Paulina Jaramillo
Biographic Data
| ID | 6562675 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paulina Jaramillo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paulina |
| FAMILY NAME | Jaramillo |
| SIGNATURE | JARAMILLO P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carnegie Mellon University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4214-1106 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Macro energy systems modeling for the least developed and developing countries—a call for action
The least developed and developing countries need to increase their energy consumption to support economic growth. However, such growth in energy demand could potentially result in a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Herein lies one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: providing energy that enables economic growth in the least developed and developing regions while meeting climate stabilization goals. Macro energy system…
Techno-economic feasibility of small-scale pressurized irrigation in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda through an integrated modeling approach
Agriculture contributes up to 50% of the gross domestic product in some East African countries and is the backbone of the region’s economy. Most farmers rely on traditional, small-scale subsistence farming with low fertilizer use and low-yield seeds. Similarly, less than 3% of the total cultivated area employs any form of irrigation, mostly non-pressurized. Meanwhile, electricity providers frequently struggle with low and unpredictable demand, ch…
Compounding climate change impacts during high stress periods for a high wind and solar power system in Texas
Power system planning aims at ensuring that sufficient supply- and demand-side assets exist to meet electricity demand at all times. For a Texas electric power system with high wind and solar penetrations, we quantify how climate change will affect supply and demand during three types of high stress periods for the power grid: high demand hours, high net demand hours, and high system ramp hours. We specifically quantify effects on demand, reducti…
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
Net-zero emissions energy systems
Path to zero carbon emissions Models show that to avert dangerous levels of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must fall to zero later this century. Most of these emissions arise from energy use. Davis et al. review what it would take to achieve decarbonization of the energy system. Some parts of the energy system are particularly difficult to decarbonize, including aviation, long-distance transport, steel and cement production, and …
Sustainability implications of electricity outages in sub-Saharan Africa
Beyond Global Warming Potential: A Comparative Application of Climate Impact Metrics for the Life Cycle Assessment of Coal and Natural Gas Based Electricity
In the ongoing debate about the climate benefits of fuel switching from coal to natural gas for power generation, the metrics used to model climate impacts may be important. In this article, we evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal and natural gas used in new, advanced power plants using a broad set of available climate metrics in order to test for the robustness of results. Climate metrics included in the article are global wa…
Greenhouse gas mitigation for U.S. plastics production: Energy first, feedstocks later
Plastics production is responsible for 1% and 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and primary energy use, respectively. Replacing conventional plastics with bio-based plastics (made from renewable feedstocks) is frequently proposed as a way to mitigate these impacts. Comparatively little research has considered the potential for green energy to reduce emissions in this industry. This paper compares two strategies for reducing greenhouse gas…
Carbon dioxide emissions effects of grid-scale electricity storage in a decarbonizing power system
While grid-scale electricity storage (hereafter 'storage') could be crucial for deeply decarbonizing the electric power system, it would increase carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in current systems across the United States. To better understand how storage transitions from increasing to decreasing system CO2 emissions, we quantify the effect of storage on operational CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO2 emiss…
Quantifying the capacity value of natural gas efficiency in New England
Marginal costs of water savings from cooling system retrofits: A case study for Texas power plants
The water demands of power plant cooling systems may strain water supply and make power generation vulnerable to water scarcity. Cooling systems range in their rates of water use, capital investment, and annual costs. Using Texas as a case study, we examined the cost of retrofitting existing coal and natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plants with alternative cooling systems, either wet recirculating towers or air-cooled condensers for dry co…
Consequential life cycle air emissions externalities for plug-in electric vehicles in the PJM interconnection
We perform a consequential life cycle analysis of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and conventional gasoline vehicles in the PJM interconnection using a detailed, normative optimization model of the PJM electricity grid that captures the change in power plant operations and related emissions due to vehicle charging. We estimate and monetize the resulting human health and environmental damages from life cycle air …
Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from future Amazonian hydroelectric reservoirs
Brazil plans to meet the majority of its growing electricity demand with new hydropower plants located in the Amazon basin. However, large hydropower plants located in tropical forested regions may lead to significant carbon dioxide and methane emission. Currently, no predictive models exist to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions before the reservoir is built. This paper presents two different approaches to investigate the future carbon balance…
Energy development and Native Americans: Values and beliefs about energy from the Navajo Nation
Technical tools and techno-centric methods used for energy resource management and policy planning and development can miss important social and cultural factors. This can in turn result in a failure to recognize potential barriers and opportunities for energy and resource development in culturally diverse communities. Given the complexity of socio-technical energy systems, multidisciplinary analysis approaches are needed to ensure that modeling …
What day-ahead reserves are needed in electric grids with high levels of wind power
Day-ahead load and wind power forecasts provide useful information for operational decision making, but they are imperfect and forecast errors must be offset with operational reserves and balancing of (real time) energy. Procurement of these reserves is of great operational and financial importance in integrating large-scale wind power. We present a probabilistic method to determine net load forecast uncertainty for day-ahead wind and load foreca…
