|
James
Dyak
Northern Asia Business Manager
CH2M Hill
Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Initiatives
- Clean Development Mechanism Projects In China
CH2M HILL - Who We Are
CH2M HILL is a global project development
and project delivery firm, with specialties in energy, water, wastewater,
transportation, waste management and environmental remediation,
among others. With offices in Shanghai and Beijing, CH2M HILL has
15,000 employees in 200 offices world-wide.
Case: Climate Change Project Activity
CH2M HILL is actively involved in providing
consulting services and in the development and implementation of
greenhouse gas emission reduction projects. These projects have
been exclusively contemplated as projects that will generate emission
reduction that can be traded under the mechanisms incorporated into
the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
This activity is focused on greenhouse gas emission reduction projects
that fall under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
CDM Projects and Carbon Trading
The Kyoto protocol includes the "Clean
Development Mechanism". The CDM is a mechanism for project-based
emission reduction activities in developing countries. Tradable
certificates will be generated through the CDM from projects that
lead to certifiable emissions reductions that would otherwise not
occur.
The CDM concept incorporates the idea of harnessing
the power of markets to efficiently achieve emission reduction on
a global basis. It is based on the tenet that GHG emission reductions
are a global commodity - emission reductions provide a global benefit
irrespective of the location of the reductions. Upon approval of
both a UN body and host-nation body, projects in nations that are
encouraging development and not yet under an emissions cap (including
China) can produce "Certified Emissions Reductions" (CERs)
that can, with approval of both national and internal approval bodies,
be applied towards credit in countries under a cap (EU countries,
Japan, and Canada). The investment required to achieve emission
reductions at facilities in the countries with emission caps are
typically significant larger than the investment that would be required
to achieve the same reductions by projects in countries such as
China.
The capital investment that would be required
to offset this entire exceedance through GHG reduction projects
has been estimated in the order of $30 billion to $50 billion over
the next 6 years. There is approximately $3 billion of private and
public funds currently in carbon investment funds and buyer's pools
that have been established in response to the Kyoto accord, of which
Natsource, a significant partner with CH2M HILL on many of its CDM
projects, has approximately $1 billion under management.
CH2M HILL Project Activity in China
China, with the need to expand its infrastructure
has the opportunity to access capital for projects that result in
a reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions. In many cases, the
cost of implementing projects in China will be much less than the
cost to achieve similar emission reductions in the countries that
have committed to national emission reduction targets. The CDM mechanism
allows those countries to meet their emission reduction obligations
Project opportunities that CH2M HILL is pursuing
in China fall under the following categories:
i. Energy efficiency/process improvement
- Waste heat recovery and use, such as
in a cement works, or other heat-intensive industrial process
- Demand-Side Energy Management - optimizing
load management or replacing equipment with more energy-efficient
units (e.g., lights, motors, pumps, etc.)
- Process improvements- replacing existing
processes with lower-energy or lower emissions processes
- Waste heat recovery
- co-generation and tri-generation (waste
heat recovery applied to both heating and cooling systems) retrofits
ii. Fuel Switching & Renewable Energy
- From coal or oil to natural gas for heating
or power generation
- From fossil fuels to renewable fuels,
such as biomass (e.g., wood waste, landfill gas, methane from
anaerobic digestion) to produce process steam and/or power
- Greenfield installation of renewable
energy systems to offset fossil fuels - wind farms, solar, geothermal,
tidal, co-generation and combined heat and power (CHP),etc.
ii. Emissions capture and control
a. Methane (CH4) from landfills,
wastewater treatment plants, agricultural waste, industrial
facilities, coal mines - 21:1 ratio to CO2
b. Nitrous Oxide (N2O) at chemical plants or fertilizer
plants (fertilizer, adipic acid and nitric acid production)
- 310:1 ratio to CO2
c. HFC capture, at chemical plants up to 12,000:1 ratio
to CO2
d. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) up to 23,000:1 ratio to
CO2
e. Emissions Capture from Landfills
f. Sewage Treatment Plants
g. Industrial capture of non-CO2 greenhouse gases (e.g.,
methane, N2O, HFCs)
Many of projects of these types are currently
under development, with CH2M HILL providing services primarily in
the evaluation and in design for these projects with a number of
partners in the development and implementation of CDM projects in
China. To date, these have been in the areas of: coal mine methane
recovery for energy generation; waste heat recovery from industrial
processes; landfill biogas recovery and electrical power generation;
and nitrous oxide emissions treatment. CH2M HILL's partners in project
development provide access to the privately-funded international
carbon funds, development bank funding (e.g., Asian Development
Bank), as well as domestic trust companies.
With the initial compliance window under the
Kyoto Treaty (2008 - 2012) fast approaching, projects are developing
rapidly, and the value of tradable carbon credits is strong and
continues to rise. This is contributing to an accelerated rate of
growth in the interest and funding for CDM projects China represents
the largest proportion of the potential opportunities identified
to date.
|
