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


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


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


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/