UrbanCO2FLUX: Quantifying the impact of the urban biosphere on the net flux of CO2 from cities into the atmosphere.
9/2015-9/2018
Researcher: Gara Villalba. Ongoing phase: UC Merced, California, USA. Incoming phase: UAB, Bellaterra, Spain
a. Summary
Gara Villalba is associate professor of the Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her bachelor’s degree is from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998), and her PhD from the University of Barcelona (2003), both in chemical engineering. She dedicates her research to the study and optimization of resource metabolism, a broad multidisciplinary area where she applies her chemical engineering skills to industrial ecology methods such as Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Analysis. The applications of this systems-focused research are diverse and multidisciplinary, such as: assessing the sustainability of new technologies that make use of non-renewable and scarce metals; quantifying the material, energy and water consumption at urban scale to establish baseline GHG emission accounting protocols; waste-to-energy optimization and evaluation for improved municipal solid waste management. She is a visiting scholar at the School of Engineering, UC Merced, where she is investigating the use atmospheric modeling to quantify GHG emissions in urban regions.
Funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020, grant number 653950
b. Scientific dissemination
- Poster presentation at AGU conference in San Francisco, December 2016.
- Seminar at UC Merced April 6th, 2017
Carbonyl sulfide serves as tattletale for biosphere signal. GEIA Conference "Emissions Science for a Healthy Environment". Hamburg, Germany, September 2017
c. Deliverables
Deliverable 1.1 At the beginning of the fellowship, I will establish my career development plan (CDP). It will be important to determine and map out with specific targets how my training in UC Merced will help me develop new skills that are applicable in the European context and how I will accomplish the integration in Europe in the return phase and thereafter. The progress on my CDP will be tracked throughout the meetings. Month 1.
Deliverable 3.1. Report documenting methods and instrumentation that can be used as a guide during the implementation in the European context. Based on expertise gained from WP 1 and WP2. Month 16.
Deliverable 4.1. Article submission to a top-notch scientific journal with potential topics: what is the impact of the urban biosphere on the next flux of CO2 from cities into the atmosphere? based on the results of our modeling efforts and the interdisciplinary collaboration. Month 24.
Deliverable 5.1. Submission of an article addressing the research questions: how do the CO2 emissions calculated based on GHG emission inventories (such as scope 1, 2 and 3 of WRI) compare to the fossil-derived CO2 flux calculated by the UrbanCO2FLUX method? What is the contribution of gross primary production and respiration to the urban CO2 cycle? Month 36.
Deliverable 5.2. Submission of an article addressing the research questions: how do the CO2 emissions calculated based on GHG emission inventories (such as scope 1, 2 and 3 of WRI) compare to the fossil-derived CO2 flux calculated by the UrbanCO2FLUX method? What is the contribution of gross primary production and respiration to the urban CO2 cycle? Month 36.
If you are interested in looking at any of these deliverables, please contact [email protected]
Public outreach
- Elementary school field trip to Yosemite National park with Nature Bridge, November 30th- Dec 1, 2016.
- Teaching about climate change to elementary school students.
- Guest seminar at Mariposa High School about multidisciplinary studies.
