This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
Forest management is an untapped tool, yet to realize its full potential to fight against climate change. The capability of forests to act as carbon sinks makes them a key resource to reduce CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. However, carbon which has been fixed can be suddenly emitted again as a consequence of disturbances such as pests or wildfires. Mediterranean plant phenology, climatic conditions, and the accumulation of fuel biomass due to abandonment of traditional forest uses generate a scenario prone to large wildfires and consequently large greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The abandonment could be offset by considering the economic value of forest ecosystem services, principally carbon fixation. Nevertheless, currently existing forest carbon markets consider only anthropogenic fixation based on a business as usual scenario without disturbances that cannot be applied to Mediterranean forest reality. Thus, a methodology to monetize carbon fixed has been developed and applied. A range between 55.5 and 250 million € produced by the monetization of 16.5 million potential carbon credits has been obtained based on anthropogenic avoided emissions produced over a 10 year-period. Thereby, the potential for offsetting emissions of the pilot region was between 1.2% and 5.6% of total diffuse GHG emissions. Consequently, sustainable forest management represents an important opportunity to combat climate change, taking advantage of the margin of improvement that the Mediterranean forests currently have to avoid GHG emissions through forest fire prevention silviculture.
Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Victoria Lerma-Arce; Celia Yagüe-Hurtado; Lenin Lemus-Zúñiga. Potential Analysis of Mediterranean Forestry for Offsetting GHG Emissions at Regional Level: Evidence from Valencia, Spain. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4168 .
AMA StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez, Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva, Victoria Lerma-Arce, Celia Yagüe-Hurtado, Lenin Lemus-Zúñiga. Potential Analysis of Mediterranean Forestry for Offsetting GHG Emissions at Regional Level: Evidence from Valencia, Spain. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (8):4168.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Victoria Lerma-Arce; Celia Yagüe-Hurtado; Lenin Lemus-Zúñiga. 2021. "Potential Analysis of Mediterranean Forestry for Offsetting GHG Emissions at Regional Level: Evidence from Valencia, Spain." Sustainability 13, no. 8: 4168.
Nowadays, about 55% of the world population lives in cities and this is foreseen to increase to 68% by 2050. The urban activities of such a large number of people in relatively small spaces makes the air quality levels in the cities can harmful to human health. For this reason, the European Union (EU) establishes a regulatory framework to control and improve air quality levels in cities (Directive 2008/50/EC) by defining a number of fixed stations and other requirements. The aim of this work is to evaluate the air quality reported by the official fixed stations with the installation of complementary mobile network of air quality based on passive dosimetry of NO2 measurement during the period 2017-2019. In this study, Valencia (Spain) is selected as a representative European city with seven fixed stations and a network of 424 passive dosimetry sensors distributed throughout the city. In addition, an index of impact of pollutant on population (IIPP) is developed to optimize the location of air quality stations among neighbourhoods across the city based on the level of pollution measured by mobile sensors and the population directly affected. The results obtained show that 43.7% of mobile sensors in Valencia exceeded the limit value established by the EU Directive as well as by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the assessment period. This reflects that the air quality levels offered by the fixed stations are neither representative nor reliable for the air quality monitoring of the city. Thus, fixed stations currently operating do not provide reliable information on the areas of the city where the majority of the population breathes air with the highest level of pollution. Specifically, the results show that 34.6% of citizens live in areas with an average annual value above the limit recommended for the protection of human health.
Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga; Eloina Coll-Aliaga; Carolina Perpiñá Castillo; Carlo Lavalle. Assessment of an air quality surveillance network through passive pollution measurement with mobile sensors. Environmental Research Letters 2021, 16, 054072 .
AMA StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez, Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva, Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga, Eloina Coll-Aliaga, Carolina Perpiñá Castillo, Carlo Lavalle. Assessment of an air quality surveillance network through passive pollution measurement with mobile sensors. Environmental Research Letters. 2021; 16 (5):054072.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga; Eloina Coll-Aliaga; Carolina Perpiñá Castillo; Carlo Lavalle. 2021. "Assessment of an air quality surveillance network through passive pollution measurement with mobile sensors." Environmental Research Letters 16, no. 5: 054072.
