SU0015801 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4 Environmental Analysis 4.8 Greenhouse Gas Emissions 4.8 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS This section identifies and evaluates issues related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that could occur as a result of implementation of the proposed Griffith Energy Storage Project (Project). It includes the physical and regulatory setting, the criteria used to evaluate the significance of potential impacts, the methods used in evaluating these impacts, and the results of the impact assessment. In addition, a Project-specific GHG emissions evaluation was completed as part of the Air Quality, and Greenhouse Gas Technical Report for the Project. San Joaquin County (County) did not receive any scoping comments related to GHG emissions. 4.8.1 Existing Conditions 4.8.1.1 The Greenhouse Effect The past 8 years have been the warmest years since modern recordkeeping began in 1880. The years 2016 and 2020 are tied for the warmest year on record. The earth's global average surface temperature in 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth warmest year on record, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA 2021). Certain gases in the earth's atmosphere, classified as GHGs, play a critical role in determining the earth's surface temperature. A GHG is any gas in the atmosphere that absorbs infrared radiation. As solar radiation enters the earth's atmosphere, a portion of the radiation is absorbed by the earth's surface and a portion is reflected back through the atmosphere into space. The absorbed radiation is eventually emitted from the earth into the atmosphere as infrared radiation. Most solar radiation passes through GHGs; infrared radiation is selectively absorbed or"trapped" by GHGs as heat and then reradiated back toward the earth's surface, warming the lower atmosphere and the earth's surface. This phenomenon, known as the "greenhouse effect," is beneficial for maintaining a habitable climate on the earth. As the atmospheric concentrations of GHGs rise, however, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere gradually increases, thereby increasing the potential for indirect effects, such as a decrease in precipitation as snow, a rise in sea level, and changes to plant and animal species and habitat. Whereas pollutants with localized air quality effects have relatively short atmospheric lifetimes (about 1 day), GHGs have long atmospheric lifetimes (1 year to several thousand years) and persist in the atmosphere long enough to be dispersed globally. Although the exact lifetime of any particular GHG molecule depends on multiple variables and cannot be pinpointed, scientific evidence reveals that more carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted into the atmosphere then is sequestered by ocean uptake, vegetation, and other forms of sequestration. Of the total annual human-caused CO2 emissions, approximately 54 percent is sequestered through ocean uptake, uptake by northern hemisphere forest regrowth, and other terrestrial sinks within a year, whereas the remaining 46 percent of human-caused CO2 emissions remains stored in the atmosphere. The quantity of GHGs that it takes to ultimately result in climate change is not known precisely, although scientific evidence strongly indicates no single project would be expected to contribute measurably to a noticeable incremental change in the global average temperature. 4.8.1.2 Greenhouse Gases GHGs are emitted by natural processes and human activities. Natural GHG sources include decomposition of dead organic matter; respiration of bacteria, plants, animals, and fungus; Griffith Energy Storage Project 4.8-1 Tetra Tech/SCH 2022120675 Draft Environmental Impact Report August 2023