Environmental Justice and Systems Analysis for Air Quality Planning in the Port of Oakland in California.

Many frontline communities experience adverse health impacts from living in proximity to high-polluting industrial sources. Securing environmental justice requires, in part, a comprehensive set of quantitative indicators. We incorporate environmental justice and life-cycle thinking into air quality planning to assess fine particulate matter (PM) exposure and monetized damages from operating and maintaining the Port of Oakland, a major multimodal marine port located in the historically marginalized West Oakland community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Exploring Regional Reduction Pathways for Human Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter (PM) Using a Traffic Assignment Model.

An exposure-based traffic assignment (TA) model is used to quantify primary and secondary fine particulate matter (PM) exposure from on-road vehicle flow on the Chicago Metropolitan Area regional network. PM exposure due to emissions from light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, public transportation, and electricity generation for electric vehicle charging and light-rail transportation is considered. The model uses travel demand data disaggregated by time-of-day period and vehicle user class to compare the exposure impacts of two TA optimization scenarios: a baseline user equilibrium with respect to travel time (UET) and a system optimal with respect to pollutant intake (SOI).

Exploring Regional Fine Particulate Matter (PM) Exposure Reduction Pathways Using an Optimal Power Flow Model: The Case of the Illinois Power Grid.

This work develops an exposure-based optimal power flow model (OPF) that accounts for fine particulate matter (PM) exposure from electricity generation unit (EGU) emissions. Advancing health-based dispatch models to an OPF with transmission constraints and reactive power flow is an essential development given its utility for short- and long-term planning by system operators. The model enables the assessment of the exposure mitigation potential and the feasibility of intervention strategies while still prioritizing system costs and network stability.