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Air Emission Inventory – Taupo, Thames and Huntly 2009

TR 2010/13

Report: TR 2010/13

Author: Emily Wilton, Melanie Baynes, Environet Ltd

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