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| Overview Capabilities Staff Projects |
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Assessing Displaced Emissions in the Electric Sector
Investments in renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) benefit society and the environment by reducing the overall emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. But, in order to assess the effectiveness of these efforts, it is important to determine what sources of generation are being displaced, or not used, because of the demand reduction or clean energy initiative.
Accurate displaced emissions calculations are required in order to: |
Quantify and document compliance with local, state, regional or federal air emissions constraints, or other legal requirements |
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Assure compliance with regional, local or national standards for carbon emissions |
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Participate in emissions-related financial markets and receive emissions reductions credits |
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Demonstrate benefits of RE/EE programs to the public, to funding sources, to stakeholders or to regulators |
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Compare the relative merits of alternative RE/EE initiatives |
Many different entities have a need to calculate displaced emissions from renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Examples include:
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Industry – for tracking their emissions and potentially trading emission reduction credits. See the United States EPA’s Climate Partners Program at www.epa.gov/climateleaders |
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Electricity Marketers – to make marketing claims and comply with portfolio standards |
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Nonprofit Organizations – to work with industry and regulators to facilitate emission reductions and the development of new emission trading programs |
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State Air Regulators – for air quality planning and compliance with State Implementation Plan (SIP) requirements, regional emissions programs |
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Federal Regulators – helping to identify the best quantification methods and eventually establish standardized “best practices” |
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Renewable energy project developers |
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The financial services industry |
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Developing reports and content for an Internet knowledge base on displaced emissions calculation for the US EPA |
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Performing displaced emissions calculations for individual wind project developers |
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Preparation of testimony on displaced emissions value in siting proceedings |
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Detailed modeling of displaced emissions in the northeastern United States for the Ozone Transport Commission, and development of a spreadsheet tool for additional displaced air emissions from energy projects |
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Preparation of a paper on methodologies for evaluating displaced carbon emissions for grid-connected electricity projects for the UNFCCC |
