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How Sustainable are New York City’s Buildings and Transportation Policies in the Context of Broader Emissions Reduction Targets?
Citation:
Kaplan, O. AND M. Isik. How Sustainable are New York City’s Buildings and Transportation Policies in the Context of Broader Emissions Reduction Targets? Brown Bag Webinar (DOE BTO), Boulder, CO, November 05, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Cities around the world are setting targets and establishing pathways to decrease carbon emissions by 2030 and beyond from all energy sectors including buildings and transportation. New York City (NYC) is one of the leading cities having set a goal of 80 percent reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050. The broader New York State (NYS) is also transitioning to clean energy. The goal of this study is to leverage a newly developed full energy system model specific to NYC and apply the currently proposed carbon emission reduction policies. EPANYC6r is a technology rich, community level, energy-environment-economic bottom-up optimization model. This study uses EPANYC6r to compare strategies across transportation modes and other sectors such as buildings, while accounting for changing electric grid technology and fuel mix. We hypothesize that the carbon emission rate levels of the electric sector in the future will influence how NYC could achieve its emission reduction goals. To test the hypothesis, we designed a scenario framework with various levels of grid decarbonization and end-use sector reduction targets including more aggressive vehicle electrification. Counterintuitively, we found electrification of light duty vehicles at earlier periods under scenarios of higher electric grid carbon emissions rates resulted in deeper reductions in air emissions such as NOx in the transportation sector. In addition, fuel switching from diesel to compressed natural gas was more prevalent in the public transit (e.g., buses) and heavy-duty vehicle fleet. The sustainability of alternative transportation energy policies will depend on their impact on the other environmental end-points such as air quality.
Description:
Cities around the world are setting targets and establishing pathways to decrease carbon emissions by 2030 and beyond from all energy sectors including buildings and transportation. New York City (NYC) is one of the leading cities having set a goal of 80 percent reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050. The broader New York State (NYS) is also transitioning to clean energy. The goal of this study is to leverage a newly developed full energy system model specific to NYC and apply the currently proposed carbon emission reduction policies. EPANYC6r is a technology rich, community level, energy-environment-economic bottom-up optimization model. This study uses EPANYC6r to compare strategies across transportation modes and other sectors such as buildings, while accounting for changing electric grid technology and fuel mix. We hypothesize that the carbon emission rate levels of the electric sector in the future will influence how NYC could achieve its emission reduction goals. To test the hypothesis, we designed a scenario framework with various levels of grid decarbonization and end-use sector reduction targets including more aggressive vehicle electrification. Counterintuitively, we found electrification of light duty vehicles at earlier periods under scenarios of higher electric grid carbon emissions rates resulted in deeper reductions in air emissions such as NOx in the transportation sector. In addition, fuel switching from diesel to compressed natural gas was more prevalent in the public transit (e.g., buses) and heavy-duty vehicle fleet. The sustainability of alternative transportation energy policies will depend on their impact on the other environmental end-points such as air quality.