Overview of the Lifecycle Emissions Model (LEM)

The task of developing and evaluating strategies to reduce emissions of urban air pollutants and greenhouse gases is complicated. There are many ways to produce and use energy, many sources of emissions in an energy lifecycle, and several kinds of pollutants (or greenhouse gases) emitted at each source. An evaluation of strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases must be broad, detailed, and systematic. It must encompass the full "lifecycle" of a particular technology or policy, and include all of the relevant pollutants and their effects. Towards this end, I have developed a detailed, comprehensive model of lifecycle emissions of urban air pollutants and greenhouse gases from the use of variety of transportation modes.