Environmental Data

Candi Clouse, PhD

June 28, 2021 18:56

INTRODUCTION

The Environmental Data in Region Details contains information about the Selected Region and Data Year. From the Regions screen, click the View Region Details button or click the name of the region. Note that all the data in Region Details is nominal; it is not adjusted for inflation.

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA DETAILS

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). While the ratios are Industry-specific, the EPA data have somewhat less Industry-specificity than the IMPLAN data, such that some EPA ratios are mapped to more than one IMPLAN Industry; in other words, some IMPLAN Industries have the same environmental ratios. These ratios can be applied to the IMPLAN modeling system in order to gain insight into the environmental impacts associated with economic impact scenarios.

There are currently three different Environmental Release Years available in IMPLAN: 2024, 2023 and 2019. At this time, the 2024 Environmental Release Year is only available for the 528 Industry Set. The 528 Industry Set is specifically for the U.S. data in the 2023 Data Year at this time. All previous Data Years will require the use of the 546 Industries Set and either 2023 or 2019 Environmental Release Years (which are not available for the 2023 Data Year) until the release of the updated IMPLAN 528 Industry Set time series data (coming in 2025).

Below is the list of the 12 broad categories of environmental data we have, pulled directly from the USEEIO model:

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

Additionally, IMPLAN Estimates of Land Use and Greenhouse Gasses now also include equivalencies data from the ReCiPe method of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) for the 2023 Environmental Release year and beyond. These data extrapolate upon what is already available for Greenhouse Gasses and Land Use, allowing users to compare the environmental damages caused by resource use or flowable pollution in a more equitable fashion.

REGION ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMARY

This top table totals each of the twelve accounts of environmental categories by the 528 IMPLAN Industries and the units for each:

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

REGION ENVIRONMENTAL DETAILS

The Region Environmental Details shows the total unit value by each of the 528 IMPLAN Industries.

Environment Name = the emissions output by each environmental category
Environment Unit = all unit values are measures of mass in kilograms (kg) except Land Use unit values are square meters per year (m2*a), part of Mineral Extraction in megajoules (MJ), and part of Point Source Releases to Water in becquerels (KBq)
Unit per $ of Output = Ratio of physical environment unit value per dollar of Output
Environmental Output = Total output of emissions by each environmental category

DAMAGES FROM GREENHOUSE GASES

The Damages from Greenhouse Gases dashboard displays greenhouse gases as carbon dioxide equivalents, kg CO2 eq, that represent global warming potential (GWP) over 20 years, 100 years, and 1000 years for each IMPLAN Industry. This data is only available for the 2023 Environmental Release Year.

"GWP20, 100, 1000" refers to the "Global Warming Potential" of a greenhouse gas, with "20" indicating the potential over a 20-year timeframe, and "100" signifying the potential over a 100-year timeframe, and "1000" signifying the potential over a 1000-year timeframe. The EPA typically uses the "100-year GWP" to compare the environmental impact of different greenhouse gases, meaning they consider how much heat a gas will trap over a 100-year period relative to carbon dioxide (CO2) which is assigned a GWP of 1 per kilogram. To learn more about GWP, read the EPA’s Understanding Global Warming Potentials.

DAMAGES FROM LAND USE

The Damages from Land Use dashboard converts the land use into crop equivalents and species years for each IMPLAN Industry.

Annual Crop EQ = converts varying types of land use into an equivalent measure in meters squared for comparison to one another in terms of impact to the environment
Species Years = converts the annual crop equivalents to endpoint units of species loss per year per meter squared of annual crop equivalents

This data is only available for the 2023 Environmental Release Year and beyond.

SORTING

The title bar displayed across the top of each Environmental table contains buttons that can change the viewing attributes of the table. Column titles act as sorting buttons. Initially most views are sorted by Industry or Commodity code in ascending value (first row is 1 last row is 528). To change the way all fields in the table are arranged, click on the title of the desired column. All data in the table will be sorted in descending order (highest values listed at the top of the table) relative to the column title. To change how the data is sorted, click on another field. When the view has been sorted by a column other than Industry Code, the selected column title will appear with an arrow to its right indicating that the table has been sorted by this column header.

DOWNLOADING

The download function allows data to be exported as a CSV or PDF by clicking on the Dashboard Actions icon in the upper right corner of the table.