SRI Consulting Releases New Greenhouse Gases Handbook
Updated 2007 Handbook Offers Kyoto CDM Analyses
MENLO
PARK, CA. Nov. 28, 2007 —Trading CO2 under the Kyoto Protocol regulations for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been a lucrative business. In 2006, over 450 million tons of CO2 equivalent were traded in the form of Certified Emission Reductions (CER), with a total market value of nearly $5 billion USD. Next month, new CDM rules may be decided and the outcome may not be so rewarding. Today, SRI Consulting (SRIC) released its 2007 Greenhouse Gases Handbook, providing analyses of regulations currently under consideration, scenarios for possible outcomes from new CDM rules, and estimates on the emissions of CO2 from 150 chemical processes.
About half of the emissions traded under the CDM have involved projects that make a refrigerant called HCFC-22. These projects produce a by-product called HFC-23 which is a greenhouse gas more than 10,000 times more potent than CO2. The refrigerant manufacturers destroy the HFC-23 and take emissions credits that can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Russell Heinen, Vice-President at SRIC commented, “CDM credits drive the economics of manufacturing HCFC-22.” Mr. Heinen continued, “This has the undesirable effect of promoting the production of an ozone depleting gas.”
Michael Arné, Assistant Director of SRIC’s Greenhouse Gases Initiative commented “There is an important climate change meeting in Bali next month and it is likely that the CDM rules will be changed. It looks like the days of windfall profit from HFC-23 remediation are coming to a close.”
The Greenhouse Gases Handbook examines greenhouse gas regulations and how this process is evolving. It covers the top CO2-emitting chemical processes as well as those with significant carbon intensities. The emission factors presented are useful for benchmarking and for estimating greenhouse gases inventories. The Handbook estimates emissions from three sources: the chemical process itself, on-site combustion for heaters, boilers, and other fired equipment plus off-site generation of electricity. Each of the estimates is derived from a detailed design of the process as typically commercially operated. The report is accompanied by an online interactive calculator that enables the user to estimate emissions for any of the processes at any location.
For additional information about the Greenhouse Gases Handbook please contact Michael Arné at GHG-Handbook@sriconsulting.com or +1 650-384-4313 or visit the website at www.sriconsulting.com/GHG.
About SRI Consulting
SRI Consulting (SRIC) is the world’s leading business research service for the global chemical industry. Publishing for almost 60 years, SRI Consulting is the preeminent source for in-depth business and process analysis. This report was developed by the Greenhouse Gases Initiative group, providing comprehensive and current information on greenhouse gas emissions. SRI Consulting’s headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California with offices in The Woodlands, Texas; Zürich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; and Beijing, China. SRI Consulting is a division of Access Intelligence, LLC. Additional Information is available at www.sriconsulting.com.
SRI Consulting (SRIC) is a trade name and a registered trademark of SRI International, used under license. |
