First Name | Anthony |
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Last Name | Wexler |
Email Address | aswexler@ucdavis.edu |
Affiliation | UC Davis |
Subject | Scoping Plan: Tracking and Measuring Progress |
Comment | I recently attended the Bay Area Council Energy Committee meeting as UC Davis's representative where Bob Fletcher presented the proposed low carbon fuel standard in the Scoping Plan and Theresa Cho (CPUC) presented their Building Energy Efficiency Plan. These and other advances are very exciting -- as usual, the state is leading the country. In reading the scoping plan, my attention was drawn to section D on page 107, Tracking and Measuring Progress. A key portion of the Plan is understanding if we really are improving by performing atmospheric measurements and so the Plan reads "Continuous atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases may also be useful for determining the effectiveness of emissions reduction strategies and for future inventory development." This phrase "... may also be useful ..." weakens the statement unnecessarily. As we know from long experience developing emissions inventories for compounds such as NOx and VOCs related to smog production, these inventories are highly uncertain. We know this from atmospheric measurements and modeling. If we do not measure greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, we will not have any checks on the greenhouse gas emissions inventories leaving the uncertainties unexplored. By measuring greenhouse gases and a range of co-pollutants, we cannot only verify the GHG emissions inventory, but also associate shortcomings in the inventory with emissions sources because processes that emit greenhouse gases also emit other compounds and particles that identify the sources. Obviously, this is way too much detail for the scoping plan. The point of this comment is to encourage that this portion of the plan be strengthened. I suggest that the wording be changed to "Continuous atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases is essential for determining the effectiveness of emissions reduction strategies and for future inventory development." |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2008-10-17 08:47:54 |
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