Understanding uncertainty in emissions inventories is critical for evaluating both air quality modeling results as well as impacts of emissions reduction strategies. This study focused on quantification of uncertainty due to non-road emissions specifically for the state of Georgia using the EPA NONROAD emissions model.
Nonroad engines contribute significantly to anthropogenic emissions inventories, with national estimates for various criteria pollutants ranging from 14% to 22%. The NONROAD model is designed to estimate emissions for any area in the United States based on population, activity, and emissions data. Information used in the model comes from a variety of sources collected over many years.
A sensitivity analysis of the model determined the input variables that have significant effects on emissions. Results showed that model estimated emissions are significantly sensitive to increases in equipment population, activity, load factor, and emission factor. Increases in ambient temperature, fuel RVP, fuel sulfur (except on SO2), and average useful life have smaller effects.
Emissions and activity data used in the NONROAD model were analyzed using statistical techniques to quantify uncertainty in the input parameters. Expert elicitation was also used to estimate uncertainties in emission factors, equipment population, activity, load factors, and geographic allocations of the emissions to the county level. A Monte Carlo approach using the derived parameter uncertainties and different input probability distributions was used to estimate the overall uncertainty of emissions from the NONROAD model for the state of Georgia. The uncertainties resulting from this analysis were significant, with 95% confidence intervals about the mean ranging from ?? to +61% for THC, -46 to +68% for NOx, -43% to 75% for CO, and ?? to +75% for PM.
The sensitivity of ozone and CO for different regions in Georgia to NONROAD emissions in Georgia was also estimated. The analysis suggests that uncertainties in ozone and CO simulations due to NONROAD emissions uncertainties, averaged over the regions of interest, are not large, with resulting maximum coefficients of variation of 1% and 10% respectively.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/4794 |
| Date | 23 August 2004 |
| Creators | Chi, Tien-Ru Rosa |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1736383 bytes, application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds