EPA Research Updates

From EPA's Science Matters newsletter.

EPA Research Updates
Food waste is the single largest component of our daily trash, adding up to 133 billion pounds of food at the retail and consumer levels in the United States that go uneaten. EPA is addressing this issue through the interactive Excess Food Opportunities Map, which identifies and displays information about potential generators and recipients of excess food. The map inspired Brett Reinford, a second-generation farmer in Pennsylvania, to build a digester for his family farm that turns waste into energy.

Environmental Health Assessments (EHAs) are used to better understand the range of possible effects of environmental factors on a community’s health and wellbeing. These assessments are even more effective when researchers involve the community through citizen science. Using decades of experience conducting citizen science-based EHAs, EPA scientists have recently published a paper on advice and frequently asked questions to help other communities conduct these assessments.

What constitutes an oil spill, what effects can spills have, and how do responders clean them up? EPA researcher Robyn Conmy and on-scene coordinators Jeff Kimble and Jon Gulch joined Institute on Science for Global Policy's The Forum podcast to answer these questions and more.

EPA has awarded GreenTechnologies, LLC, with the Administrator’s Award for Outstanding Accomplishments by a Small Business. With the support of EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, GreenTechnologies successfully developed and commercialized a sustainable and innovative treatment and nutrient recovery process for wastewater. Their processes recover nutrients such as phosphorus, carbon and nitrogen in wastewater and convert the excess nutrients into sustainable slow-release fertilizers.

EPA is announcing a new Science to Achieve Results funding opportunity titled Chemical Mechanisms to Address New Challenges in Air Quality Modeling. Applications will be accepted through June 24, 2019. The funded research activities under this announcement are intended to improve the chemical mechanism component of air quality models relevant for ozone, particulate matter, and air toxics and ultimately advance the science underpinning air quality management strategies.

How much does each fuel type in the mobile transportation sector contribute to emissions?

Question Of The Week!

How much does each fuel type in the mobile transportation sector contribute to emissions?

For information on transportation related emissions by fuel, see the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Transportation-related CO₂ emissions by fuel, 1990-2017 graph (figure 5). This graph provides CO₂ emissions by year for motor gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and all other fuels. The emissions from each of these fuel types as of 2017 is below:

• Motor Gasoline: 1,099 million metric tons of CO₂
• Diesel: 451 million metric tons of CO₂
• Jet Fuel: 247 million metric tons of CO₂
• All Other Fuels: 105 million metric tons of CO₂

In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Sinks includes data on fossil fuel combustion by sector, including transportation, and by fuel type on pages 3-6 and 3-9. Specifically, 42.3 million metric tons of CO₂ were emitted in 2017 from transportation sector use of natural gas.

You may also be interested in the EPA GHG Inventory Data Explorer, which provides information on how transportation contributes to overall emissions. As is mentioned on this page, the Data Explorer is an interactive tool that provides access to data from EPA's annual Inventory of U.S. GHG Emissions and Sinks. You can follow the instructions on the right and use the options to create customized graphs, examine trends over time, and download the data. Note that the data currently only goes through 2017. Using the filters, you can see that transportation emissions accounted for 29% of overall emissions in 2017. You may also be interested in EPA's Transportation Sector Emissions website for an overview of transportation emissions.

Action Alert from the Coalition For Clean Air

Help us get California SB 210 off the Senate floor! Contact your Senator today!

California SB 210, by Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino) is an important opportunity to prevent thousands of tons of harmful pollutants emitted into our air by heavy-duty diesel trucks.

SB 210 establishes emissions-control inspection and maintenance requirements for diesel trucks weighing more than 14,000 pounds, bringing the hundreds of thousands of these big-rigs on California’s roads closer in line with the smog-check requirements imposed on passenger vehicles since 1984.

Contact your California State Senator and urge them to vote yes on SB 210 today!

VOTE YES ON SB 210 (Leyva)

CLEAN TRUCKS, CLEAN AIR:
SMOG CHECK FOR HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLES

Problem:

• Heavy-duty trucks currently do not have a comprehensive inspection and maintenance requirement like the Smog Check program for cars
• Many heavy-duty vehicles operate with malfunctioning emissions controls, leading to emissions that are up to almost 10 times engine certification standards
• Heavy-duty diesel trucks operating in California account for 82% of diesel particulate matter (PM 2.5), a carcinogenic and toxic air contaminant, and 58% of the harmful oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from mobile sources
• Over 90 percent of Californians live in areas impacted by unhealthy air, and the transportation sector is by far the leading source.
  
  

Solution – SB 210 would:

• Establish a Heavy-Duty Vehicle Inspections and Maintenance Program to ensure timely repairs that are needed to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants
• Level the playing field for law- abiding truck owners and operators by requiring multiple state agencies to collaborate on an enforceable system
• Build in legislative oversight and accountability.

TAKE ACTION

Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET)

The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model is a tool that examines the life-cycle impacts of vehicle technologies, fuels, products, and energy systems. It provides a transparent platform through which energy and vehicle producers, researchers, and regulators can evaluate energy and environmental effects of vehicle technologies and energy and product systems.

GREET development and applications are an integral part of the mission of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In addition to the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), EERE’s other Sustainable Transportation Offices, the Vehicle Technologies Office and the Fuel Cell Technologies Office, use GREET.

Through BETO funded projects, the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) GREET Team develops a consistent model to advance understanding of sustainability of biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower, and produces high-quality, peer-reviewed analyses. Continually updated by researchers at ANL, GREET provides reliable calculations of life-cycle energy and emissions related to transportation, and accounts for a wide range of conventional and emerging energy systems and vehicle technologies.

More about GREET.

New NGVAmerica Collaterals

NGVAmerica is proud to share with you two recent collaterals it has developed to highlight the many benefits and trends in natural gas use in transportation.

The larger four-panel “Natural Gas is Now” document details NGV’s variety of criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emission, cost-effectiveness, public health, and sustainability benefits. The second document – released last month in conjunction with the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas – details the increasing use of RNG, or biomethane, within the natural gas transportation space, realizing unprecedented carbon reduction achievements over the last five years.

Please feel free to utilize both documents in your work with regional fleets, and know that NGVAmerica staff members are always able and interested in partnering with you in your initiatives.

RNG Driving Down Emissions

Natural Gas is Now