What's New List Serve Post Display

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) invites you to
participate in a public workshop to discuss the development of
improved mobile source planning tools for air quality assessment
at ARB.   At this workshop, staff will present updates that are
under development for three tools: the Emission Factor (EMFAC)
model, the California Vehicle Activity Database (Cal-VAD) tool
for measuring mobile source Vehicle Miles Traveled in California,
and the Vision Scenario Modeling tool for analyzing the impact of
new vehicle technologies and improved transportation efficiencies
on forecasted emissions in California.  ARB is developing these
tools to lay the technical foundation for air quality planning
and development of State Implementation Plans.   

The workshop will be held at the following date, time and
location:

Sacramento: (will also be webcast)

Date: 		Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Time: 		10:00 a.m. –1:00 p.m. 
Location: 	Cal/EPA Headquarters Building
		Byron Sher Auditorium
		1001 I Street
		Sacramento, CA 95814


Webcast Information

A live video/audio webcast will be available for those unable to
attend in person. The webcast can be accessed at:
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/. Information on submitting
questions or comments will be provided during the webcast for
remote participants. The workshop materials will be posted in
advance of the workshop at http://www.arb.ca.gov/msei/msei.htm.


Workshop Information and Background

The past several decades have seen dramatic improvements in air
quality as a result of regulations that reduced emissions from
stationary and mobile sources.  However, substantial additional
emissions reductions will be necessary to meet more stringent
ozone air quality standards and California’s long-term greenhouse
gas emissions reduction goals.  Meeting these targets will
require a transition to zero and near-zero emissions
technologies.  ARB is expanding mobile source analysis tools to
support air quality planning focused on achieving this
transition.  
The EMFAC model is the primary tool that ARB uses to assess
emissions from cars, trucks, and buses.  Originally developed to
support low emission vehicle regulations, EMFAC is now being used
to support climate change and  regional scale air quality
planning, development of ARB regulations focused on in-use
vehicles as well as new emissions standards, and assessment of
project level emissions impacts for transportation planning.  In
this workshop updates to the EMFAC model focused on providing
improved functionalities in these areas will be discussed.  

Two new additional tools will be discussed in the workshop:  the
Cal-VAD and the Vision Scenario Modeling tools.  Cal-VAD is a new
tool designed to combine on-road vehicle count information from
multiple data sources into a new database of roadway specific
vehicle miles traveled estimates.  This tool is currently under
development and will be made publicly available when completed. 
The Vision Scenario Modeling tool is designed for assessing how
vehicle technology penetration and transportation efficiency
policies might affect criteria and greenhouse gas emissions in
the future.  ARB customized the VISION model (originally
developed by Argonne National Laboratory) using
California-specific inputs for on-road and off-road vehicles, and
expanded the model to evaluate criteria pollutants in addition to
greenhouse gases.  

Special Accommodations 

If you require a special accommodation or need this document in
an alternate format (i.e. Braille, large print) or another
language, please contact Dr. Chengfeng Wang at (916) 322-1719 or
cwang@arb.ca.gov as soon as possible, but no later than 10
business days before the scheduled workshop.  TTY/TDD/Speech to
Speech users may dial 711 for the California Relay Service. 

If you did not receive this notice directly and would like to
receive notices to stay informed of future updates to mobile
source emissions inventory tools, please sign up for the “MSEI”
listserve at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/listserv/listserv_ind.php?listname=msei .

If you have questions regarding the public workshop, please
contact Dr. Chengfeng Wang at (916) 322-1719 or
cwang@arb.ca.gov.