Assessment of CO2 emissions of electricity and heat used at industrial plants

Panel: 3. Matching policies and drivers: Policies and directives to drive industrial efficiency

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Mirjam Harmelink, Harmelink consulting, The Netherlands
Lex Bosselaar, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, The Netherlands

Abstract

Clear and unambiguous calculation rules for determining indirect CO2 emissions attributable to consumption and export of waste heat and electricity are currently lacking. We found that emission factors used by the Dutch industry to determine indirect CO2 emissions from electricity-consumption, -production or -savings range from 0,4 to 0,7 kg of CO2 per kWh. Clear arguments for the choice of a specific emission factor are often lacking and factors aren’t regularly updated. We furthermore noticed that different approaches are applied for attributing CO2 emissions to waste heat. Also on the European level there is lack of clarity on how to value cross border delivery of utilities. As a consequence claimed CO2 emissions across sectors and countries cannot be properly assessed and compared.

First part of the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the different methods applied to determine indirect CO2 emissions per kWh electricity produced, consumed or saved. Methods are split into (i) “average methods” and (ii) “marginal methods”. The paper provides a description of an average and a marginal method that have been developed for monitoring purposes in the Netherlands. Times series of calculated indirect emissions for both approaches show that emissions in the Netherlands have decrease by 13% to 20% over the period 2000-2011. Second part of the paper discusses the attribution of CO2 emissions to waste heat. The paper distinguishes between heat production accompanied with losses in power production, and waste heat without power losses. We present an approach and default indirect CO2 emission factors that have been developed for the Dutch situation, and which take into account temperature level and losses during transport and distribution.

The approaches were discussed in the Netherlands with all relevant parties and the factors for CO2-emissions by electricity production are used by the major organizations involved in energy monitoring.