10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Improved Air Pollution Control Incentive Measures and Regulations in the South Coast Air Basin with an Holistic Energy and Emissions Model
SCOTT A. EPSTEIN, Marc Carreras-Sospedra, Xinqiu Zhang, Sang-Mi Lee, South Coast Air Quality Management District
Abstract Number: 183 Working Group: Air Quality in Megacities: from Sources to Control
Abstract The South Coast Air Basin of California is a region encompassing the greater Los Angeles area with approximately 16 million residents and 11 million vehicles. While air quality has markedly improved in past decades, significant challenges remain. Topographical constraints on pollutant transport, favorable meteorology, and a strong reliance on fossil fuel combustion in the transportation and industrial sectors has led to elevated ozone and PM2.5 concentrations that exceed federal ambient air quality standards. The 2016 Air Quality Management Plan—a regional blueprint for achieving air quality standards and healthful air—relies on a comprehensive framework of regulations and incentive programs to achieve air quality goals.
It is critical to allocate incentive funds and design regulations to implement projects providing the largest pollutant reduction per dollar spent, yet comparing the cost effectiveness of technology retrofits in the residential and commercial sector involving different fuel types has traditionally been difficult. In order to holistically identify the most cost-effective measures, we developed the Net Emission Analysis Tool (NEAT). NEAT is a comprehensive model designed to determine the resulting region-wide NOx and greenhouse gas emission reductions expected in the retrofit of residential and commercial technologies including appliances, battery storage, and distributed solar energy generation. NEAT models the change in natural gas and electric utility bill costs, appliance costs, point-of-use emissions, and electricity generation emissions resulting in a user-defined retrofit scenario. We will employ NEAT to help identify incentive measures and develop regulations that are highly cost-effective in terms of NOx and greenhouse gas emission reductions. With the results from NEAT, we will use the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) to determine the resulting impacts on ozone and PM2.5 concentrations. An holistic evaluation of air pollution control measures will maximize ozone and PM2.5 reductions throughout the South Coast Air Basin.