Executive summary

The purpose of this emission inventory is to determine the sources of emissions to air from Taupo, Thames and Huntly to assist in the management of the air resource. The sources that are included in the emission inventory are domestic heating, motor vehicle, industrial and commercial activities and outdoor burning. Natural source contributions (for example; sea salt and soil) are not included because the methodology to estimate emissions is less robust.

The contaminants included in the emission inventory are: suspended particles (PM10) carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene. The report focuses on PM10 as air quality monitoring throughout New Zealand suggests that PM10 is the only contaminant that breaches national environmental standards for air quality.

In Taupo, Thames and Huntly, a domestic home heating survey was undertaken to determine the proportions of households using different heating methods and fuels. The results show that in Taupo, wood burners are the most common method of heating the main living area with 45% of households using them. This was closely followed by 44% of households using electricity as the main form of heating. In Thames electricity is the most common type of home heating method in the main living area, with 53% of households using this method. The second most common method of home heating is wood burners with 44% of householders using them to heat their main living area. In Huntly, 46% of households used electricity and 32% of householders used wood burners. In all areas many householders use more than one method to heat the main living area of their home.

Domestic heating is the main source of PM10 emissions in Taupo, accounting for 91% of all emissions. Other sources included transport (7%) and outdoor burning (2%). The industrial contribution to PM10 emissions in urban Taupo was negligible. On an average winter’s night, around 747 kilograms of PM10 are discharged from these sources. The main source of PM10 emissions for Thames was domestic home heating, which accounted for 88% of total emissions. Outdoor burning contributed six percent, industry contributed four percent and transport contributed two percent to total emissions. Around 326 kilograms of PM10 are discharged on an average winter’s night from these sources in Thames. Domestic heating was also the main source of PM10 emissions from within the Huntly airshed, accounting for 91% of total emissions. Other sources in Huntly included outdoor burning (6%) motor vehicles (2%) and industry (1%). On an average winter’s night, around 512 kilograms of PM10 are discharged from these sources.

Air Emission Inventory – Taupo, Thames and Huntly 2009 [PDF, 1.4 MB]

Contents
	Introduction	1
2	Inventory Design	2
2.1	Selection of sources	2
2.2	Selection of contaminants	2
2.3	Selection of areas	3
2.1	Temporal distribution	7
3	Domestic heating	8
3.1	Methodology	8
3.2	Home heating methods	10
3.2.1	Taupo	10
3.2.2	Thames	12
3.2.3	Huntly	14
3.3	Emissions from domestic heating	16
3.3.1	Taupo	16
3.3.2	Thames	21
3.3.3	Huntly	27
4	Motor vehicles	34
4.1	Motor vehicle emissions	37
4.2	Taupo	37
4.3	Thames	37
4.4	Huntly	37
5	Industrial and Commercial	39
5.1	Methodology	39
5.2	Industrial and commercial emissions	40
5.3	Taupo	40
5.3.1	Urban part of the airshed	40
5.3.2	Industrial part of the airshed	40
5.4	Thames	40
5.5	Huntly	41
6	Outdoor burning	42
6.1	Methodology	42
6.2	Taupo	43
6.3	Thames	43
6.4	Huntly	43
7	Other sources of emissions	45
8	Total emissions	46
8.1	Taupo	46
8.1.1	Taupo urban area	46
8.1.2	Industrial Airshed	51
8.2	Thames	52
8.3	Huntly	56
	References	60
Appendix A:	Home Heating Questionnaire	61
Appendix B:	Emission factors for domestic heating	66
Appendix C:	Estimate of the spatial distribution of PM10 emissions from all sources in the urban Taupo airshed.	68

Air Emission Inventory – Taupo, Thames and Huntly 2009

Executive summary

Overall, how useful was this page?

Thanks for your feedback