of Parliamentary power: Criminal Law and the Control of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The federal government proposes to impose limits on greenhouse gas emissions by large industrial emitters. But under what authority could Parliament implement the regulations?economic growth and innovation, greenhouse gas emissions, Parliament of Canada, cap-and-trade system

Comparing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional farming systems in the Netherlands

Results are presented of a model study comparing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional farming systems in the Netherlands. Calculations have been performed for model farms, designed on the basis of current organic and conventional farming practices. Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per hectare on organic farms are lower than on conventional farms, particularly in dairy farming. Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per Mg of milk in organic dairy farming is about 80 and 90%, respectively of that in conventional dairy farming. Energy use and greenhouse gas emission per Mg product in organic crop production is 5-40 and 7-17%, respectively higher than in conventional systems. The wide ranges found in crop production reflect large differences among individual crops

Greenhouse gas emissions, inventories and validation

The emission of greenhouse gases has become a very high priority research and environmental policy issue due to their effects on global climate. The knowledge of changes in global atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution is well documented, and the global budgets are reasonably well known. However, even at this scale there are important uncertainties in the budgets, for example, in the case of methane while the main sources and sinks have been identified, temporal changes in the global average concentrations since the early 1990s are not understood. In the absence of a quantitative explanation with appropriate experimental support, it is clear that current knowledge of the causes of changes in the global methane budget is inadequate to predict the effect of changes in specific emission sectors. In developing control strategies to reduce emissions it is necessary to validate national emissions and their spatial disaggregation. The methodology to underpin such a process is at an early stage of development and is not fully implemented in any country, even though target emission reductions have already been announced. Furthermore, the scale of the emission reductions is large (eg of 60% reductions by 2050 relative to 1990 baseline). There is therefore an urgent requirement for measurement based verification processes to support such challenging emission reductions. In this paper we provide the background in greenhouse gas emissions globally and in the UK followed by examples of approaches to validate emissions at the UK scale and within the regions

Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation and Emission Intensities in Agriculture

Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions are closely linked. This paper reviews agricultural options to reduce energy intensities and their impacts, discusses important accounting issues related to system boundaries, land scarcity, and measurement units, and compares agricultural energy intensities and improvement potentials on an international level. Agricultural development in the past decades, while increasing yields, led to lower average energy efficiencies between the sixties and mid eighties. In the last two decades, energy intensities in developed countries increased, however, with little impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Efficiency differences across countries suggest a maximum improvement potential of 500 million tons of CO2 annually.Energy intensity, Agriculture, Greenhouse gas emissions, Mitigation potential, Fertilizer efficiency

Carbon footprint of food maintenance in Finnish households

This paper identifies the primary consumer actions having an effect on carbon footprint, their relative importance and their sensitivity to consumer choice concerning food maintenance. Food maintenance (transportation, preservation and preparation of food) of a Finnish household produces annually 170 kilograms of CO2-equivalent per individual as an average which corresponds approximately 2 % of the greenhouse gas emissions of private consumption. Of transportation, preservation and preparation, we find the preservation as the most important source of greenhouse gas emissions