Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment: A Guidebook

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Assessment: A Guidebook
Author: Jayant A. Sathaye
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2013-11-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9401584664

This book describes guidelines prepared by the U.S. Country Studies Program for the evaluation of options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Country Studies Program developed these guidelines in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to provide developing countries and countries with economies in transition with reference materials for national mitigation assessments. Over 50 countries participating in the program have used the guidelines, which have been refined to reflect their comments. The guidelines delineate a step-wise methodology for evaluating greenhouse gas mitigation options for the energy and non-energy sectors and describe the applications of common analytical tools. The U.S. Country Studies Program uses these guidelines in conjunction with intensive training workshops and follow up technical assistance during the lifetime of each country's study. The program uses similar reference materials to assist counties with their greenhouse gas emission inventories and evaluations of climate change vulnerability and adaptive responses. These guidelines serve three purposes: to assist countries in making decisions about the scope and methodology for mitigation assessments; to provide countries with guidance and step-by-step instructions on each element of a mitigation assessment; and to help countries determine which analytical tools are best suited to their needs and describe procedures for applying these tools. This book describes the application of the most common and readily available methods and analytical tools. Countries are encouraged, where appropriate, to use their own methods.

Evaluating Options for U.S. Greenhouse-Gas Mitigation Using Multiple Criteria

Evaluating Options for U.S. Greenhouse-Gas Mitigation Using Multiple Criteria
Author: Nicholas Burger
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2014-05-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0833052934

Choosing policy responses to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHGs) is one of the great challenges that the United States faces. It will require balancing cost-effectiveness and other objectives that reflect the institutional and political realities of passing major federal legislation with widespread impacts on U.S. producers and consumers. This paper develops a framework for evaluating U.S. GHG-mitigation policy that balances several criteria.

Assessing Economic Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Assessing Economic Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 55
Release: 2009-05-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 030914115X

Many economic models exist to estimate the cost and effectiveness of different policies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some approaches incorporate rich technological detail, others emphasize the aggregate behavior of the economy and energy system, and some focus on impacts for specific sectors. Understandably, different approaches may be better positioned to provide particular types of information and may yield differing results, at times rendering decisions on future climate change emissions and research and development (R&D) policy difficult. Reliable estimates of the costs and benefits to the U.S. economy for various emissions reduction and adaptation strategies are critical to federal climate change R&D portfolio planning and investment decisions. At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Academies organized a workshop to consider these issues. The workshop, summarized in this volume, comprised three dimensions: policy, analysis, and economics. Discussions along these dimensions were meant to lead to constructive identification of gaps and opportunities. The workshop focused on (1) policymakers' informational needs; (2) models and other analytic approaches to meet these needs; (3) important economic considerations, including equity and discounting; and (4) opportunities to enhance analytical capabilities and better inform policy.

Modeling the Economics of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Modeling the Economics of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2011-02-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309162351

Models are fundamental for estimating the possible costs and effectiveness of different policies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is a wide array of models to perform such analysis, differing in the level of technological detail, treatment of technological progress, spatial and sector details, and representation of the interaction of the energy sector to the overall economy and environment. These differences impact model results, including cost estimates. More fundamentally, these models differ as to how they represent fundamental processes that have a large impact on policy analysis-such as how different models represent technological learning and cost reductions that come through increasing production volumes, or how different models represent baseline conditions. Reliable estimates of the costs and potential impacts on the United States economy of various emissions reduction and other mitigation strategies are critical to the development of the federal climate change research and development portfolio. At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Academies organized a workshop, summarized in this volume, to consider some of these types of modeling issues.

Greenhouse Gases: Sources, Sinks and Mitigation

Greenhouse Gases: Sources, Sinks and Mitigation
Author: Saurabh Sonwani
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2022-01-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9811644829

This book begins with a brief background on greenhouse gases sources and sinks and continues with a discussion in different sectors including forest fluxes to human health and modeling techniques to policy measures. The chapters explore in detail about the GHG emission budgets, mitigation strategies, technical advancement and input-output analysis. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) occur naturally in our atmosphere and are essential to the survival of most of the organisms on the planet earth. GHGs such as such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone etc. play a major role in balancing the radiative budget, by absorbing or emitting some of the infrared rays reflecting from the earth’s surface. But unfortunately, anthropogenic activities like use of fossil fuel, intensive agriculture and livestock farming, use of synthetic fertilizers, deforestation, and industrial processes etc. have drastically interfered in the natural air composition, by releasing excess greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This has led to the increase in the ability of the atmosphere to absorb more infrared energy. This book is a complete information set covering all aspects of GHGs, sources, sinks and control/mitigation strategies. This book is also written in simple language with helpful photographs, diagrams and flowcharts which will make the reader comfortable in understanding the concepts a more relatively easier way. The book is a valuable tool for students in Environmental Science, Ecology, Biological Science, Economics and Agriculture. It is unique to environmental consultants, researchers and other professionals involved in climate change studies, Non-governmental organizations (NGO’s).

Strategies and Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Strategies and Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Author: Jürgen-Fredrich Hake
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2019-01-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429797656

First published in 1999, this volume provide a useful contribution to global CO2 mitigation in an effort towards effective climate protection achieved through national and international efforts. This volume forms part of an international monograph publishing series covering new research into the ‘green’ issues such as government, corporate and public responses to environmental hazards, the economics of green policies and the effectiveness of environmental protection programmes.

Local Climate Action Planning

Local Climate Action Planning
Author: Michael R. Boswell
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2012-07-16
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1610912012

Climate change is a global problem, but the problem begins locally. Cities consume 75% of the world's energy and emit 80% of the world's greenhouse gases. Changing the way we build and operate our cities can have major effects on greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, communities across the U.S. are responding to the climate change problem by making plans that assess their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and specify actions they will take to reduce these emissions. This is the first book designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop Climate Action Plans. CAPs are strategic plans that establish policies and programs for mitigating a community's greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. They typically focus on transportation, energy use, and solid waste, and often differentiate between community-wide actions and municipal agency actions. CAPs are usually based on GHG emissions inventories, which indentify the sources of emissions from the community and quantify the amounts. Additionally, many CAPs include a section addressing adaptation-how the community will respond to the impacts of climate change on the community, such as increased flooding, extended drought, or sea level rise. With examples drawn from actual plans, Local Climate Action Planning guides preparers of CAPs through the entire plan development process, identifying the key considerations and choices that must be made in order to assure that a plan is both workable and effective.

Engineering Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Engineering Strategies for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Author: Ian S. F. Jones
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2011-05-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139496271

Controlling the level of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is a rapidly growing area of commercial activity. While debate continues both about the impact of greenhouse gas on climate and the role humans play in influencing its concentration, engineers are faced with less controversial questions of how to manage this uncertainty and how to control greenhouse gases at a minimum cost to society. This book gives a concise review of current knowledge required for engineers to develop strategies to help us manage and adapt to climate change. It has been developed from the author's graduate course in environmental engineering, and is written without technical jargon so as to be accessible to a wide range of students and policymakers who do not necessarily have scientific or engineering backgrounds. Appendices allow readers to calculate for themselves the impact of the various strategies, and the book contains student exercises and references for further reading.