This thesis reports on the results of a mobile source emissions inventory for the University of Central Florida (UCF). For a large urban university, the majority of volatile organic compounds (VOC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from onroad sources: personal vehicles and campus shuttles carrying students, faculty, staff, and administrators to and from the university, as well as university business trips. In addition to emissions from daily commutes, non-road equipment such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, small maintenance vehicles, and other such equipment utilized on campus contributes to a significant portion to the total emissions from the university. UCF has recently become the second largest university in the nation (with over 56,000 students enrolled in the fall 2010 semester), and contributes significantly to VOC, NOx, and CO2 emissions in Central Florida area. In this project, students, faculty, staff, and administrators were first surveyed to determine their commuting distances and frequencies. Information was also gathered on vehicle type, and age distribution of the personal vehicles of students, faculty, administration, and staff as well as their bus, carpool, and alternate transportation usage. The EPA approved mobile source emissions model, Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES2010a), was used to calculate the emissions from on-road vehicles, and UCF fleet gasoline consumption records were used to calculate the emissions from non-road equipment and on campus UCF fleet vehicles. The results of the UCF mobile source emissions inventory are reported and compared to a recently completed emissions inventory for the entire three-county area in Central Florida.

According to the United States Department of Energy, fossil-fueled power plants account for 78% of stationary source CO2 emission in the United States and Canada. This has led electric utilities across the globe to research different alternatives for energy. Carbon sequestration has been identified as a bridge between fossil fuels and clean energy. This thesis will present research results regarding the transportation costs of CO2 and the suitability of geology in the Florida Pan-Handle for sequestration infrastructure. The thesis will utilize various evaluation tools including GIS, numerical models, and optimization models. Analysis performed for this thesis and review of published literature produced estimated carbon storage capacities for two areas in and near the Florida Pan-Handle. These areas were labeled Disposal Area 1 and Disposal Area 3. Disposal Area 1 was estimated to contain capacity for the storage of 5.58 gigatonnes of CO2. Disposal Area 3 was estimated to contain capacity for the storage of 2.02 gigatonnes of CO2. Transportation scenarios were analyzed over a 25 year period and the capacities above are sufficient to store the CO2 emissions from the Pan-Handle network of power plants for the study period. Four transportation routing scenarios were investigated using transportation costs from the Poiencot and Brown CO2 pipeline capital cost model. The scenarios (models) consisted of the Right-Of-Way, Solo-Funded, Piece-Wise, and Authority models. Each presents a different method for the overall funding of the Florida Pan-Handle CO2 network and produced different total levelized and mean unit costs. The cheapest network on a mean unit cost basis was the network for Disposal Area 1 in the Authority Model, producing a mean unit cost of $0.64 per tonne of CO2.

An emissions inventory of VOCs, NOx, and CO2 was conducted for three central Florida counties – Orange, Seminole, and Osceola (OSO) – for calendar year 2008. The inventory utilized three programs: MOBILE6, NONROAD2005, and EDMS (Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System) to model on‐road mobile, non‐road mobile, and airport emissions, respectively. Remaining point and area source data was estimated from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) 2008 emissions inventory. The previous OSO emissions inventory was done in 2002 and in the six years between inventories, there have been changes in population, commerce, and pollution control technology in central Florida which have affected the region’s emissions. It is important to model VOC and NOx emissions to determine from where the largest proportions are coming. VOCs and NOx are ozone precursors, and in the presence of heat and sunlight, they react to form ozone (O3). Ozone is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the FDEP. The current standard is 75 parts per billion (ppb) and Orange County’s average is 71 ppb. A new standard (which will likely be about 65 ppb) is being developed and is scheduled to be announced by July 2011. If OSO goes into non‐attainment, it will need to prepare a contingency plan for how to reduce emissions to submit to the FDEP for approval. The 2008 inventory determined that approximately 71,300 tons of VOCs and 59,000 tons of NOx were emitted that year. The majority of VOCs came from on‐road mobile sources (33%) and area sources (43%), while the majority of NOx came from on‐road mobile sources (64%) and non‐road mobile sources (17%). Other major sources of VOCs included gasoline powered non‐road mobile equipment (lawn and garden equipment), consumer solvents, cooking, and gasoline distribution. With the numbers iii that could be determined for CO2 emissions, on‐road mobile and point sources were responsible for 93%. Of the point source CO2 emissions, almost all of it (87%) came from one large coal‐fired power plant in Orange County.