Measurement of carbon dioxide and detailed emission inventory preparation from different sources over Madurai, India

This paper analyzes diurnal, monthly, seasonal variations of CO2 along with the meteorological parameters at Madurai (9° 92'' N and 78° 12'' E), an urban site from January-2015 to December-2015 by using a Non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR) based instrument. The highest hourly two peaks are observed in noon (476.8 ± 12.9 ppm between 12-1 PM) and in night (478.5 ± 13.7 ppm between 7-8 PM) respectively. The CO2 concentration is lower (437.93 ± 2.77 ppm) in early morning 5-6 AM. As far as, the monthly variation of CO2 is also concerned high in the month of May (487.19 ± 28.3 ppm) and low in July (444.70 ± 18.2 ppm). The seasonal variation is observed to be maximum in summer (478.33 ± 13.03 ppm) and minimum in the post-monsoon season (448.27 ± 16.8 ppm). An emission inventory is prepared based on the transportation and the electrical consumption in household activities by using a bottom-up approach method. The CO2 emission estimated from transportation is around 85.1 tonnes /day and 10289.5 kilo tonnes /year. By the consumption of electricity, the total emission of CO2 is approximately 3.3 tonnes /day and 1.2 kilo tonnes /year is estimated. Statistical analysis is carried out to find the relationship between carbon dioxide concentration and meteorological parameters observed in this study. Based on the results of statistical analysis, not only the meteorological parameters change varied the carbon dioxide concentration but also by traffic flow, types of vehicles and road types the concentration differs in this city.