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12th Annual Green Vehicles WorkshopMilwaukee Area Technical College/Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Effect of Transportation Emissions

on Air Quality

in Southeastern Wisconsin

presented by

George T. Stone, Ph.D.

Milwaukee Area Technical College

Transportation fuels

Automobiles gasoline

Trucks, trains, ships diesel fuel

Airplanes jet fuel

Combustion products

Solid particles

Aerosols

Liquid droplets

Gases

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Combustion reactions

Octane: 2C8H18 + 25O2 16CO2 + 18H2O

2C + O2 2CO

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Combustion reactions

Oxygen source is air: 78% N2 & 21% O2

High temperature promotes N-O reactions

2N2 + 02 2N2O

N2 + 02 2NO

2N2 + 302 2N2O3

N2 + 202 2NO2 NOX

N2 + 202 N2O4

2N2 + 02 2N2O5

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Ground-level ozone

Chemical substances in vehicle emissions combine to effect

changes in both humans and plants. For example, reactions

powered by the sun combine nitrogen-containing

compounds (NOx) and other organic compounds with

oxygen to form ground-level ozone, O3. (The product of this

reaction is commonly referred to as photochemical smog.)

Photochemical smog contributes to human health problems

such as asthma and lung cancer. Ground-level ozone also

causes changes in growth patterns of crop species and

native plants.

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“Nonattainment zones"

To prevent accumulations of ground-level ozone in areas with

high vehicle emissions, legislation such as the Clean Air Act

regulates ambient levels of ozone precursor in the atmosphere.

In some situations, however, maximum levels are exceeded and

further efforts need to be derived to reduce emissions, as is the

case in Southeastern Wisconsin. These areas, termed

"nonattainment zones," have ozone levels in excess of 0.12

ppm, the maximum allowable level as determined by the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In 1990, Congress amended the Clean Air Act to mandate

reformulated gasoline use in cities that exceeded standard

ozone concentrations of 0.12 ppm. One of the cities impacted

was Milwaukee, WI.

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Climate Change vs. Global Warming

Climate change has been occurring

throughout geologic time in response to

forcings other than human activities

Global Warming is anthropogenic –

a result of human activities

Rising planetary surface temperatures may cause a range of regional climate changes

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The Greenhouse Effect

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Greenhouse Gases

The major natural greenhouse gases are water vapor (H2O), which causes about 36-70% of the greenhouse effect; carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9-26%; methane (CH4), 4-9%; and ozone (O3), 3-7%.

Most water vapor comes from ocean evaporation. The graphic (courtesy abcnews.com) shows the greenhouse gases that are increasing due to human activity.

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“Fossil” C02 from human activityTime travel for carbon and energy

Combustion of methane (CH4) as an example:

CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O

Combustion of coal:

C + O2 → CO2

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Keeling curve of atmospheric CO2

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GHG covered by the Clean Air Act

On April 2, 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the United States Supreme Court found that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act

The Court held that the Administrator must determine whether or not emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare

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Most Americans in areas with unhealthy air(American Lung Association 10th Annual State of the Air Report/April 29, 2009)

Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality

Air pollution at times reaches unhealthy levels in almost every major city and that 186.1 million people live in those areas. The number is much higher than last year's figure of about 125 million people because recent changes to the federal ozone standard mean more counties recognize unhealthy levels of pollution.

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“We have a very brief window of opportunity”Dr. James Hansen, Director/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

“We have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change . . . no longer than a decade at the most.“

If the world continues with "business as usual,"temperatures will rise by 2 to 3o Celsius (3.6 to 7.2o F) and "we will be producing a different planet"

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Science of global warmingPART 7: MITIGATION

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What must we do?Emission reduction!

BRING DOWN CO2,

CH4 and N2O !!!

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Clean Energy TransitionThe Third Energy Revolution

Stop time travel; plug the worm hole;transition away from fossil carbon!

Energy Conservation

Energy Efficiency

Renewables

Carbon Capture & Storage

Nuclear Fission ?

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How do we do it?

Set target reductions for greenhouse

gas emissions

Set timelines with deadlines for

reductions

Use incentives and penalties

Let innovation & creativity find the ways

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Schwarzenegger Signs “Global Warming Solutions Act”

to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

“I say the debate is over. We know the science; we know the time for action is now. Global warming, pollution and the burning of fossil fuels that caused it are threats we see here in California and everywhere around the world.”

On September 27, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32. "Using market-based incentives, we will reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. That's a 25 percent reduction. And by 2050, we will reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels. We simply must do everything in our power to slow down global warming before it’s too late.”

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The future of energyA fundamental change is coming sooner than you might think

(The Economist/June 19, 2008)

SINCE the industrial revolution 200 years ago, mankind has depended on fossil fuel. The notion that this might change is hard to contemplate. . . . Such a failure of imagination has been at the heart of the debate about climate change. For, in the imaginations of a coterie of physicists, biologists and engineers, an alternative world is taking shape. As the special report in this issue describes, plans for the end of the fossil-fuel economy are now being laid . . . at one level, things will have changed beyond recognition, but at another will have stayed comfortably the same, and may even have got better.

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We are witnessing the dawn of an historic transition for humankind

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(AP photo courtesy of Dan Crosbie/Canadian Ice Service)

Thanks for your attention!!