Sustainable cities will only be possible with effective local measures tackling Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Transport and mobility represent the main sources of these emissions, particularly in urban settings. National and local public administrations need accurate and more responsive tools to quantify GHG emissions. Digitisation and ICTs are key elements in the development of such tools, which, additionally, have to be based on robust methodologies validated by the scientific community. This research presents a bottom-up methodology for the quantification of road traffic's GHG emissions with higher levels of immediacy and spatial resolution when compared to other already existing methods. The methodology uses data from the urban traffic control and monitoring systems as a baseline to calculate emissions. A pilot test has been conducted in Valencia city (Spain). Its results show a highly detailed picture of GHG emission in the city with high temporal (hour) and space (street) resolutions. The emission patterns reflect the dynamics of the city and its citizenship mobility. Since the tools developed for the pilot test can be adapted to other cities, public decision-makers could benefit from a precise diagnosis system based on traffic data to offer and evaluate solutions to reduce road transport GHG emissions.
Miguel A. Mateo Pla; Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jorge E. Luzuriaga; Santiago Mira Prats; Juan A. Moreno-Pérez; Javier F. Urchueguía; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Lenin G. Lemus. From traffic data to GHG emissions: A novel bottom-up methodology and its application to Valencia city. Sustainable Cities and Society 2020, 66, 102643 .
AMA StyleMiguel A. Mateo Pla, Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez, Jorge E. Luzuriaga, Santiago Mira Prats, Juan A. Moreno-Pérez, Javier F. Urchueguía, Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva, Lenin G. Lemus. From traffic data to GHG emissions: A novel bottom-up methodology and its application to Valencia city. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2020; 66 ():102643.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMiguel A. Mateo Pla; Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez; Jorge E. Luzuriaga; Santiago Mira Prats; Juan A. Moreno-Pérez; Javier F. Urchueguía; Jose-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Lenin G. Lemus. 2020. "From traffic data to GHG emissions: A novel bottom-up methodology and its application to Valencia city." Sustainable Cities and Society 66, no. : 102643.
Buildings have become a key source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the consumption of primary energy, especially when used to achieve thermal comfort conditions. In addition, buildings play a key role for adapting societies to climate change by achieving more energy efficiency. Therefore, buildings have become a key sector to tackle climate change at the local level. However, public decision-makers do not have tools with enough spatial resolution to prioritise and focus the available resources and efforts in an efficient manner. The objective of the research is to develop an innovative methodology based on a geographic information system (GIS) for mapping primary energy consumption and GHG emissions in buildings in cities according to energy efficiency certificates. The developed methodology has been tested in a representative medium-sized city in Spain, obtaining an accurate analysis that shows 32,000 t of CO2 emissions due to primary energy consumption of 140 GWh in residential buildings with high spatial resolution at single building level. The obtained results demonstrate that the majority of residential buildings have low levels of energy efficiency and emit an average of 45 kg CO2/m2. Compared to the national average in Spain, this obtained value is on the average, while it is slightly better at the regional level. Furthermore, the results obtained demonstrate that the developed methodology is able to directly identify city districts with highest potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing GHG emissions. Additionally, a data model adapted to the INSPIRE regulation has been developed in order to ensure interoperability and European-wide application. All these results have allowed the local authorities to better define local strategies towards a low-carbon economy and energy transition. In conclusion, public decision-makers will be supported with an innovative and user-friendly GIS-based methodology to better define local strategies towards a low-carbon economy and energy transition in a more efficient and transparent way based on metrics of high spatial resolution and accuracy.
Edgar Lorenzo-Sáez; José-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Eloina Coll-Aliaga; Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga; Victoria Lerma-Arce; Antonio Reig-Fabado. Energy Efficiency and GHG Emissions Mapping of Buildings for Decision-Making Processes against Climate Change at the Local Level. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2982 .
AMA StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez, José-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva, Eloina Coll-Aliaga, Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga, Victoria Lerma-Arce, Antonio Reig-Fabado. Energy Efficiency and GHG Emissions Mapping of Buildings for Decision-Making Processes against Climate Change at the Local Level. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (7):2982.
Chicago/Turabian StyleEdgar Lorenzo-Sáez; José-Vicente Oliver-Villanueva; Eloina Coll-Aliaga; Lenin-Guillermo Lemus-Zúñiga; Victoria Lerma-Arce; Antonio Reig-Fabado. 2020. "Energy Efficiency and GHG Emissions Mapping of Buildings for Decision-Making Processes against Climate Change at the Local Level." Sustainability 12, no. 7: 2982.