Projects Reported on the Long Form
Overview
Reporters provided information on a total of 2,379 projects for 2005 (Table S4). Most of the projects (2,159 or 91 percent) were reported on the long form. The total number of reported projects increased by 194, or 9 percent, compared with the previous reporting cycle. Most of the 2,379 projects reported for 2005 were also among the 2,185 projects reported for 2004, because they continued to yield emission reductions in 2005. Projects often yield emission reductions over an extended period; for example, an availability improvement project at a nuclear power plant typically involves the adoption of new maintenance and refueling programs that, once in place, are followed over a multi-year period. Likewise, the reforestation of an area in one year can result in the sequestration of carbon in many subsequent years, even if no additional trees are planted. Reporters continue to report the emission reductions and carbon sequestration achieved by such long-lived projects on a yearly basis.
The most common objective of projects reported on the long form for 2005 (981 or 45 percent of reported projects) was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (Table S4). Most projects reduced carbon dioxide either by reducing fossil fuel consumption or by switching to lower emitting sources of energy. Many also achieved small reductions in emissions of other gases. Other cited project objectives included increasing carbon sequestration (590 or 27 percent), reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions (458 or 21 percent), and reducing emissions of halogenated substances (47 or 2 percent). Projects that primarily reduced carbon dioxide emissions include the 83 “other” emission reduction projects, most of which involved either the reuse of fly ash as a cement substitute in concrete or the recycling of waste materials.
Most projects involve actions within the United States; however, some are conducted in foreign countries and are designed to test various concepts of joint implementation with other nations (Table S5). Of the 98 foreign projects reported for 2005, 58 represented shares in two forestry programs in Belize and Malaysia sponsored by the electric power industry.
Total reported project-level emission reductions included 293.8 million MTCO2e in direct reductions, 67.4 million MTCO2e in indirect reductions, and 7.9 million MTCO2e in carbon sequestration (Table S6). EIA uses global warming potentials (GWPs) from the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to calculate carbon dioxide equivalents.
Projects with the objective of reducing carbon dioxide emissions reported direct reductions of 194.1 million MTCO2e and indirect reductions of 32.1 million MTCO2e. The vast majority of the reported emission reductions were carbon dioxide reductions.
Reporters submitted information on a variety of efforts to reduce emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, including 458 projects with the objective of reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions. The projects focused on waste management systems, animal husbandry operations, oil and gas systems, or coal mines. Reported net direct emission reductions from these projects totaled 73.8 million MTCO2e, representing 25 percent of the total direct reductions reported for 2005. Indirect reductions reported for projects that reduced methane and nitrous oxide emissions totaled 22.4 million MTCO2e.
Almost all of the 590 carbon sequestration projects reported on the long form increased the amount of carbon stored in sinks through various forestry measures, including afforestation, reforestation, urban forestry, forest preservation, and modified forest management techniques. These activities accounted for 27 percent of the projects reported on the long form for 2005; however, 411 of the reported carbon sequestration projects represented the shares of 37 participating electric utilities in 16 projects conducted by the UtiliTree Carbon Company and the PowerTree Carbon Company. Carbon sequestration projects reported on the long form for 2005 accounted for 7.9 million MTCO2e in carbon sequestration.
Projects with the objective of reducing emissions of halogenated substances—including perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—reported direct reductions of 7.3 million MTCO2e for 2005. These reductions included 4.0 million MTCO2e of PFC emissions and 3.3 million MTCO2e of SF6 emissions, as well as indirect reductions of 0.2 MTCO2e, the vast majority of which was SF6.
Project-Level Reference Cases
Beginning with the 2000 annual report, EIA began dividing project-level data according to the reference case employed in calculating reported project-specific emission reductions. A “reference case” is an emissions or sequestration level against which actual emissions are compared in order to estimate emission reductions. In a “basic reference case,” actual historical emissions (or sequestration) in a specific year, or an average of a range of years, are used as the reference case. In a “modified reference case,” an estimate is made of what emissions or sequestration would have been in the absence of the project, and that estimate serves as the reference case.
Of the projects reported for 2005 on Form EIA-1605, 95 percent used modified reference cases (Table S7). A modified reference case is generally preferred for project-level analysis, because this approach attempts to isolate the effect of the action taken by the reporter from other factors that may have affected the reporter’s emissions. The use of basic reference cases for 2005 was greatest for projects that reported reducing emissions of because the techniques for evaluating reductions for the projects are particularly suited to the use of a basic reference case. Emissions are determined by using inventory management data, with emissions of a particular substance being equal to the amount purchased during the year to replace quantities emitted. Annual reductions can be calculated by subtracting the emissions in the years after emission abatement measures were instituted from the emissions in the year before the measures were instituted.
For project-level emission reductions and sequestration reported for 2005, reporters indicated that they used modified reference cases for 285.4 million MTCO2e in direct reductions (97 percent of total direct reductions), 61.5 million MTCO2e in indirect reductions (91 percent of total indirect reductions), and 7.5 million MTCO2e in sequestration (94 percent of total sequestration) (Table S6). The halogenated substance category was the only project category for which entities reported using basic reference cases for a significant proportion (91 percent or 6.6 million MTCO2e) of the direct reductions.
Electric Power
For 2005, 537 electric power and cogeneration projects were reported on Form EIA-1605. Total emission reductions from electric power and cogeneration projects reported on Form EIA-1605 (the long form) included 167.6 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 18.4 million MTCO2e from indirect sources. There were 271 reported projects that reduced the carbon content of fuels used to generate electricity, with emission reductions totaling 151.3 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 16.5 million MTCO2e from indirect sources. Reported emission reductions for the 292 projects that increased energy efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution included 21.1 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 1.9 million MTCO2e from indirect sources.
