Carbon Accounting in the Power Sector | Camilla Thomson and Samuel Chapman

ICARB Energy Workshop

Carbon Accounting in the Power Sector

Chaired by: Camilla Thomson, University of EdinburghSamuel Chapman, Heriot-Watt University

Who is the audience of ICARB?

ICARB will be used by anyone with involvement in carbon accounting including:

• Policy makers

• Academics• Academics

• Environmental managers

• Environmental consultants

• Community groups

• Others?

What resources are available?

• PowerPoint Presentations from conferences

• The ICARB blog

• Tools • Tools

• News

• The Fundamentals

ICARB: The Initiative for Carbon Accounting

working to create a set of:

That said, now we need to be able to do this for each sectorof:

transparent, consistent and accurate rules for carbon accounting.

sector

This work has been carried out to an extent, can we tie it together?

Current Guidelines and Practices

ICARB Energy Workshop

Carbon Accounting Methods & Guidelines

• ISO 14040/44

• GHG Protocol

• Defra Guidelines

MANUFACTURE & ASSEMBLY

• Carbon Trust Standard

• Input-Output Analysis

• Fuel Mix Disclosure

• PAS 2050

• And more!

MATERIALS EXTRACTION &

PROCESSING

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

DECOMMISSIONING & DISPOSALRECYCLING

WASTE

Comparison

• UNFCCC

• GHG Protocol

Whole electricity systems considered

• Defra - Corporate Accounting, scopes

• ISO 14040/44 - Product life cycle, only one to include Capital Emissions (CapEm)

MATERIALS EXTRACTION &

PROCESSING

MANUFACTURE & ASSEMBLY

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

DECOMMISSIONING & DISPOSALRECYCLING

WASTE

0.547kgCO2-e/kWh

System Boundary

Image taken from Life cycle assessment of offshore and onshore sited wind power plants based on Vestas V90-3.0MW turbines, 2005 (Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Randers, Denmark).

• CapEm and OpEm– All LCAs include materials

and transport

– The inclusion of emissions associated with capital goods is optional –implications for electricity

• Cradle-to-grave

• Physical boundary

• Boundary with nature

– Change of land use?

Output Unit

kg CO2-e/kWh

• Normalisation

• What is a Person Equivalent (EDIP)?

Micro-wind Turbine: Sensitivity to Location

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Intensity (g CO2/kWh)

Equivalent (EDIP)?

• How do we calculate lifetime power output?

• All greenhouse gases or just CO2?

0

100

200

300

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Annual Production (kWh/year)

Manchester (South West Edge) Portsmouth (North East Edge)

Portsmouth (City Centre) Wick (South East Edge)

Wick (City Centre) Coal

Oil Natural Gas

Nuclear Hydro

Solar PV

Discussion

• ISO 14040/44

• GHG Protocol

• Defra Guidelines

• Carbon Trust Standard

• System boundary

• Cradle-to-grave

• CapEm and OpEm

• Unit• Carbon Trust Standard

• Input-Output Analysis

• Fuel Mix Disclosure

• PAS 2050

• Etc….

• Unit

– kg CO2-e/kWh

LCA Software, Data Sets and Uncertainty

ICARB Energy Workshop

Software

• Does software affect results?

• Does software choice affect assumptions?

• Software includes:

Chart taken from LCA Practitioners Survey 2011, Bluehorse Associates, 2011

• Software includes:

– GaBi

– SimaPro

– MS Excel

– CCalc

– Etc…

Data Sources and Inventories

• User selection of data has significant impact on results

• Data quality requirements

– Age of data– Age of data

– Geography

– Technology assessed

– Allocation method

– System boundaries

• Validation?

OTHER LCA

STUDIES

Uncertainty

• Scenario uncertainty

• Parameter uncertainty

• Model uncertainty

• Statistical uncertainty?

• Inputs, processing and outputs

Figure taken from Sovacool, B., 2008. Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey. Energy Policy, 36(8), pp.2950-2963.

Discussion

• Software

• Data quality and validation

– Data from other studies

Developing a Standard Framework and Providing Accreditation

ICARB Energy Workshop

Standard Framework?

“Does an ISO-standard settle the uncertainty problem for a decision-maker, but not the scientist?”

Heijungs, R. & Huijbregts, M.A.J., 2004. A Review of Approaches to Treat Uncertainty in LCA

Table taken from Sovacool, B., 2008. Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey. Energy Policy, 36(8), pp.2950-2963.

Standardised Definition Set

http://icarb.org/carbon-accounting-glossary/

Accreditation

• Demand?

• Comparability of studies

– Decision making

– Public relations

– Compliance– Compliance

• Potentially combine with review required by ISO 14040-44

Discussion

• Definitions List online

• http://icarb.org/carbon-• http://icarb.org/carbon-accounting-glossary/