Executive Summary

Chapter 1. Voluntary Reporting of Emissions Reduction Actions: An Overview

Chapter 2. Reducing Emissions from Electricity Supply

Chapter 3. Increasing End-Use Energy Efficiency

Chapter 4. Reducing Oil-Based Transportation Fuel Use

Chapter 5. Carbon Sequestration

Chapter 6. Projects To Reduce Methane Emissions

Chapter 7. Halogenated Substances and Other Gases

Chapter 8. Entity-Level Emissions and Future Commitments

Appendix A: The Voluntary Reporting Program: A Developmental Overview

Appendix B: Emissions Accounting Issues

Appendix C: Summary of Reports Received

Glossary

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Title XVI, Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT), enacted on October 24, 1992, directed the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to establish a mechanism for "the voluntary collection and reporting of information on . . . annual reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon fixation achieved through any measures, including fuel switching, forest management practices, tree planting, use of renewable energy, manufacture or use of vehicles with reduced greenhouse gas emissions, appliance efficiency, methane recovery, cogeneration, chlorofluorocarbon capture and replacement, and power plant heat rate improvement . . . ."

The legislation further instructed EIA to create forms for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and reductions, and to establish a database of the information voluntarily reported under this subsection of EPACT. The reporting Forms EIA-1605 and EIA-1605EZ, "Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases," were first made available to the public in July 1995, providing a vehicle for voluntary reporting on activities that occurred before and during 1994. This publication summarizes data reported for 1995, the second year of data collection for the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program.

The data reported to the program are available through several media. All nonconfidential reports received by the program are compiled into a public-access database, available either on CD-ROM or a set of diskettes. The software is interactive and modular by design, allowing the user to select, view, and if desired print the reports filed by the voluntary reporters, for each year of their participation. Predesigned queries allow the user to access and print a variety of summary reports; the user can also build original queries with commercially available SQL software.

The Public Use Database and the current reporting software are also available at the program's FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site on the World Wide Web. The site is: ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom. Interested parties are encouraged to visit the Program's home page at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/frntend.html for more information and background on the Program. Software, additional copies of this report, paper reporting forms, and technical support information can be obtained from the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Communications Center by e-mail at infoghg@ eia.doe.gov, toll-free at 1-800-803-5182, or locally at 202-586-0688.

This report was prepared under the guidance of Mary J. Hutzler, Director of EIA's Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting. People who have made significant contributions to the program, the current software, and the preparation of this report include: Arthur T. Andersen, Director of the Energy Demand and Integration Division, Stephen Calopedis, Laura Gehlin, William LaPerch, Gabriela Martin, Kenneth Pruitt, Chris Minnucci, John Molineaux, Michael Mondshine, Richard Richards, and Arthur Rypinski.

EIA would also like to express special thanks to the voluntary reporters, without whom this program would be impossible.