Carbon Accounting in the Power Sector | Camilla Thomson and Samuel Chapman
1. ICARB Energy Workshop
Carbon Accounting in the Power Sector
Chaired by:
Camilla Thomson, University of Edinburgh
Samuel Chapman, Heriot-Watt University
2. Who is the audience of ICARB?
ICARB will be used by anyone with involvement in
carbon accounting including:
• Policy makers
• Academics
• Environmental managers
• Environmental consultants
• Community groups
• Others?
3. What resources are available?
• PowerPoint Presentations from
conferences
• The ICARB blog
• Tools
• News
• The Fundamentals
4. ICARB: The Initiative for
Carbon Accounting
That said, now we need to
working to create a set be able to do this for each
of: sector
transparent, consistent and
accurate rules for carbon This work has been carried
accounting. out to an extent, can we tie
it together?
7. Comparison
• UNFCCC Whole electricity systems
• GHG Protocol considered
• Defra - Corporate Accounting, scopes
• ISO 14040/44 - Product life cycle, only one to
include Capital Emissions (CapEm)
9. System Boundary
• Cradle-to-grave • CapEm and OpEm
– All LCAs include materials
• Physical boundary and transport
– The inclusion of emissions
• Boundary with nature associated with capital
– Change of land use? goods is optional –
implications for electricity
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).
10. Output Unit
Micro-wind Turbine: Sensitivity to Location
kg CO2-e/kWh 1000
900
• Normalisation
Intensity (g CO2/kWh)
800
700
600
• What is a Person 500
400
Equivalent (EDIP)? 300
200
• How do we calculate
100
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
lifetime power output? Annual Production (kWh/year)
Manchester (South West Edge) Portsmouth (North East Edge)
• All greenhouse gases or
Portsmouth (City Centre) Wick (South East Edge)
Wick (City Centre) Coal
Oil Natural Gas
Nuclear Hydro
just CO2? Solar PV
11. Discussion
• ISO 14040/44 • System boundary
• GHG Protocol • Cradle-to-grave
• Defra Guidelines • CapEm and OpEm
• Carbon Trust Standard • Unit
– kg CO2-e/kWh
• Input-Output Analysis
• Fuel Mix Disclosure
• PAS 2050
• Etc….
13. Software
• Does software affect
results?
• Does software choice
affect assumptions?
• Software includes:
– GaBi
– SimaPro
– MS Excel
– CCalc
– Etc…
Chart taken from LCA Practitioners Survey 2011, Bluehorse Associates, 2011
14. Data Sources and Inventories
• User selection of data has
significant impact on
results
• Data quality requirements
– Age of data
– Geography
– Technology assessed
– Allocation method
– System boundaries
OTHER
LCA
• Validation? STUDIES
15. 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.
18. 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.
20. Accreditation
• Demand?
• Comparability of studies
– Decision making
– Public relations
– Compliance
• Potentially combine with
review required by ISO
14040-44
21. Discussion
• Definitions List online
• http://icarb.org/carbon-
accounting-glossary/
