Carbon Measurement & Accounting Group
Towards a data-driven approach to greenhouse gas emissions measurement and accounting across global energy supply chains
I am Arvind Ravikumar and I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. I am also co-director of the Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab or EEMDL, a multi-university consortium for developing transparent models and datasets for accurate greenhouse gas emissions accounting across global oil and gas supply chain. Finally, I co-direct the Center for Energy and Environmental Systems Analysis (CEESA), an organized research unit at UT Austin that provides a home for interdisciplinary research on energy systems. You can find all the gory details in my CV here.
My group works on a number of problems focused on measuring, monitoring, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from global energy and energy-intensive product supply chains. Our current topics of interest include multi-scale measurements of greenhouse gas emissions (think satellites, aircraft, drones, and other sensors), data-intensive emissions accounting models, supply chain lifecycle assessments, and energy policy. We apply these topics to several fields including oil and gas, hydrogen, and carbon management with a focus on direct carbon dioxide removal. Across these topics, my group pioneers development of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) protocols and approaches to ensure accurate and trusted information on greenhouse gas emissions are available to civil society.
We are highly interdisciplinary - we routinely collaborate with federal and state government agencies, international organizations, industry, and non-governmental entities. Students and researchers in the group work on a diverse array of complex problems, often in medium to large teams and can encompass field experiments, modeling, or policy analysis.
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases - over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near term. Our group studies the spatial and temporal evolution of methane emissions from oil and gas operations across the supply chain. We do this through a combination of field research and modeling to integrate data from multi-scale measurement approaches. In parallel, we also lead advanced technology assessment studies to evaluate the effectiveness of new systems such as satellites, planes, drones, and continuous monitoring systems to detect intermittent, high-volume methane emissions across the oil and gas supply chain.
Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Supply Chain
The key to effective global climate action is accurate carbon accounting. Whether to track the effectiveness of climate policy or to support market mechanisms for emissions reductions or provide accurate information to regulators and investors, a transparent, scientifically rigorous, and trusted framework for greenhouse gas emissions accounting is essential. Our group develop models, tools, and protocols for rigorous, transparent, and measurement-based greenhouse gas emissions accounting across oil and gas supply chains. Over time, our goal is to support US and international efforts to improve the accuracy of official greenhouse gas inventories.
Global Supply Chain Carbon Accounting
The energy transition is a complex interplay of competing interests: reducing carbon emissions, growing the economy, and expanding equity. Whether a new energy supply such as hydrogen or liquefied natural gas advances our goals requires careful analysis of short-run and long-term impacts. We use several distinct approaches. First, we integrate life-cycle assessment tools with techno-economic models to design long-term emissions mitigation strategies. Second, we explore the role for new energy infrastructure investments (e.g., LNG terminals) to address global climate policy and improve energy security. Third, we focus on equity impacts of energy transition policies, with a focus on the oil and gas sector.
Energy System Modeling
SET Lab News
5/1/2022: PhD student Oladamola Amieyeofori joins the SET lab. Welcome, Damola.
4/1/2022: Prof. Ravikumar is appointed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee by Sec. Pete Buttigieg for a term of 3 years.
1/3/2022: JOBS! We have several openings for Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, and research staff members across several research areas. Please see the Join Our Lab page for details, and send Prof. Ravikumar an email if you have questions.
Cover Art
Created by the Polish artist Pawel Czerwinski, this abstract image captures the essence of the energy transition for me. The brown/orange hues on the left represents our current fossil-fuel dominated energy system, while the blue/green hues on the right represent our future low-carbon energy system. There will be places where fossil fuels would be in use longer into our future (top of the image) and places that would transition earlier (bottom). This image symbolizes the chaotic nature of the transition with few stark boundaries and a trial-and-error approach to effective climate action - as a research group, as a community, and as a world.