Compliance Corner: Navigating the Regulatory Realm |
The U.S. EPA mandates the use of AERMOD in various regulatory applications, focusing on air quality assessment and compliance with standards. Key regulations include:
- New Source Review (NSR) and Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Programs:
- AERMOD used for permits ensuring proposed facilities don't harm air quality or violate NAAQS.
- Compliance with increment limits to prevent deterioration of air quality.
- State Implementation Plans (SIPs):
- AERMOD assists states in developing comprehensive plans to maintain and improve air quality.
- Assessing source impact and devising pollution control strategies.
- Title V Operating Permits:
- AERMOD employed in the application process to demonstrate compliance with emissions standards.
- NAAQS Compliance:
- AERMOD assesses source emissions for compliance with NAAQS standards.
- Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) Assessments:
- AERMOD evaluates dispersion and concentration under NESHAPs to ensure no significant health or environmental risks.
- Environmental Impact Assessments:
- AERMOD models proposed actions' air quality impact in Environmental Impact Statements.
- Risk Management Plans (RMPs):
- AERMOD may be used to model potential impacts from accidental releases in RMPs.
- Fence-line Monitoring and Community Exposure Studies:
- AERMOD predicts pollutant dispersion and concentration for assessing nearby environmental impact.
In these contexts, AERMOD ensures thorough evaluation of emission impacts on air quality, facilitating compliance with environmental standards and supporting the EPA's commitment to protecting public health and the environment from air pollution's adverse effects.
For seamless compliance and comprehensive air quality management, consider Lakes Environmental's AERMOD View software. With advanced modeling capabilities, it streamlines regulatory compliance across various contexts, safeguarding your operations and ensuring adherence to environmental standards. Optimize your air quality management with AERMOD View for robust, efficient, and reliable results!
In addition, for complex air quality management challenges, our AQMIS solution is ideally suited for managing large scale air quality assessment and environmental regulatory programs. Learn More!
Take the first step towards regulatory excellence— contact our team to explore AERMOD View today!
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Online AERMOD Course with CASANZ – April 30 - May 3, 2024 |
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Together with the Clean Air Society of Australia & New Zealand (CASANZ), we will hold an online AERMOD air dispersion modeling course. Training will take place in four, 4-hour webinars from April 30 to May 3, 2024 from 9:00am to 1:00pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) daily.
Register now before space is gone!
Note: The above course will be based specifically on regulations for the Australia/New Zealand region.
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Online CALPUFF Training Course – May 21-22, 2024 - Only 2 Spots Left! |
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Enhance your air dispersion modeling skills by registering for our 2-day online CALPUFF training course taking place on May 21 and 22, 2024 from 8:30am to 5:00pm (Central Time – Chicago).
Don't miss out! Register today!
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Online AERMOD Training Course – Jun 11-12, 2024 |
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Join our sought-after AERMOD course this June! Due to high demand, our May session was fully booked in no time. Don't miss your opportunity to join the upcoming 2-day online AERMOD training scheduled for June 11 and 12, 2024 from 8:30am to 5:00pm (Central Time – Chicago, USA).
Register today to participate in this essential training. Space is limited
Note: Due to the immense popularity of our online courses and small class sizes, we recommend registering and making payment as soon as possible.
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Lakes Environmental Closed for Good Friday Holiday |
Lakes Environmental's offices will be closed on Friday, March 29, 2024, to observe the Good Friday holiday. If you have any needs during that time, please e-mail us at support@webLakes.com and we will contact you on Monday, April 1, 2024, when our offices reopen.
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UPCOMING TRAINING COURSES |
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MODELING TIP |
Counting Concentration Exceedances in AERMOD View |
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When conducting an air dispersion modeling analysis, modelers may want to know not just what the value of the maximum concentration is but also how frequently concentrations exceed some upper limit or threshold. The U.S. EPA AERMOD air dispersion model comes with an option to extract these exceedances: the Threshold Violation File or MAXIFILE. Lakes Software’s AERMOD View application goes a step further and automatically counts those exceedances so that modelers can easily determine the frequency of such violations.
Like all output selections, the Threshold Violation File is defined in AERMOD’s Output Pathway. Thresholds can be set for each combination of modeled averaging periods and source group IDs. In the example below, the modeler is interested in finding concentrations that exceed 10 micrograms per cubic meter for the 1-hour averaging period in the ALL source group (the combined concentrations of all modeled sources).
Unique file names should be used for each threshold of interest. For example, the run below would generate separate threshold files for the 1-hour, 3-hour, and 24-hour averaging periods for the same source group (ALL):
After successfully running the model, the Threshold Violation Files will be found in the project’s .AD sub-folder. The files can be opened in a text editor, and they contain a running list of the dates, times, locations, and concentrations that exceed the defined threshold. The 24-hour MAXIFILE produced in our example case is shown below.
When using AERMOD View to generate these output files, the application will use this file to produce a separate contour plot file with exceedance counts. These plots will be listed on the Plots Tree View under the Exceedance heading.
Select the desired exceedance plot for a view of exceedance frequency in the modeling domain. The example below shows a maximum of 264 exceedances for a daily (24-hour) average threshold of 1 ug/m**3.
While the exceedance plot file generator is run automatically through AERMOD View, it can also be run independently to process existing Threshold Violation Files produced externally. This is done via the Tools | MAXIFILE Converter utility.
Simply point to the location of the existing Threshold Violation File, specify a name for the contour plot file, and click Convert.
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ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS ARTICLES |
Study Explores Impacts of Arctic Warming on Daily Weather Patterns in the U.S. |
March 11, 2024 - Arctic sea ice is shrinking as the world continues to warm, and a new study led by researchers at Penn State may provide a better understanding of how the loss of this ice may impact daily weather in the middle latitudes, like the United States.
Read more → |
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Soil May Release More Carbon than Expected, Affecting Climate Change Models |
March 14, 2024 - Some 80 percent of Earth’s carbon is held in soil. Now droughts are causing the release of increasing amounts of greenhouse gases.
Read more → |
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES |
2024 Conference Schedule |
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TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference (ETFC)
May 14-15, 2024 | Austin, TX | Booth # 1313
Learn more →
Air & Waste Management Association’s 117th Annual Conference & Exhibition
June 24-27, 2024 | Calgary, AB | Booth # 201
Learn more →
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LAKES SOFTWARE GROUP OF COMPANIES
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