Emissions impact of distributed generation studied
California researchers, using a supercomputer, have analyzed the impact that distributed generation could have on the state’s air quality by 2010. They concluded that emissions could “slightly increase” but would be “far less” than resorting to the construction of new natural gas and coal plants. While things like solar and wind obviously wouldn’t contribute emissions, the small increase would be due to the use of small stationary generators — fuel cells using natural gas, microturbines, and natural gas generators. “Decision-makers will need a way to assess distributed generation’s impact on air quality, and our computer model and methodology are the first to address this need,” Donald Dabdub, a professor of mechanical and environmental engineering from The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, told Today@UCI.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca