Emissions Inventories Then, Now, and Tomorrow

EM Magazine, January 2005

by Arthur Werner and David Mobley

ABSTRACT
As late as the 1970s, air pollution was viewed almost exclusively as an urban phenomenon associated with energy production and factories, manifested as smog in Los Angeles, New York, London, and other large cities.1 For this reason, inventories of air pollutant emissions were originally developed at metropolitan-area scales. These inventories were used to evaluate the effectiveness of control strategies and as inputs for air quality models to evaluate locations for ambient air quality monitors.2 The focus of initial emissions inventory efforts was primarily on sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), lead (Pb), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Over the next several decades, emissions inventories evolved to include hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), greenhouse gases, and other pollutants important to human health, ecological effects, and regional haze. Spatial coverage increased to encompass states, regions, countries, continents, and the entire globe. At the same time, the increased sophistication of air quality models increased the demand for finer spatial, temporal, and species resolution of emissions. As our understanding of pollutant effects increases, modeling sophistication grows, and more information is made available to the public in a more timely manner, the demands on inventory developers will increase.

Emissions Inventories: Then, Now, and Tomorrow " by Arthur Werner and David Mobley was published in the January 2005 issue of EM Magazine, a publication of the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) and is posted here by permission of A&WMA.

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