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Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications

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Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications Guidance for Carbon Accounting Published in collaboration with the Renewable Thermal Collaborative and funded by Mars Incorporated Prepared by: Navigant Consulting, Inc. Ecofys – A Navigant Company Kanaalweg 15-G 3526 KL Utrecht The Netherlands T: +31 (0)30 662-3300 navigant.com Primary authors: Masoud Zabeti, Sacha Alberici, Jeroen de Beer, Esther Eggink, Minke Goes, Caspar Noach Reference No.: SISNL17392 June 2018 ©2018 Navigant Consulting, Inc. Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was made possible through funding from Mars Incorporated, and the support and advice of several individuals and organizations. A team from Ecofys, a Navigant company, performed the work. Navigant gratefully acknowledges the valuable expertise and recommendations of the members of the Renewable Thermal Collaborative working group: Bryn Baker and Martha Stevenson (WWF US), Mike Mazor (Dow), Joel Foster (Dupont), Alexandra Rekkas (David Gardiner and Associates), and Kevin Rabinovitch (Mars). The report benefited greatly from the time and expertise of a number of international experts that commented on the draft version. We would like to thank John Neeft (Netherlands Enterprise Agency), Kim Cesafsky and Jennifer Jenkins (Enviva), and Stephen Russel (World Resource Institute). Page i ©2018 Navigant Consulting, Inc. Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications GLOSSARY Allocation The process of assigning responsibility for GHG emissions from a specific generating unit or other system (e.g., vehicle, business unit, corporation) among its various users of the product or service. Allowance A commodity issued by an emissions trading program that gives its holder the right to emit a certain quantity of GHG emissions. Avoided emissions An assessment of emissions reduced or avoided compared to a reference case or baseline scenario. Biogenic CO2 CO2 emissions related to the natural carbon cycle, as well as those resulting emissions from the combustion, digestion, decomposition, or processing of biologically based materials. Biogenic gas Methane (CH4) that is produced from a biomass resource, such as animal (biogas) waste, agricultural waste, landfill gas, municipal waste, or digester gas. Biomass Any material or fuel produced by biological processes of living organisms, including organic non-fossil material of biological origin (e.g., plant material), biofuels (e.g., liquid fuels produced from biomass feedstocks), biogenic gas (e.g., landfill gas), and biogenic waste (e.g., municipal solid waste from biogenic sources). Clean Development A mechanism established by Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol for project- Mechanism(CDM) based emission reduction activities in developing countries. The CDM is designed to meet two main objectives: to address the sustainability needs of the host country and to increase the opportunities available to Annex 1 Parties to meet their GHG reduction commitments. The CDM allows for the creation, acquisition, and transfer of CERs from climate change mitigation projects undertaken in non-Annex 1 countries. CO2 equivalent The universal unit of measurement to indicate the global warming potential (CO2eq) (GWP) of each GHG, expressed in terms of the GWP of one unit of CO2. It is used to evaluate releasing (or avoiding releasing) different greenhouse gases against a common basis. Cogeneration A facility producing both electricity and steam/heat using the same fuel unit/Combined heat supply. and power (CHP) Direct emissions Emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the reporting company. Emission factor A factor that converts activity data into GHG emissions data (e.g., kg CO2eq emitted per liter of fuel consumed, kg CO2eq emitted per kilometer traveled, etc.). EPA standards The US environmental protection agency that manages the emission standards for the United States. Measuring the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (GHG emissions) emitted Carbon accounting by an entity, project, or product. GHG Protocol A protocol that sets the global standards for how to measure, manage and report GHG emissions. Global warming A factor describing the radiative forcing impact (degree of harm to the potential atmosphere) of (GWP) one unit of a given GHG relative to one unit of CO2. Greenhouse gases For the purposes of this standard, GHGs are the seven gases covered by the (GHG) UNFCCC: carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O); hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); perfluorocarbons (PFCs); sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). Page ii ©2018 Navigant Consulting, Inc. Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications Indirect GHG Emissions that are a consequence of the operations of the reporting emissions company, but occur at sources owned or controlled by another company. This includes Scope 2 and Scope 3. ISO standards An international standard setting organization consists of representatives from different national standards organizations. Life cycle Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs, and the potential assessment (LCA) environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. RECs Renewable Energy Certificates RHC Renewable Heating and Cooling Scope 1 emissions Emissions from operations that are owned or controlled by the reporting company. Scope 2 emissions Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat, or cooling consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 emissions All indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. Substrate A material that is used as a feedstock for production of biofuels Page iii ©2018 Navigant Consulting, Inc. Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A significant amount of the final energy demand of the manufacturing industry is in providing heating and cooling to processes and buildings. Reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the generation of this heating and cooling is important to achieve long-term climate mitigation goals, such as the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. One way to achieve this is by deploying renewable heating and cooling (RHC) technologies. Whereas for the use of renewable electricity the rules for accounting GHG emissions are generally well-defined and widely accepted, this is not the case for RHC technologies. The lack of a workable and clear set of accounting rules can be perceived as a barrier to implement RHC technologies, since companies are normally averse to taking investment decisions based on poorly understood information. The risk is that a technology is implemented of which environmental claims are debated by external stakeholders and cannot be included in environmental accounting and reporting. To alleviate the implementation barrier of missing guidance on accounting rules, the Renewable Thermal Collaborative initiated a study to create a single document that demonstrates how existing GHG calculation guidance can be applied to a range of RHC technologies. A second objective of this study was to highlight where consensus has already been established on the most appropriate methodology and where scientists and other stakeholders are still debating elements of the methodology. Navigant was commissioned to carry out this study. We reviewed an extensive number of published standards, regulations, and protocols. Based on this review the most appropriate GHG calculation methodology for selected RHC technologies are recommended. Many combinations of renewable energy sources and energy conversion technologies are conceivable. These combinations are referred to as project types. For this project, we selected six of the most relevant project types, in our view, covering biomass and non-biomass energy sources. With this selection, we aimed to cover the key issues on carbon accounting featured in the international debate. The table below shows per combination of energy source and technology the accounting methodology we recommend. Project Type Proposed Accounting Energy Source Technology Methodology Wood chips from virgin forestry Biomass boiler BioGrace-II Wood chips from forestry residues Biomass boiler BioGrace-II Wood chips from industrial residues Biomass boiler BioGrace-II Biomethane Injection into gas grid BioGrace-II Heat from the ground Heat pump GHG Protocol Recovered heat Heat recovery technologies No widely accepted methodology The selection of methodologies is based on seven distinct groups of design parameters, all with more detailed elements. The most important parameters were: scope of applicability, level of detail in the calculation guidance and geographical coverage (global preferred over regional coverage). Page iv ©2018 Navigant Consulting, Inc. Renewable Heating and Cooling for Industrial Applications Biomass-Based Methodologies: Central Method Exists, Not Complete For all biomass-based project types, we recommend using the BioGrace-II methodology. Our principal reason is that it is the most comprehensive GHG calculation methodology for solid and gaseous biomass technologies that is publicly available. However, an important consideration is that this methodology does not account for biogenic carbon emissions1 (i.e., these emissions are counted as zero), since the methodology strictly follows that laid down by the European Commission which assumes that biomass is carbon neutral. How to
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