GHG mitigation options database (GMOD) and analysis tool

a b s t r a c t There is a growing public consensus that the primary cause of climate change is anthropogenic green- house gas (GHG) emissions and that it will be necessary for the global community to use low-carbon technologies in both the energy and industrial sectors (IEA, 2013). As a result of the recent focus on GHG emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies are implementing policies and programs to quantify and regulate GHG emissions from sources in the United States. These policies and programs have generated a need for a reliable source of information regarding GHG mitiga- tion options. In response to this need, EPA developed a comprehensive GHG mitigation options database (GMOD). The database is a repository of data on available GHG technologies in various stages of devel- opment for several industry sectors. It can also be used to assess the performance, costs, and limitations of various mitigation control options. This paper further describes the objectives of GMOD, the data available in GMOD, and functionality of GMOD as an analysis tool. In addition, examples are provided to demonstrate GMOD's usability and capabilities. A comparison of GMOD to other existing GHG mitigation databases is also provided along with the recommended next steps for GMOD.