Energy Shakes Hands with the Climate System: An Engineer’s View
Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 04:00 PM

Speaker:  Dr. Tami Bond, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

When:  Wednesday, Nov. 29, 4–5 p.m.

Where:  Colorado State University, Glover 130 (Refreshments available)

Abstract: Although climate change is often associated with long-lived gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), particulate matter emitted by combustion sources also affects atmospheric chemistry. This observation has two major implications. First, a new characterization of emitted particles is needed to estimate their effects on climate; this requires bridges between engineering and the natural sciences. Second, broadening the climate picture to include traditional pollutants (including particulates) introduces new actors to the climate stage.

The global emission inventory—a tabulation of worldwide activities and their effluents—is a critical link between combustion and climate, and between science and action. This seminar explores these linkages between energy production, particulate emissions, and the climate system, including discussion of the following observations: The properties of particles traditionally studied in laboratories may be very different from those produced by real-world combustion systems; large facilities with good combustion emit a large fraction of global CO2 but poor combustion in small sources contributes a large fraction of global particulate matter; a "one-source" emission model, that represents dissimilar pollutants in a common context, is needed so support policy making; historical technology transitions should be considered.

Engineers’ ability to improve combustion and develop emission controls has resulted in rapid change in the past, and could improve human health, air quality, and climate in the near future.

Dr. Bond’s biographical summary: Tami Bond’s research has centered on the measurement and prediction of emissions and their atmospheric impacts. Dr. Bond has studied the combustion and control processes that lead to emissions, and has constructed global and regional emission inventories of particulate matter. She has also conducted sampling to characterize optical and chemical properties of particulate matter in both the laboratory and field. Ongoing work involves understanding how optics, physics, and chemistry of particulate matter are linked; developing global emission inventories to link engineering decisions with models of atmospheric chemistry and climate; and characterizing combustion emissions in the laboratory and field. Dr. Bond is particularly interested in the technical, social and economic factors that govern emissions, in the relationships between emitted pollutants and the composition of ambient air, and in developing and quantifying solutions with multiple benefits for health, air quality, and climate.

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This seminar is jointly sponsored by:  Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Global Innovation Center for Energy, Environment, and Health (College of Business & Department of Mechanical Engineering).

Contact:  Mac McGoldrick at pjm13@mail.colostate.edu