Identifier

etd-11102011-004836

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals from the atmosphere at the county scale is an interest to many local decision makers and scientists looking to plan, track, mitigate, or reduce concentrations at the local or regional level. This thesis presents a new approach in downscaling state-level emissions to contiguous county levels using the state of Louisiana as an example. Here, we applied the volume- preserving principle in an attempt to improve existing methods and fully characterize accurate GHG emissions at the county (i.e., parish) level. All six “Kyoto” GHG emissions related to sources and sectors were assessed and consistent with prevailing national standards. The results, completed for the year 2005, addressed an accuracy issue by accounting for 97.74% of the state’s gross emissions, whereas previous existing methods were only able to account for approximately 79% of the total to Louisiana’s 64 parishes. A comparison of the volume-preserved results with a generally higher resolution bottom-up inventory for the City of New Orleans/Orleans Parish revealed consistent estimates across most sectors.

Date

2011

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Lam, Nina

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.2341

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