Production cost and air emissions impacts of coal cycling in power systems with large-scale wind penetration
Wind power introduces variability into electric power systems. Due to the physical characteristics of wind, most of this variability occurs at inter-hour time-scales and coal units are therefore technically capable of balancing wind. Operators of coal-fired units have raised concerns that additional cycling will be prohibitively costly. Using PJM bid-data, we observe that coal operators are likely systematically under-bidding their startup costs.…
The effect of long-distance interconnection on wind power variability
We use time- and frequency-domain techniques to quantify the extent to which long-distance interconnection of wind plants in the United States would reduce the variability of wind power output. Previous work has shown that interconnection of just a few wind plants across moderate distances could greatly reduce the ratio of fast- to slow-ramping generators in the balancing portfolio. We find that interconnection of aggregate regional wind plants w…
Implications of changing natural gas prices in the United States electricity sector for SO 2 , NO X and life cycle GHG emissions
Projections of increased domestic natural gas supply and low prices have encouraged increased natural gas utilization in the United States electricity sector. Natural gas can offset coal, likely decreasing overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air emissions such as SO2 and NO X . Previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies using limited system boundaries have attempted to quantify the benefit of offsetting coal use. However, these stu…
Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of Marcellus shale gas
This study estimates the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production of Marcellus shale natural gas and compares its emissions with national average US natural gas emissions produced in the year 2008, prior to any significant Marcellus shale development. We estimate that the development and completion of a typical Marcellus shale well results in roughly 5500 t of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions or about 1.8 g CO2e/MJ of gas …
Reducing environmental burdens of solid-state lighting through end-of-life design
With 20% of US electricity used for lighting, energy efficient solid-state lighting technology could have significant benefits. While energy efficiency in use is important, the life cycle cost, energy and environmental impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting could be reduced by reusing, remanufacturing or recycling components of the end products. Design decisions at this time for the nascent technology can reduce material and m…
The Green Design Apprenticeship: How an Outreach Program Strengthens Graduate Research
In order to convey the results of our industrial ecology research to broader audiences, the Green Design Institute research group at Carnegie Mellon University offers the Green Design Apprenticeship for local high school students. The Green Design Apprenticeship introduces participants to industrial ecology concepts and how they intersect with engineering. The content of the program has evolved to include the topics of life cycle assessment, ener…
Energy development and Native Americans: Values and beliefs about energy from the Navajo Nation
Technical tools and techno-centric methods used for energy resource management and policy planning and development can miss important social and cultural factors. This can in turn result in a failure to recognize potential barriers and opportunities for energy and resource development in culturally diverse communities. Given the complexity of socio-technical energy systems, multidisciplinary analysis approaches are needed to ensure that modeling …
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
Sustainability implications of electricity outages in sub-Saharan Africa
The Green Design Apprenticeship: How an Outreach Program Strengthens Graduate Research
In order to convey the results of our industrial ecology research to broader audiences, the Green Design Institute research group at Carnegie Mellon University offers the Green Design Apprenticeship for local high school students. The Green Design Apprenticeship introduces participants to industrial ecology concepts and how they intersect with engineering. The content of the program has evolved to include the topics of life cycle assessment, ener…
Reducing environmental burdens of solid-state lighting through end-of-life design
With 20% of US electricity used for lighting, energy efficient solid-state lighting technology could have significant benefits. While energy efficiency in use is important, the life cycle cost, energy and environmental impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting could be reduced by reusing, remanufacturing or recycling components of the end products. Design decisions at this time for the nascent technology can reduce material and m…
Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of Marcellus shale gas
This study estimates the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production of Marcellus shale natural gas and compares its emissions with national average US natural gas emissions produced in the year 2008, prior to any significant Marcellus shale development. We estimate that the development and completion of a typical Marcellus shale well results in roughly 5500 t of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions or about 1.8 g CO2e/MJ of gas …
The effect of long-distance interconnection on wind power variability
We use time- and frequency-domain techniques to quantify the extent to which long-distance interconnection of wind plants in the United States would reduce the variability of wind power output. Previous work has shown that interconnection of just a few wind plants across moderate distances could greatly reduce the ratio of fast- to slow-ramping generators in the balancing portfolio. We find that interconnection of aggregate regional wind plants w…
Implications of changing natural gas prices in the United States electricity sector for SO 2 , NO X and life cycle GHG emissions
Projections of increased domestic natural gas supply and low prices have encouraged increased natural gas utilization in the United States electricity sector. Natural gas can offset coal, likely decreasing overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air emissions such as SO2 and NO X . Previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies using limited system boundaries have attempted to quantify the benefit of offsetting coal use. However, these stu…
What day-ahead reserves are needed in electric grids with high levels of wind power
Day-ahead load and wind power forecasts provide useful information for operational decision making, but they are imperfect and forecast errors must be offset with operational reserves and balancing of (real time) energy. Procurement of these reserves is of great operational and financial importance in integrating large-scale wind power. We present a probabilistic method to determine net load forecast uncertainty for day-ahead wind and load foreca…
