Scientists build reliable, real-time emissions estimate system to inform, correct public policy as nation takes on new reduction targets
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally and continues to influence emissions as the response to COVID-19 evolves. Reliable data that can provide a real-time update of emissions has been difficult to acquire… Read more
Cities have become critical players in reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are causing global climate change. Urban areas produce almost 70 percent of those emissions, and city governments are proposing a variety of policy actions aimed at reducing them. Many cities also produce inventories that detail their greenhouse gas emissions.
Now, professor Kevin Gurney of Northern Arizona University’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems and… Read more
With intense wildfires in the western U.S. and frequent, intense hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation is again affected by extreme weather-related events resulting from climate change. In response, cities, states and regions across the country are developing policies to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, chiefly carbon dioxide (CO2). Even though many state and local governments are committed to these goals, however, the emissions data they… Read more
The upper left panel shows that during the month of March 2020, the decline in traffic across the US coincided with the rise in COVID-19 cases. The country responded in a uniform fashion. The lower panel shows how that correlation in traffic-COVID-19 broke down with traffic rising in most states but COVID-19 cases rising in… Read more
Study findings take a dramatic step towards a greenhouse gas information system that can fundamentally change the way cities, states and the nation tackle the climate change problem
Results from Northern Arizona University’s Vulcan Project estimating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion for the entire U.S. show very close agreement to a new atmospheric-based approach for estimating these same emissions, as reported in a paper… Read more
As the demand for transportation fuels has plummeted at an unprecedented rate in the last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Northern Arizona University scientist says the dramatic decrease in local air pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels above cities is significant, measurable and could be historic, depending on how long commuters and other drivers… Read more