The motivation
Australia's National Pollutant Inventory publishes data on industrial / commercial facilities which release measurable amounts of specific harmful/dangerous substances. While the NPI does not track greenhouse gasses such as methane, it does publish data which may be useful to us for locating anthropogenic emitters.
Per-facility details include:
- lat/lon coordinates
- ANZSIC sector
- financial year when the facility first reported to NPI
- financial year when the facility last reported to NPI
Emission details include:
- per-facility reported emission measurement of tracked substances for each reporting year
Generally speaking, we need three data points to allocate an emission point source in the prior:
- a location (point or geometry)
- a period of activity (ie, start / end date)
- a measurement that can be used as a proxy for emissions (ie, production figures)
Using the per facility lat/lon coordinates and reporting years, we have the first two data points. For the NPI to be a useful resource, we need to find a measurement or strategy for quantifying methane emissions from NPI facilities.
The proposed solution
Find a general approach, or sector-specific approaches, for estimating relative per-facility methane emissions based on NPI-reported substance emissions.
For example, if waste management facilities emit VOCs (which are reported to the NPI) in a volume proportional to methane, we can use reported VOC emissions in the NPI to estimate each waste facility's methane emissions relative to one another. This figure could then be used to scale the national inventory emissions from the waste sector, and allocate it to the locations of waste facilities in the NPI.
Alternatives
Additional context
NSW EPA funded a CSIRO study looking for relationships between VOCs and methane emissions across several sectors. This may help us understand if there are per-sector emission profiles of NPI-tracked substances which could be used as a proxy for methane emission.
The motivation
Australia's National Pollutant Inventory publishes data on industrial / commercial facilities which release measurable amounts of specific harmful/dangerous substances. While the NPI does not track greenhouse gasses such as methane, it does publish data which may be useful to us for locating anthropogenic emitters.
Per-facility details include:
Emission details include:
Generally speaking, we need three data points to allocate an emission point source in the prior:
Using the per facility lat/lon coordinates and reporting years, we have the first two data points. For the NPI to be a useful resource, we need to find a measurement or strategy for quantifying methane emissions from NPI facilities.
The proposed solution
Find a general approach, or sector-specific approaches, for estimating relative per-facility methane emissions based on NPI-reported substance emissions.
For example, if waste management facilities emit VOCs (which are reported to the NPI) in a volume proportional to methane, we can use reported VOC emissions in the NPI to estimate each waste facility's methane emissions relative to one another. This figure could then be used to scale the national inventory emissions from the waste sector, and allocate it to the locations of waste facilities in the NPI.
Alternatives
Additional context
NSW EPA funded a CSIRO study looking for relationships between VOCs and methane emissions across several sectors. This may help us understand if there are per-sector emission profiles of NPI-tracked substances which could be used as a proxy for methane emission.