EPA releases updated mobile source emissions model

by Jbs122609 — December 28, 2009—An updated version of the Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model, MOVES2010, is now available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for users to estimate air pollution from cars, trucks, and other on-road mobile sources.

The model can also calculate the emissions reduction benefits from a range of mobile source control strategies, such as inspection and maintenance programs and local fuel standards. EPA will soon publish a Federal Register notice approving MOVES2010 for meeting official state implementation plan and transportation conformity requirements.

The MOVES2010 model replaces EPA’s MOBILE6.2 emissions factor model. As a result of using data continually collected from millions of cars and trucks gathered since MOBILE6.2 was released in 2004, MOVES2010 provides increased accuracy in emissions inventory results, says EPA.

For the first time, the model can estimate emissions on a range of scales from national emissions impacts down to the impacts of individual transportation projects. Another improvement is the ability to express output as either total mass (in tons, pounds, kilograms, or grams) or as emissions factors (grams-per-mile, and in some cases, grams-per-vehicle), notes EPA.