Grantee Research Project Results
Next-Generation Landfill Monitoring: A Multi-Scale Approach to Measuring Emissions for Evaluating and Financing Interventions
EPA Grant Number: R840623Title: Next-Generation Landfill Monitoring: A Multi-Scale Approach to Measuring Emissions for Evaluating and Financing Interventions
Investigators: Zekkos, Dimitrios , Alex, Ken , Duren, Riley
Institution: University of California - Berkeley
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: November 1, 2023 through October 31, 2026
Project Amount: $1,000,000
RFA: Understanding and Control of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Air Emissions Request for Applications (RFA) (2023) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Landfill Emissions , Air Toxics , Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air , Land and Waste Management
Objective:
The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate that an integrated multi-scale and multi-sensing approach to monitoring will provide critical insights into the spatial and temporal emissions from MSW landfills, inform mitigation strategies, and enable financial incentives for landfill interventions. The scientific hypothesis is that the multi-scale approach—i.e., the deployment of continuously operating, self-powered, wireless methane flux chambers, paired with terrestrial robots as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellite observations—provides a viable, low-cost, and scalable means of monitoring methane and co-pollutants at landfills. The study will enable data-driven assessments of mitigation strategies and support data-driven landfill emission models. The economic hypothesis is that the improved landfill emissions monitoring can form the basis of a market-based offset protocol capable of reducing emissions by lowering the cost of emission mitigation practices.
Approach:
Researchers will deploy low-cost continuous monitoring systems at landfills using flux chambers that, paired with multi-sensor equipped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial robots, will provide unique insights on how methane and co-pollutant emissions are affected by weather, variable site conditions and landfill practices. This approach will be scaled up to provide an independent validation of satellite- and airborne-based emissions estimates by Carbon Mapper.
Expected Results: The proposed project represents a leap forward in properly assessing risk from landfill emissions by creating a methodology for emission monitoring, an unprecedented dataset through multiple sensors and technologies, and a financial framework for driving innovation and quantification in mitigation strategies. This project will result in:
- A tested methodology for emissions measurements from wireless sensors, UAVs, and robotic platforms and satellite data as a means to continuously measure methane as well as hazardous air pollutant emissions.
- A multi-sensing, multi-temporal dataset that will quantify the profound impact of weather/climate, landfill conditions and practices, as well as mitigation strategies on emissions that can also be used to inform future data-driven methane models.
A financing system for funding and crediting effective mitigation measures, including through an expanded carbon offset protocol.
Supplemental Keywords:
energy capture, waste reduction, waste minimization, environmental justice, renewable feedstocks, sustainability, public policy, ambient air, atmosphere, global climate, health effects, methane, VOCs, oxidants, organics, monitoring, measurement methods, remote sensing, satellite, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, western, Midwest, EPA Region 5, EPA Region 9.Progress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.