Environmental Data in Data Library

INTRODUCTION

In the Data Library, we have Environmental data for each Industry going back to 2001. This way users can quickly look at Industry changes by Environmental pollutant and Year for a region using the Dashboard or Explore. This article will detail IMPLAN’s 2023 Environmental Data Release in Data Library. For more information on the 2019 Environmental Data Release, refer to our 2019 Environmental Data Release Notes

OVERVIEW

IMPLAN’s environmental data consist of ratios representing physical emissions or inputs per dollar of Industry Output, with the physical unit depending on the particular pollutant or input under consideration. For IMPLAN’s environmental ratios, we use the EPA’s USEEIO data (version 2.0). The total amount of emissions/inputs comes directly from the EPA, while the output used to create ratios comes from IMPLAN. The EPA data has somewhat less sector-specificity than the IMPLAN data, so the total amount of emissions/inputs may be mapped to more than one IMPLAN sector. This means that ratios for each IMPLAN sector should be unique, despite sharing the numerator of total emissions across a few industries. These ratios can be used to gain insight into some of the environmental impacts associated with a given economic impact modeled via the IMPLAN system. They can also be used to compare environmental footprints across geographies or time.

This raw data covers most of what goes into this data set, with the exception of the data used for splitting out GHG emissions for our electricity-producing sectors. Data was taken from this EPA eGRID website to adjust CO2 and CH4 total amounts. N2O emissions come only from the fossil fuel electricity sector, so we also removed the rows for N2O for the other sectors. 

Below is the list of the 12 broad Categories of Environmental Data we have, listed by table acronym pulled directly from the USEEIO model: each Environmental Category has a number of more-detailed “Environment Names” or “Environment Contexts” that represent more specific types within the broader group. 

The 12 Environmental Categories are:

  • CHAIR:  
    • Criteria and Hazardous Air Emissions 
    • Examples:  
      • Nitrogen Dioxide 
      • Chromium III 
      • Formaldehyde 
      • Styrene 
      • Chlorine 
  • CNHW:  
    • Commercial Non-Hazardous Waste Excluding Construction 
    • Examples: 
      • Tires 
      • Ash 
      • Aluminum Cans 
      • Paper Bags 
  • CNHWC:  
    • Commercial Non-Hazardous Waste From Construction Activities 
    • Examples:  
      • Asphalt Pavement 
      • Bricks 
      • Cardboard 
      • Glass 
      • Drywall 
  • CRHW:  
    • Commercial RCRA-Defined Hazardous Waste 
    • Examples: 
      • Dried Paint 
      • Sodium Azide 
      • Waste Oil 
      • 2-Butanone 
  • GHG:  
    • Greenhouse Gasses 
    • Examples:  
      • CO2 
      • N2O 
      • Sulfur Hexafluoride 
  • GRDREL:  
    • Point Source Industrial Releases to Ground 
    • Examples: 
      • Ammonia 
      • Lead 
      • Zinc compounds 
      • Mercury 
      • Anthracene 
  • LAND:  
    • Land Use 
    • Examples:  
      • Land use by m2*a 
  • MINE:  
    • Mineral Extraction 
    • Examples: 
      • Copper 
      • Lead 
      • Gold 
  • NPAG: 
    • Nitrogen and Phosphorus Releases from Agriculture 
    • Examples: 
      • Nitrogen 
      • Phosphorus 
  • PEST: 
    • Pesticide Releases 
    • Examples: 
      • Pyraclostrobin 
      • Imazamox 
      • Carbaryl 
  • WAT: 
    • Water Withdrawals 
    • Examples: 
      • Water, fresh (emission and resource) 
      • Water, saline  
  • WATREL: 
    • Point Source Releases to Water 
    • Examples:  
      • Formaldehyde 
      • Nitrogen 
      • Zinc 
      • Aluminum

Industries will be missing a Units per dollar of Industry Output where the EPA value is zero or indistinguishable from zero in a given category.

 

DASHBOARD

This Dashboard includes three tiles:  

  • Year over Year is a line chart showing the Environmental Output of the filtered Category over Data Years for the filter Region(s).  
  • County View is a map chart of Environmental Output of the filtered Category by Five Digit Fips (this is the county code Looker uses to map the data). 
  • Environmental is a table chart of the Environmental Output of the filtered Category and the total Output by Industry for the filtered Region(s).

 

When viewing a Dashboard, use the filters to change the data points displayed. Filter options include: 

  • Data Year: most recent Data Year by default in County View and Commodity Table tiles. All available Data Years are displayed in the Year over Year tile (filter does not apply to this tile).
    • Note, Environmental Output data is produced by applying the Environmental Units per dollar of Output ratios to each Data Year of Industry Output data. 
  • State: by default North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
  • County: no county filter is set by default
  • Aggregation: Aggregation level of Industries by default is the unaggregated 546 scheme
  • Industry: no industry filter is set by default
  • Environmental Release Year: set to 2023 by default
  • Environmental Category: by default Greenhouse Gasses (GHG)

The Dashboard actions in the upper right provides more options such as downloading the Dashboard to a PDF. On each tile, click the Tile actions (a series of three vertical dots that appear in the upper right of a tile when hovering over it with a cursor) for the option to download the data within that tile. Select Explore from here within the Tile actions to access more data query options. Exploring from the Dashboard allows users to dig into the data starting from the settings within the Dashboard tile. 

