Abstract:Concerns about the potential economic consequences of earthquakes have increased in recent years as scientifically based probabilities of future earthquakes in many large urban areas have risen. These hazards disproportionately impact low-income communities as wealth disparities limit their capacity to prepare and recover from potentially disastrous events. In addition to major economic losses, the activities related to building recovery result in significant greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate ch… Show more
“…It can even be extended to provide confidence intervals for the carbon storage potential of different sequestering materials such as concrete and biomass-based materials, especially given their large potential for mitigating the carbon impacts of the built environment [20,87]. The use of a quantitative uncertainty framework that integrates scenario analysis such as this becomes especially significant when comparing and choosing between alternatives, as this study reaffirms that deterministic analyses are insufficient for drawing robust conclusions [37,64,65,68,71,73,88].…”
Section: Summary Of Gained Insights and Model Applicationsmentioning
Global greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment remain high, driving innovative approaches to develop and adopt building materials that can mitigate some of those emissions. However, life-cycle assessment (LCA) practices still lack standardized quantitative uncertainty assessment frameworks, which are urgently needed to robustly assess mitigation efforts. Previous works emphasize the importance of accounting for the three types of uncertainties that may exist within any quantitative assessment: parameter, scenario, and model uncertainty. Herein, we develop a quantitative uncertainty assessment framework that distinguishes between different types of uncertainties and suggest how these uncertainties could be handled systematically through a scenario-aware Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). We demonstrate the framework’s decision-informing power through a case study of two multilevel Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) manufacturing scenarios. The MCS utilizes a first-principles-based OPC life-cycle inventory, which mitigates some of the model uncertainty that may exist in other empirical-based cement models. Remaining uncertainties are handled by scenario specification or sampling from developed probability distribution functions. We also suggest a standardized method for fitting distributions to parameter data by enumerating through and implementing distributions based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The detailed parameter breakdown allows for developing emission distributions for each process of OPC manufacturing. This detailed approach highlights how individual parameters, along with scenario framing, impacts OPC emissions. Another key takeaway includes relating the uncertainty of each process to its contributions to total OPC emissions, which can guide LCA modelers in allocating data collection and refinement efforts on processes with the highest contribution to cumulative uncertainty. Ultimately, the aim of this work is to provide a standardized framework that can provide robust estimates of building material emissions and be readily integrated within any uncertainty assessment.
“…It can even be extended to provide confidence intervals for the carbon storage potential of different sequestering materials such as concrete and biomass-based materials, especially given their large potential for mitigating the carbon impacts of the built environment [20,87]. The use of a quantitative uncertainty framework that integrates scenario analysis such as this becomes especially significant when comparing and choosing between alternatives, as this study reaffirms that deterministic analyses are insufficient for drawing robust conclusions [37,64,65,68,71,73,88].…”
Section: Summary Of Gained Insights and Model Applicationsmentioning
Global greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment remain high, driving innovative approaches to develop and adopt building materials that can mitigate some of those emissions. However, life-cycle assessment (LCA) practices still lack standardized quantitative uncertainty assessment frameworks, which are urgently needed to robustly assess mitigation efforts. Previous works emphasize the importance of accounting for the three types of uncertainties that may exist within any quantitative assessment: parameter, scenario, and model uncertainty. Herein, we develop a quantitative uncertainty assessment framework that distinguishes between different types of uncertainties and suggest how these uncertainties could be handled systematically through a scenario-aware Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). We demonstrate the framework’s decision-informing power through a case study of two multilevel Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) manufacturing scenarios. The MCS utilizes a first-principles-based OPC life-cycle inventory, which mitigates some of the model uncertainty that may exist in other empirical-based cement models. Remaining uncertainties are handled by scenario specification or sampling from developed probability distribution functions. We also suggest a standardized method for fitting distributions to parameter data by enumerating through and implementing distributions based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The detailed parameter breakdown allows for developing emission distributions for each process of OPC manufacturing. This detailed approach highlights how individual parameters, along with scenario framing, impacts OPC emissions. Another key takeaway includes relating the uncertainty of each process to its contributions to total OPC emissions, which can guide LCA modelers in allocating data collection and refinement efforts on processes with the highest contribution to cumulative uncertainty. Ultimately, the aim of this work is to provide a standardized framework that can provide robust estimates of building material emissions and be readily integrated within any uncertainty assessment.
“…Next steps should also incorporate equity considerations into the reduction strategies. Previous studies ,,, have used optimization techniques to assess and reduce the exposure disparity for disadvantaged groups, and the OPF framework can be augmented with such capabilities. Equity consideration should be incorporated into exposure mitigation plans of all infrastructure to ensure that reducing absolute exposure does not come at the expense of increasing the exposure disparity for disadvantaged groups. ,,,− …”
This work develops an exposure-based optimal power flow
model (OPF)
that accounts for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure
from electricity generation unit (EGU) emissions. Advancing health-based
dispatch models to an OPF with transmission constraints and reactive
power flow is an essential development given its utility for short-
and long-term planning by system operators. The model enables the
assessment of the exposure mitigation potential and the feasibility
of intervention strategies while still prioritizing system costs and
network stability. A representation of the Illinois power grid is
developed to demonstrate how the model can inform decision making.
Three scenarios minimizing dispatch costs and/or exposure damages
are simulated. Other interventions assessed include adopting best-available
EGU emission control technologies, having higher renewable generation,
and relocating high-polluting EGUs. Neglecting transmission constraints
fails to account for 4% of exposure damages ($60 M/y) and dispatch
costs ($240 M/y). Accounting for exposure in the OPF reduces damages
by 70%, a reduction on the order of that achieved by high renewable
integration. About 80% of all exposure is attributed to EGUs fulfilling
only 25% of electricity demand. Siting these EGUs in low-exposure
zones avoids 43% of all exposure. Operation and cost advantages inherent
to each strategy beyond exposure reduction suggest their collective
adoption for maximum benefits.
“…However, the UET and SOI objective functions can be combined to generate a set of trade-off optimal solutions known as Pareto-optimal solutions. This new formulation can be solved using a weighted-sum method, where both objective functions are merged into a single formulation by multiplying each by a weight, forming a convex combination of objectives. − Weights are parametrically varied to obtain a Pareto front. Since a large magnitude difference exists between the travel costs and exposure damages (travel costs are valued 10 times higher in this instance, as shown later), each objective is normalized by the interval of its variation over the Pareto-optimal set.…”
An exposure-based
traffic assignment (TA) model is used to quantify
primary and secondary fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure
from on-road vehicle flow on the Chicago Metropolitan Area regional
network. PM2.5 exposure due to emissions from light-duty
vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, public transportation, and electricity
generation for electric vehicle charging and light-rail transportation
is considered. The model uses travel demand data disaggregated by
time-of-day period and vehicle user class to compare the exposure
impacts of two TA optimization scenarios: a baseline user equilibrium
with respect to travel time (UET) and a system optimal with respect
to pollutant intake (SOI). Estimated baseline PM2.5 exposure
damages are $3.7B–$8.3B/year. The SOI uses exposure-based vehicle
rerouting to reduce total damages by 8.2%, with high-impacted populations
benefiting from 10% to 20% reductions. However, the SOI’s rerouting
principle leads to a 66% increase in travel time. The model is then
used to quantify the mitigation potential of different exposure reduction
strategies, including a bi-objective optimization formulation that
minimizes travel time and PM2.5 exposure concurrently,
adoption of a cleaner vehicle fleet, higher public transportation
use, particle filtration, and exposure-based truck routing. Exposure
reductions range between 1% and 40%, but collective adoption of all
strategies would lead to reductions upward of 50%.
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