Online Map Shows Biggest Greenhouse Gas Emitters
As Florida experienced another record-high temperature day yesterday while severe storms raced across the Deep South and East, it seems appropriate to consider what might be causing the changes in our weather.
The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time is making available detailed information on sources of greenhouse gas emissions, from the Mount Sinai Hospital heating plant in Manhattan to the nation’s largest coal-burning power plant in Georgia.
The agency unveiled a searchable computerized map in January that allows users to identify the nation’s major stationary sources of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases, including power plants, refineries, chemical factories and paper mills. The agency said the data, which was drawn from 6,157 sources and is current through 2010, covered nearly 80 percent of the country’s greenhouse gases from large industrial sources.
SEARCH FOR POLLUTERS IN YOUR AREA
at this link http://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/main.do
In east central Florida it was an eye-opener to find that a landfill in Volusia County is one of the biggest polluters. I'm using that landfill (dump, garbage dump) as an example of the reports that are easily accessible on the new database (below).
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VOLUSIA SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DIVISION | |||||||
|
| Total Facility Emissions in MT CO2e (excluding Biogenic CO2) | 209,985 |
Emissions by Gas in MT CO2e
| Carbon Dioxide (CO2) | 56 |
| Methane (CH4) | 209,929 |
Emissions by Source/Process in MT CO2e
(excluding Biogenic CO2)
(excluding Biogenic CO2)
| Stationary Combustion | 56 |
| Landfills | 209,929 |
| Landfill emissions estimated from modeled methane generation and other factors | 144,265 |
| Landfill emissions estimated from methane recovery, destruction and other factors | 209,929 |
| The greater of these two estimates is used as the facility's landfill emissions. Learn more about measuring emissions at landfills. | |
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| A Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), these birds native to Africa were first introduced to Florida in 1953. Here they have no natural predators so they have flourished. They enjoy scavenging at the landfill where they can be seen in flocks of hundreds or more. |
Major emitters are required under a 2008 law signed by President George W. Bush to provide detailed annual reports of their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases that contribute to global warming.
The tool is designed to be user-friendly, so that businesses, industry and nonprofits can get a better understanding of where greenhouse gases are being generated and to build enthusiasm for greenhouse gas reductions.
Efforts by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress to pass legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions failed in the Senate in 2010, and industries represented by the data released on Wednesday have spent heavily to oppose such laws.
The new registry does not cover direct emissions from agriculture, forestry or transportation, which are not required to report them in detail.
The data shows that power plants are responsible for 72.3 percent of reported emissions and that the three largest single sources — two generating stations in Georgia and one in Alabama — are owned by the Southern Company, based in Atlanta.
The E.P.A. does not directly provide the corporate ownership of all of the sources, although some is available on spreadsheets accompanying the map.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, however, has compiled emissions by utility, using the E.P.A. figures.
The report also shows that Texas has by far the highest total emissions from power plants and refineries, with 294 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent spewed into the atmosphere. The next highest total comes from Pennsylvania, with 129 million metric tons.
Although sleekly presented, the E.P.A.’s registry has its limitations. It is neatly organized by state and emissions source, but that does not reflect the nature of the electric system, which is responsible for the bulk of the emissions in the inventory but is not divided by state lines. The ranking makes the District of Columbia look like a fairly small emitter and Pennsylvania like a large one. But some of the coal burned in Pennsylvania flows through the regional power grid to feed Washington and other areas.
And the emissions inventory does not capture information about the efficiency of the source. New York University, for example, may rank as a big emitter in New York, but a year ago it opened a co-generation facility that makes electricity and uses the waste heat to heat and cool buildings, thus doing far more work per pound of carbon dioxide emitted than most other sources.
The tool is designed to be user-friendly, so that businesses, industry and nonprofits can get a better understanding of where greenhouse gases are being generated and to build enthusiasm for greenhouse gas reductions.
Efforts by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress to pass legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions failed in the Senate in 2010, and industries represented by the data released on Wednesday have spent heavily to oppose such laws.
The new registry does not cover direct emissions from agriculture, forestry or transportation, which are not required to report them in detail.
The data shows that power plants are responsible for 72.3 percent of reported emissions and that the three largest single sources — two generating stations in Georgia and one in Alabama — are owned by the Southern Company, based in Atlanta.
The E.P.A. does not directly provide the corporate ownership of all of the sources, although some is available on spreadsheets accompanying the map.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, however, has compiled emissions by utility, using the E.P.A. figures.
TEXAS and PENNSYLVANIA
THE LARGEST POLLUTERS
The report also shows that Texas has by far the highest total emissions from power plants and refineries, with 294 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent spewed into the atmosphere. The next highest total comes from Pennsylvania, with 129 million metric tons.
Although sleekly presented, the E.P.A.’s registry has its limitations. It is neatly organized by state and emissions source, but that does not reflect the nature of the electric system, which is responsible for the bulk of the emissions in the inventory but is not divided by state lines. The ranking makes the District of Columbia look like a fairly small emitter and Pennsylvania like a large one. But some of the coal burned in Pennsylvania flows through the regional power grid to feed Washington and other areas.
And the emissions inventory does not capture information about the efficiency of the source. New York University, for example, may rank as a big emitter in New York, but a year ago it opened a co-generation facility that makes electricity and uses the waste heat to heat and cool buildings, thus doing far more work per pound of carbon dioxide emitted than most other sources.
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