Energy End Use and Transportation
For 2005, 444 energy end use and transportation projects were reported on Form EIA-1605, with total reported emission reductions of 26.5 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 13.7 million MTCO2e from indirect sources. The 377 energy end use projects reported 23.6 million MTCO2e in direct reductions and 13.6 million MTCO2e in indirect reductions. Nearly all (93 percent) of the reported energy end-use reductions involved stationary-source applications, such as building shell improvements, lighting and lighting control, appliance improvement or replacement, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) improvements. Participants reported much smaller reductions for the 67 transportation projects, including 2.9 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 0.1 million MTCO2e from indirect sources.
Carbon Sequestration
Reporters submitted 590 carbon sequestration projects on Form EIA-1605 for 2005, with total reported sequestration of 7.9 million MTCO2e. Most of the reported reductions resulted from afforestation, reforestation, urban forestry, forest management, and forest preservation efforts.
Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions
Emission reductions for the 458 methane and nitrous oxide abatement projects reported for 2005 on Form EIA-1605 included 73.8 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 22.4 million MTCO2e from indirect sources. The three most frequently reported sources of methane reductions were municipal waste landfills (406 projects), natural gas systems (28 projects), and coal mines (12 projects). In addition to reducing methane emissions, projects that involved the recovery and use of methane for energy also reduced carbon dioxide emissions by displacing fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which have higher carbon contents than methane does and thus produce more carbon dioxide when burned.
Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, and Sulfur Hexafluoride
A total of 47 projects with the objective of reducing emissions of HFCs, PFCs, and SF6 were submitted on Form EIA-1605 for 2005. Reductions reported for the projects included 7.3 million MTCO2e from direct sources and 0.2 million MTCO2e from indirect sources. The largest reported reductions were direct reductions of perfluoromethane, a type of PFC (3.0 million MTCO2e); SF6 (2.4 million MTCO2e); and perfluoroethane, another type of PFC (0.6 million MTCO2e).
Entity-Level Reporting
Most of the 118 reporters providing entity-level information for 2005 included data on emissions as well as emission reductions or sequestration. In addition, 7 reporters provided entity-level data on emissions only, and 7 reporters provided entity-level data on emission reductions or sequestration only.
Total entity-level direct emissions reported for 2005 were 947.6 million MTCO2e, representing a 0.3-percent increase from the direct emissions reported for 2004 (Table S8). Total entity-level indirect emissions reported for 2005 were 15 percent higher than those reported for 2004, at 86.5 million MTCO2e. Total direct emission reductions reported at the entity level for 2005 (209.0 million MTCO2e) were 0.3 percent higher than those reported for 2004 (208.4 million MTCO2e). For 2005, 182.8 million MTCO2e (87 percent) of the reported direct reductions were estimated using modified reference cases, and 26.2 million MTCO2e (13 percent) were estimated using basic reference cases.
Reported entity-level indirect emission reductions for 2005 totaled 27.6 million MTCO2e, 43 percent lower than the total reported for 2004. Reported indirect reductions included 25.9 million MTCO2e calculated with modified reference cases and 1.8 million MTCO2e calculated with basic reference cases. Entity-level carbon sequestration reported for 2005 totaled 7.7 million MTCO2e, a 10-percent increase from that reported for 2004.
Commitments
For 2005, 69 entities reported formal commitments to reduce emissions, take specific action to reduce emissions, or provide financial support for activities related to greenhouse gas reductions, 25 of which were electricity generators that participated in DOE’s Climate Challenge Program (Figure S3). Reporters continued to include in their 2005 reports commitments related to Climate Challenge and other programs, such as EPA’s Climate Wise and Green Lights, which are no longer active and have been subsumed by newer programs. In addition to various ENERGY STAR programs, other voluntary programs represented among the commitments reported for 2005 included the EPA’s Climate Leaders Program, the EPA’s Voluntary Aluminum Industrial Program, the U.S. Initiative on Joint Implementation, the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program, DOE’s Motor Challenge, the EPA’s Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions Reduction Partnership for Electric Power Systems, DOE’s Cool Communities Program, and EPA’s Natural Gas STAR Program.
There are three forms of future commitments in the Voluntary Reporting Program: entity commitments, financial commitments, and project commitments. Entity and project commitments roughly parallel the entity and project aspects of emissions reporting: an entity commitment is a commitment to reduce the emissions of an entire organization; a project commitment is a commitment to take a particular action that will have the effect of reducing the reporter’s emissions through a specific project. A financial commitment is a pledge to spend a particular sum of money on activities related to emission reductions without a specific promise concerning the emissions consequences of the expenditure.
For 2005, 46 firms made 53 specific commitments to reduce, avoid, or sequester future emissions at the entity level. Some of those entity-level commitments were to reduce emissions below a specific baseline, others were to limit the growth of emissions per unit of output, and others were to limit emissions by a specific amount relative to a baseline emissions growth trend. In their reports for 2005, companies reported commitments to reduce entity-level emissions by a total of 160.4 million MTCO2e. They included 7 commitments, representing 53.6 million MTCO2e or 33 percent of the emission reductions promised, that were to be fulfilled in 2005.
Commitments to undertake 179 individual emission reduction projects were reported by 25 companies. Some of the commitments were linked to results from projects already underway; others were for projects not yet begun. Reporters indicated that the projects were expected to reduce future emissions or increase carbon sequestration by 64 million MTCO2e. In addition, 18 firms made 34 financial commitments. These entities promised a total of $45 million and spent $3.5 million of that total in 2005.
Summary Tables
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