EXPLORE

Explore the Environmental Data by selecting Environmental from the Explore dropdown menu, or by selecting Explore from here from an Environmental  Data Dashboard Tile or Look. 

By default in Explore, a filter is set for the most recent Data Year. It is recommended to always either filter or pivot on Data Year. Otherwise, data measures will be summed over Data Years. The default Aggregation Scheme Param is 546 Unaggregated. Industry Dimensions will be available in the 546 Industry scheme with this setting. Additionally, there is a default filter for the Environment Category and Environmental Release Year (2023).

FILTER-ONLY FIELDS

AGGREGATION SCHEME PARAM

The aggregation filter provides the option to view data by Industry at one of the following levels of granularity:

  • 546 Unaggregated: most granular. Data is available for each IMPLAN Industry according to the most recent 546 Industry Scheme. 
  • IMPLAN 2 Digit NAICS 546: Data is aggregated for Industries corresponding to each 2 Digit NAICS.
  • IMPLAN 3 Digit NAICS 546: Data is aggregated for Industries corresponding to each 3 Digit NAICS.

Download the 2022 aggregated NAICS to IMPLAN 546 Industries bridge for details. 

DIMENSIONS

Select a Dimension to include as a column with all Dimension possibilities.

 

Click Filter on a Dimension to specify which Dimension possibilities appear in the data query. 

Click Pivot on a Dimension to transpose the Dimension rows into columns. 

Dimensions Details
County

All U.S. counties are possible Dimensions. 

When states are selected in the State filter, only counties within the filtered states will appear in the county filter or in the data query when selected.

Data Year All IMPLAN Data Years are possible Dimensions.
Environment Category All detailed Environment Categories are possible Dimensions:
  • Criteria and Hazardous Air Emissions 
  • Commercial Non-Hazardous Waste Excluding Construction 
  • Commercial Non-Hazardous Waste From Construction Activities
  • Commercial RCRA-Defined Hazardous Waste 
  • Greenhouse Gasses
  • Point Source Industrial Releases to Ground
  • Land Use 
  • Mineral Extraction 
  • Nitrogen and Phosphorus Releases from Agriculture
  • Pesticide Releases
  • Water Withdrawals
  • Point Source Releases to Water  
Environment Context All detailed Environment Contexts are possible Dimensions. (Offers more detailed breakdown of Environment Categories) 
Environment Name All detailed Environment Names are possible Dimensions. (Offers more detailed breakdown of Environment Categories) 
Environment Unit

The following are possible Dimensions:

  • Kg
  • m2*a
  • MJ
  • kBq

All Unit Values are measures of mass in kilograms (kg) with a few exceptions. Land Use measures are in square meters per year (m2*a), “Peat” listed under Mineral Extraction is measured in megajoules (MJ), and “Radium-226” & “Technetium-99” listed under Point Source Releases to Water is measured in kilobecquerel (kBq).

Five Digit Fips

A Five Digit Fips is a county code. The first two digits indicate the state and the following three digits indicate the county. All U.S. Five Digit Fips codes are possible Dimensions. 

This Dimension is used to map the data in the County View Map Chart found on the Dashboard. A list of FIPS codes can be found at the following link: 

 

https://www.census.gov/library/reference/code-lists/ansi.html#top

Industry All 546 IMPLAN Industries are possible Dimensions.

This Dimension lists Industries as the Industry Code (number) hyphen Industry Description (name).
Industry Code All 546 IMPLAN Industry Codes (numbers) are possible Dimensions. 
Industry Description  All 546 IMPLAN Industry Descriptions (names) are possible Dimensions. 
Region 

All 50 States plus the District of Columbia are possible Dimensions. 

Pivoting or selecting Region will display filtered states when filtering on state and will display filtered counties when filtering on county. 

State All 50 States plus the District of Columbia are possible Dimensions. 

 

 

MEASURES

Measures are displayed based on Dimension settings. Select a Measure to include as a column in the data query. 

Measures Details
Environmental Output Environment Unit Value of Output (i.e. 1,000,000 kg of Greenhouse Gases) 
Nominal Output  Total Industry Output in nominal, unadjusted dollars (Dollar Year = Data Year)
Units per $ of Output Ratio of physical Environmental Output per dollar of Industry Output

Industry Output times Units per $ of Output produces the Environmental Output Measure

(Some industries will be missing a Unit per $ Output in each Category) 

 

 

RESOURCES

USSEIO v2.0 Description of Satellite Tables Updates

Yang, Y., W.W. Ingwersen, T.R. Hawins M. Srocka and D.E. Meyer, 2017. USEEIO: A new and transparent United States environmentally extended input-output model. Journal of Cleaner Production, 158: 308-318.

RELATED ARTICLES

Using Environmental Data

2023 Environmental Release Notes

Explores - Looks - Dashboards

2019 Environmental Release Notes

 

Updated November 13, 2023