title: Impacts of potential CO2-reduction policies on air quality in the United States.
abstract: Impacts of emissions changes from four potential U.S. CO2 emission reduction policies on 2050 air quality are analyzed using the community multiscale air quality model (CMAQ). Future meteorology was downscaled from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE General Circulation Model (GCM) to the regional scale using the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model. We use emissions growth factors from the EPAUS9r MARKAL model to project emissions inventories for two climate tax scenarios, a combined transportation and energy scenario, a biomass energy scenario and a reference case. Implementation of a relatively aggressive carbon tax leads to improved PM2.5 air quality compared to the reference case as incentives increase for facilities to install flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. However, less capital is available to install NOX reduction technologies, resulting in an O3 increase. A policy aimed at reducing CO2 from the transportation sector and electricity production sectors leads to reduced emissions of mobile source NOX, thus reducing O3. Over most of the U.S., this scenario leads to reduced PM2.5 concentrations. However, increased primary PM2.5 emissions associated with fuel switching in the residential and industrial sectors leads to increased organic matter (OM) and PM2.5 in some cities.
authors: Marcus A
authors: MA
authors: Trail
authors: Alexandra P
authors: AP
authors: Tsimpidi
authors: ‡School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Liu
authors: §Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, New York 10025, United States.|⊥NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York 10025, United States.
authors: Kostas
authors: K
authors: Tsigaridis
authors: Yongtao
authors: Y
authors: Hu
authors: ∥Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, United States.
authors: Jason R
authors: JR
authors: Rudokas
authors: ∥Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, United States.
authors: Paul J
authors: PJ
authors: Miller
authors: ‡School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
authors: Athanasios
authors: A
authors: Nenes
authors: Armistead G
authors: AG
authors: Russell
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D002947:Cities; D002980:Climate; D004777:Environment; D058735:Environmental Policy / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D013660:Taxes; D014481:United States; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter; D002245:Carbon Dioxide