<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt">Marco,<br><br>First, taking off my moderator hat, and putting on my academic researcher hat...<br><br>Your question is a very good one. Claims of carbon neutrality are often ambiguous, in large part because there is no commonly accepted definition.<br>When offsets and green power are involved, it gets even more difficult.<br><br>Below are two articles that might provide you some useful information. They are focused on Renewable Energy Certificates, but are more generally applicable to many of the questions you raise. Both will be coming out in Energy Policy in the coming months.<br><font size="3"><br></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 181.65pt 6pt 0in; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;"><font size="3"><font style="font-weight: bold;"><a rel="nofollow"
target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartI_v2.pdf">Redefining
RECs (Part 1): Untangling attributes and offsets</a></font><br><span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartI_v2.pdf">http://www.princeton.edu/~mgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartI_v2.pdf</a></span></font></p><font style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;" size="3"><font style="font-weight: bold;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartII_v2.pdf">Redefining
RECs (Part 2): Untangling certificates and emission markets</a></font><br><span></span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartII_v2.pdf">http://www.princeton.edu/~mgillenw/REC-OffsetPaper-PartII_v2.pdf</a></span></font><br><div> <br>Sincerely, <br>Michael<br></div><span style="font-family: symbol;"></span><font size="2"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></font><hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" size="2"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Emgillenw/biography.htm">Michael Gillenwater</a><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.princeton.edu">Princeton University</a><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Estep/">Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program</a><br></font><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" size="2"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:gillenwater@alum.mit.edu">gillenwater@alum.mit.edu</a><br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:gillenwater@ghgnetwork.org"></a></font><span style="font-family: symbol;"></span><hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"><span style="font-family: symbol;"></span><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">----- Original Message ----<br>From: Marco Ratton <marco.ratton@dnv.com><br>To: discuss@ghgnetwork.org<br>Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:31:34 PM<br>Subject: [GHG Network] Can consumption of green-certified elelectricity be regarded as CO2 neutral?<br><br>
Dear
experts, <br>A
large
global
industrial
manufacturing
group
recently
announced
the
first
vehicle
plant
in
the
world
in
Belgium
that
is
completely
free
from
carbon
dioxide
(CO2).
Such
achievement
was
based
on: <br>-
1)
investments
in
biofuels
and
wind
power
to
provide
the
plant
with
electricity
and
heat
that
does
not
add
any
carbon
dioxide
to
the
atmosphere.
This
included
the
construction
of
a
new
pellet-fired
biomass
plant
which
supplies
70%
of
the
heating
requirements.
Energy
for
the
combustion
process
is
provided
by
solar
cells
on
the
roof.
Three
wind
turbines
on
the
site
cover
half
of
the
facility’s
electricity
requirements.
30%
is
provided
by
an
oil-fired
boiler
that
was
converted
to
burn
bio-oil.<br>-
2)
The
remaining
electricity
consists
of
certified
green
energy
(from
hydropower
plants)
supplied
by
Belgium's
leading
energy
company
(utility).<br><br>My
question
here
is
regarding
the
fairness
of
consider
“
–
2
“
as
zero
carbon
achievement.
Well,
while
the
company
signed
a
Power
Purchasing
Agreement
to
buy
electricity
from
hydropower
plants
connected
to
the
grid.
Note
that
these
power
plants
DO
NOT
represent
addition
of
new
energy
sources
to
the
same
grid.
We
must
also
observe
that,
in
the
absence
of
initiative
2,
these
hydropower
would
supply
the
same
amount
of
electricity
to
other
consumers
connected
to
the
grid.
Thus
there
is
a
leakage
situation
resulted
of
initiative
2:
in
thesis,
as
a
result
of
initiative
2,
other
consumers
that
were
used
to
consume
(in
group)
the
same
amount
of
green
electricity
generated
by
such
hydropower
plants
had
to
start
consuming
energy
from
other
non-green
electricity
sources
in
the
margin.
Thus,
in
my
opinion,
due
to
the
leakage
effect,
initiative
2
can
not
be
regarded
as
CO2
neutral.
In
reality
instead
of
claiming
that
energy
consumption
associated
with
initiative
2
is
CO2
neutra<br>
l,
the
company
would
be
supposed
to
use
an
EF
for
the
whole
Belgium
grid
(which
is
based
on
CO2
that
was
emitted
by
ALL
power
plants
that
supply
electricity
to
the
grid)
(See
EIA
doc
that
suggests
grid
EF
for
GHG
inventories
and
GHG
reduction
initiaves
in
Belgium
and
other
countries:
<a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/pdf/Appendix%20F_r071023.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/pdf/Appendix%20F_r071023.pdf</a>). <br>Well,
what
worries
me
is
that
indeed
this
company,
like
others,
is
doing
a
big
“CO2
neutral”
press
campaign
about
something
that
in
my
opinion
is
not
entirely
CO2
neutral
as
they
claim.<br><br>Comments? <br><br><!-- kill --><div><br><br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Greenhouse
Gas
Inventory
Experts
Network<br><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ghgnetwork.org">www.ghgnetwork.org</a></span><br><br>To
post
message:<br>Discuss
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