Production cost and air emissions impacts of coal cycling in power systems with large-scale wind penetration
Wind power introduces variability into electric power systems. Due to the physical characteristics of wind, most of this variability occurs at inter-hour time-scales and coal units are therefore technically capable of balancing wind. Operators of coal-fired units have raised concerns that additional cycling will be prohibitively costly. Using PJM bid-data, we observe that coal operators are likely systematically under-bidding their startup costs.…
Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from future Amazonian hydroelectric reservoirs
Brazil plans to meet the majority of its growing electricity demand with new hydropower plants located in the Amazon basin. However, large hydropower plants located in tropical forested regions may lead to significant carbon dioxide and methane emission. Currently, no predictive models exist to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions before the reservoir is built. This paper presents two different approaches to investigate the future carbon balance…
Energy development and Native Americans: Values and beliefs about energy from the Navajo Nation
Technical tools and techno-centric methods used for energy resource management and policy planning and development can miss important social and cultural factors. This can in turn result in a failure to recognize potential barriers and opportunities for energy and resource development in culturally diverse communities. Given the complexity of socio-technical energy systems, multidisciplinary analysis approaches are needed to ensure that modeling …
Marginal costs of water savings from cooling system retrofits: A case study for Texas power plants
The water demands of power plant cooling systems may strain water supply and make power generation vulnerable to water scarcity. Cooling systems range in their rates of water use, capital investment, and annual costs. Using Texas as a case study, we examined the cost of retrofitting existing coal and natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) power plants with alternative cooling systems, either wet recirculating towers or air-cooled condensers for dry co…
Consequential life cycle air emissions externalities for plug-in electric vehicles in the PJM interconnection
We perform a consequential life cycle analysis of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and conventional gasoline vehicles in the PJM interconnection using a detailed, normative optimization model of the PJM electricity grid that captures the change in power plant operations and related emissions due to vehicle charging. We estimate and monetize the resulting human health and environmental damages from life cycle air …
Beyond Global Warming Potential: A Comparative Application of Climate Impact Metrics for the Life Cycle Assessment of Coal and Natural Gas Based Electricity
In the ongoing debate about the climate benefits of fuel switching from coal to natural gas for power generation, the metrics used to model climate impacts may be important. In this article, we evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal and natural gas used in new, advanced power plants using a broad set of available climate metrics in order to test for the robustness of results. Climate metrics included in the article are global wa…
Greenhouse gas mitigation for U.S. plastics production: Energy first, feedstocks later
Plastics production is responsible for 1% and 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and primary energy use, respectively. Replacing conventional plastics with bio-based plastics (made from renewable feedstocks) is frequently proposed as a way to mitigate these impacts. Comparatively little research has considered the potential for green energy to reduce emissions in this industry. This paper compares two strategies for reducing greenhouse gas…
Carbon dioxide emissions effects of grid-scale electricity storage in a decarbonizing power system
While grid-scale electricity storage (hereafter 'storage') could be crucial for deeply decarbonizing the electric power system, it would increase carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in current systems across the United States. To better understand how storage transitions from increasing to decreasing system CO2 emissions, we quantify the effect of storage on operational CO2 emissions as a power system decarbonizes under a moderate and strong CO2 emiss…
Quantifying the capacity value of natural gas efficiency in New England
Net-zero emissions energy systems
Path to zero carbon emissions Models show that to avert dangerous levels of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must fall to zero later this century. Most of these emissions arise from energy use. Davis et al. review what it would take to achieve decarbonization of the energy system. Some parts of the energy system are particularly difficult to decarbonize, including aviation, long-distance transport, steel and cement production, and …
Sustainability implications of electricity outages in sub-Saharan Africa
Compounding climate change impacts during high stress periods for a high wind and solar power system in Texas
Power system planning aims at ensuring that sufficient supply- and demand-side assets exist to meet electricity demand at all times. For a Texas electric power system with high wind and solar penetrations, we quantify how climate change will affect supply and demand during three types of high stress periods for the power grid: high demand hours, high net demand hours, and high system ramp hours. We specifically quantify effects on demand, reducti…
Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India
Techno-economic feasibility of small-scale pressurized irrigation in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda through an integrated modeling approach
Agriculture contributes up to 50% of the gross domestic product in some East African countries and is the backbone of the region’s economy. Most farmers rely on traditional, small-scale subsistence farming with low fertilizer use and low-yield seeds. Similarly, less than 3% of the total cultivated area employs any form of irrigation, mostly non-pressurized. Meanwhile, electricity providers frequently struggle with low and unpredictable demand, ch…
Macro energy systems modeling for the least developed and developing countries—a call for action
The least developed and developing countries need to increase their energy consumption to support economic growth. However, such growth in energy demand could potentially result in a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Herein lies one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: providing energy that enables economic growth in the least developed and developing regions while meeting climate stabilization goals. Macro energy system…
Engineering (18 works) · Environmental Science (15 works) · Economics (12 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Waste management (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Electricity (7 works) · Electricity generation (6 works) · Environmental economics (6 works) · Greenhouse gas (6 works)