SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- On-Road Vehicle Emissions in a Southern California Traffic Tunnel
- Notice Date
- 12/20/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (DOE Contractor), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado, 80401
- ZIP Code
- 80401
- Solicitation Number
- 40444KR
- Archive Date
- 2/5/2010
- Point of Contact
- Kathee Flanagan Roque, Phone: 303-275-3124, Randy K Combs, Phone: 303-275-4442
- E-Mail Address
-
kathee.roque@nrel.gov, randy.combs@nrel.gov
(kathee.roque@nrel.gov, randy.combs@nrel.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- "On-Road Vehicle Emissions in a Southern California Traffic Tunnel" I.BACKGROUND The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Health Impacts Program, in support of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies, is responsible for quantifying the effects of new vehicle technologies, fuels, and lubricants on air quality and human health. This proposed work effort is the fourth of a four-part effort that is designed to investigate the influence of different fuel compositions on on-road, real-world vehicle emissions. Emissions inventories are a fundamental building block of state air quality management programs. Comprehensive, reliable emissions data are, therefore, important for implementation of these programs. To provide states with information on the quality of their emission inventories and, perhaps, to identify deficiencies and possible remedies, different approaches are needed to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of current emission inventories. In its 2005 report “Improving Emissions Inventories for Effective Air Quality Management Across North America”, the North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO) Emissions Inventory Assessment Team identified eight principal findings and recommendations. The most critical finding is to reduce uncertainties associated with emissions from key under-characterized sources. Specifically, NARSTO recommended efforts to improve emission inventories “…by applying sensitivity and uncertainty analyses and by comparing them to independent sources of measured data. Such comparisons will help identify subsequent improvement priorities.” The NARSTO report identified on-road vehicle emissions as the most important sector of the inventory and described several methods for evaluating the emissions for this sector, including comparison of temporal trends in on-road vehicle emissions with ambient data, on-road vehicle emission ratios compared with ambient measurements, and evaluation of on-road vehicle emissions inventories with VOC speciation data. Different researchers over the years have outlined top-down and bottom-up approaches for reconciling ambient measurements with modeled mobile source emissions inventories of CO, VOC, and NOx. Top-down approaches include: •spatial and temporal comparisons of ambient and emissions inventory pollution ratios (e.g., NMOC/NOx and CO/NOx); •speciation profiles for VOCs; •comparisons of trends in ambient pollution concentrations (and concentration ratios) with corresponding emissions inventory trends; •source apportionment by receptor modeling; and •tunnel studies. As part of the 1987 Southern California Air Quality Study (SCAQS), the Coordinating Research Council funded a tunnel study, originally designed to measure unregulated pollutants from the on-road, real-world traffic fleet. The study was conducted in the Sherman Way tunnel under the Van Nuys airport runway. There were 21 sampling periods conducted in October and December, 1987. Although the tunnel was too short and sampling methods were not sufficient for collecting adequate samples for measurement of unregulated pollutants, the study measurements showed that running emission factors for hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides were 1.4-6.9, 1.1-3.6, and 0.6-1.4 times the California Air Resources Board’s EMFAC 7C mobile emissions model estimates, respectively. Since the SCAQS Tunnel Study, there have been vast improvements in lowering vehicle emissions by the manufacturers as emission regulations have become more stringent. Fuel formulations also have changed, and there is now an emphasis on so-called greenhouse gas emissions. II.OBJECTIVE The objective of the proposed project is to conduct an on-road mobile source emissions study in the Van Nuys Tunnel, so comparisons can be made between emissions and modeled data collected in 1987 and today’s current mobile emission model outputs. The study will exploit differing traffic patterns on weekdays and weekends, so as to provide additional information that can be used to compare observed on-road emissions data with modeled emissions estimates for the corresponding periods. In addition to regulated pollutants, so-called greenhouse gas emissions measurements will be obtained. III.TASKS It is anticipated that the following tasks may be performed to evaluate the 2005 base year emissions, as well as a general assessment of the historical emissions trend, for four major urban areas in the Midwest: Task Area 1 – Conduct Tunnel Study As directed by NREL, a Subcontractor may collect vehicle emissions data as measured in the Van Nuys Tunnel on six different days of the week – two weekdays, two Saturdays and two Sundays. Using data collected on those sampling days, emissions data may be calculated from the observed fleet for regulated and unregulated pollutants and greenhouse gases. Vehicle counts may be made during the sampling periods according to categories in the Federal and California motor vehicle emissions models. Task Area 2 – Top-Down Comparison of Ambient, Mobile Model, and Emission Inventory Data A Subcontractor may carry out an evaluation of ambient monitoring data from ambient air quality monitoring sites at locations near the Van Nuys traffic tunnel, using ratios of VOC/NOx, CO/NOx, and other species/parameters as available, for comparison with state and federal emission model estimates and current emission inventory estimates for the portion of the South Coast Air Basin nearest the Van Nuys tunnel. As possible, comparisons would be made for weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. IV.AREAS OF EXPERTISE Individuals or organizations responding to this Sources Sought Request must describe capabilities, attributes, and skills in the following specific areas. Respondents should identify their level of expertise in the cover pages of their submittal. (A) Expertise in performing ambient and source measurements of vehicle exhaust. (B) Development of and expertise with methods to perform “top-down” comparisons of ambient data and emission inventories. (C) Source apportionment methods for attributing ambient vapor- and particle-phase data to source types. (D) Publication of peer-reviewed papers on vehicle emissions, ambient/inventory comparisons, and source apportionment studies. V.RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS The response to this Sources Sought Request is limited to five pages of single-spaced text of 12-point Arial font or equivalent, with minimum 1” margins. Brevity is encouraged. Any organization interested in working with NREL to provide the technical expertise described within this document should mail a profile of qualifications, based on the Areas of Expertise listed above, to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Attn: Kathee Flanagan Roque, 1617 Cole Boulevard - MS 1533, Golden, CO 80401-3393. Telephone calls will not be accepted; however, submittals by e-mail are encouraged and should be sent to: kathee.roque@nrel.gov. Electronic format of the Sources Sought response would be in MSWord/Excel, or converted (without scanning) to.pdf. The profile/list of qualifications will respond directly to the items listed above. Responses to this notice, whether mailed hardcopy or electronically, must be received by 4:30 p.m. MST, on January 21, 2010. Responding to this request identifies your organization as an interested candidate only. Your submittal is not in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP).
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/NREL/NR/40444KR/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: To be determined by final Statement of Work in potential Request for Proposals., United States
- Record
- SN02028227-W 20091222/091220233035-86880a1245e249623c33ff01e7da7940 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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