Calgary January Luncheon
Event date: 2012-01-18
“Value of an Accurate Air Emissions Inventory”, by Paresh Thanawala - Understand risks associated with using inaccurate air emissions data in assessing air quality impacts and developing air quality manage
Value of an Accurate Air Emissions Inventory
Air emission inventories and estimates are used in several ways such as:
- Air dispersion modeling/risk analyses leading to ambient air quality and/or health impact assessments to facilitate urban planning or development of emergency response plans
- defining control levels for pollution control technology
- designing heights of stacks and flares
- assessing compliance levels with permits and approvals
- developing regulations, guidelines and strategy to control air pollution on a regional or a national level
- developing emission trading systems
- defining emission fees as an incentive to reduce pollution
- complying with national or international reporting obligations such as the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting and the Kyoto Protocol
It is of utmost importance for engineers and all others involved in developing and implementing an air quality management plan to ensure the accuracy of estimated air emissions. The consequences of making decisions based on inaccurate air emissions data reusing poor estimates are risks related to potential downstream environmental and financial liabilities.
Third-party verification of emissions is almost a necessity where emission trading and fees are involved in implementing air quality management plans. Developing an accurate emission estimate is ultimately the operator’s responsibility and should be treated far more seriously than using a traditional “number crunching” process would demonstrate.
The federal government has proposed the new Clean Air Act to protect the health of Canadians, due to concerns about the worsening of the air quality and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, which are believed to contribute to climate change. The Clean Air Act proposes to regulate and enforce emission reduction targets, especially during the industry growth periods.
Both industry and regulators have recognized limitations with respect to data quality of several emission inventories compiled so far. Also, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has formed a working group to deal with uncertainties associated with emission factors and emission inventories.
Improving the quality of emissions estimates is a challenging task for all of us. As such, there are some key steps needed to improve air emission inventories. We need to develop quality improvement programs on an ongoing basis, conduct critical review of estimation methods, and enhance efforts on monitoring of emission sources where estimates are known to be highly uncertain. We also need to conduct research to improve existing tools and develop new tools for emission estimates.
The accuracy of an emission estimate relies heavily on a good knowledge of all influencing variables and their accuracy, as well as the quality of assumptions and algorithms used. In most cases, estimating emissions involves use of sound engineering practice and requires a fundamental knowledge of physics or chemistry.
About the Luncheon
The luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday January 18, 2012. The luncheon will be a short reception followed by a buffet lunch. I am accepting reservations from now until noon, Tuesday January 17 at noon. Please note that we reserve the right to invoice you if you registered, but did not cancel your registration prior to this date.
Location: The Calgary Chamber of Commerce (100 6th Avenue SW, Calgary)
Date: Wednesday January 18, 2012
Time: 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. (registration starts at 11:30)
Cost: $35 - A&WMA Members / $45 - Non-Members / Free – First 10 Student registration through e-mail. (includes hot lunch & coffee). All prices include GST
Payment: Online through Paypal or during the day of the luncheon through cash/cheque/credit card. Contact e-mail - calgaryluncheon@cpans.org if you like to attend the event.
