Authors: Stephen Barry and Bernadette O’Regan
Summary: Non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emissions from Solvent and Other Product Use have been estimated for 2006–2012. This included updating the activity data, emission factors and emissions data and compiling this information into a national emissions estimate for the specified years.
Emission estimates were verified using per-capita emission intensities compared at a sectorial level with those for EU15 and EU27 countries. Total NMVOC emissions (from all sectors) were compared using per-capita emission estimates obtained from the Centre on Emission Inventories and Projections (CEIP) website for all reporting parties. Ireland’s emission estimate is comparable to other national emission estimates in the majority of cases.
Emissions were mapped for Nomenclature for Reporting (NFR) 3 Solvent and Other Product Use using a combination of point sources using data from Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC)-licensed facilities, data gathered as a result of the Solvents Directive and area sources, which used data based on population and household statistics at electoral district level. This represented a significant improvement over the previous method, which disaggregated national emissions using industrial employee statistics.
Emissions were found to have increased by 15.1% over the period from 1990 to 2012. NMVOC emissions are dominated by a small number of sectors. These include domestic solvent usage, pharmaceutical production and decorative coating applications. Combined, these accounted for 67% of emissions, on average, throughout 1990–2012. Future work should focus on refining emissions estimates from these sectors, with the aim of improving data collection exchange with data holders, clarifying underlying assumptions of emissions models and working with the relevant offices within the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that accurate and reliable data are collected from licensed facilities.
https://www.epa.ie/media/epa-2020/publications/research/Research-315-thumbnail.JPG