NGO "ANOTHER WAY" (STICHTING BAKENS VERZET), NETHERLANDS, SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED SELF-FINANCING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGIES

This application is expected to be used in all integrated development projects. CDM income from this application alone is in principle sufficient to cover the initial capital investment costs of integrated development projects. Once the application has been approved and registered, its execution is already included in the plan for the integrated development project in question. Monitoring and validation are the only extra activities involved.

The applicable methodology is AMS-II-G (version 5).

As a group II application, AMS-II-G (version 5) falls under

“(b) Type II project activities or those relating to improvements in energy efficiency which reduce energy consumption, on the supply and/or demand side, shall be limited to those with a maximum output of 60 GWh per year (or an appropriate equivalent);” as defined in paragraph 6 (c) of decision 17/CP.7.

In a clarification dated 4^th November 2008, the small-scale projects working group of the CDM Executive Board stated, in relation to the reference in the definition of the words “appropriate equivalent”

“The SSC WG agreed to clarify therefore AMS-II.G is applicable to project activities with maximum thermal energy savings of 180 GWh per year.”

1 terajoule = approximately 0,28 GWh .

Since 1 terajoule = +/- 0,28 GWh , 1 GWh = +/- 3.57tj. Maximum thermal energy savings permitted under AMS-II-G therefore amount to 180 GWh x 3.57tj, or +/- 640 tj .

It refers to efficiency measures in thermal application of non-renewable biomass through the introduction of high-efficient thermal energy generation units utilizing non-renewable biomass or retrofitting existing units (e.g. complete replacement of existing biomass fired cook stoves or ovens or dryers with more-efficient appliances) thereby reducing the use of non-renewable biomass for combustion.

Renewable biomass itself cannot reduce greenhouse gas emissions because the re-growing biomass reabsorbs them. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions only where it replaces non-renewable biomass. Improved cooking stoves in integrated development projects best fall under AMS-II-G (version 5). When the methodology first introduced in February 2008 was considered very complex to use. Version 2, introduced in December 2009, is supposed to be easier to use. Its use would usually be coupled with a switch from non-renewable biomass to renewable biomass. (See also AMS-I-E, in part 8 below). The methodology has been adopted in just four (unregistered) small-scale projects without the issue of CER certificates.

For each integrated development project area with 50.000 people and 10.000 families, there is a market for 20.000 to 30.000 improved cooking stoves. According to methodology AMS-II-G (version 5), the fraction of the total annual biomass savings originating from non-renewable resources is determined and multiplied by the net calorific value of the biomass actually used and the emission factor of the fossil fuel that would most likely be used in the project area in the absence of the project activity. This means the CO2 savings are calculated on the fossil fuel that would be used in the absence of biomass, which is kerosene.

Supposing a saving of 6.5 kg of non-renewable wood or equivalent per family per day, 65 tonnes of wood per day are saved in each project area, or 23725 tonnes of wood a year, being two-thirds of the present annual total of 36.500 tonnes of non renewable biomass used.

The website of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change,(IPCC) provides a default value for fuel wood of 0,015 TJ [a terajoule = joule + 12 zeros] per tonne of wood fuel mass or 66,67 tonnes of fuel mass per terajoule.

Calculations for integrated development projects have to be expressed in kerosene equivalent as kerosene is the fossil fuel that would most likely be used in the absence of wood in the project areas. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) default emission factor for kerosene is 71,5 tonnes of CO2 per TJ.

Total non-renewable wood currently used in each project area is 36.500 tonnes a year.

Assuming savings of 65 % through the use of high efficiency stoves, the amount of wood saved would be 23.725 tonnes of fuel wood.

23.725 tonnes of dry mass divided by 66,67 tonnes per TJ = 355,86, say, 356 TJ.

The default factor for kerosene is 71,5 tonnes of CO2 per terajoule.

356 TJ of biomass fuel x kerosene conversion factor of 71,5 tonnes of CO2 per terajoule = 25.454 tonnes of CO2.

25.454 tonnes of CO2 @ € 14 (as at 14 November 2009) = € 356.356 per year.

Conclusion : a gross CDM amount of € 356.356 a year during three years for installation of stoves and 18 years @ € 356.356 per year would produce CDM finance of up to € 6.808.828 . This is about 1,8 times the initial capital cost of a standard integrated development project in a non-pastoralist area. It is about 1,2 times the initial capital cost of an integrated project in a pastoralist area.

Since 1 TJ = 0,28 GWh thermal.

1 GWh = 3,57 TJ

356 TJ divided by 3.57 = about 100 GWh thermal.

This is within the limit of 180 GWh thermal indicated for group II small-scale projects.

[For good order, note that according to the formula in AMS-II-G (version 5), the applicable factor is (1-efficiency old/efficiency new). Where the default for old efficiency is 0.1, to get 0.65 savings as provided above (1-0.1/x), so 0.1/ x = 0.35, and x = 0.1/.35 = 0.29 approximately. Final calculations will be made when individual applications are drafted.]

Income for each project area is first used by the project organising authority for the repayment of the initial capital costs of the integrated development project in question. After project repayment, ongoing income is paid to the project’s Local Cooperative for the on-going management and maintenance of the project structures of which all the members of the local population are automatically members. The Cooperative may then choose either to distribute the funds equally amongst its members and/or to use the funds to extend project structures.

Assuming the execution of up to 2500 integrated development projects for West Africa (excluding Nigeria and Ghana) the scheme would produce about € 18.708.690.000. General application of the concepts in Nigeria would deliver roughly the same benefits.

Poor countries do not pay CDM registration and issuance costs. However, the amounts cited are gross. They are subject to the deduction of DOE (designated operational entity ) verification costs. It is assumed these can be reduced to a nominal figure within the framework of a widely applicable general convention of the type foreseen. It is wise to provide a 10% reserve to cover DOE costs.

CDM projects cover CO2 only. Voluntary credits (so-called VERs) can be obtained for CH4 (methane) and N2O (Nitrous oxide) through the privately operated Gold Standard label, which is based in Geneva. The Gold Standard accepts parallel applications. Full lists of Gold Standard projects can be accessed Gold Standard Inlog Page.

For more information refer to AMS II.G Small-scale “Efficiency measures in thermal applications of non-renewable biomass” with its accompanying “clarification on the determination of savings in SMS II.G”.

The publication Carbon Markets for Improved Cooking Stoves : A GTZ guide for project operators, Blunck and others , 3^rd revised edition, GTZ-Hera, Eschborn, February 2010, offers a general introduction to the subject.

A CDM application in 2009 on biomass residues as the fuel source for individual stoves complete with proposed new base-line and monitoring methodologies relates to an actual project in China. The documents are the actual project texts. They can be used as a basis for drafting small-scale cook-stove projects.

Gold standard projects : Methodology for Improved Cook-stoves and Kitchen Regimes V.01 by Climate Care for the Gold Standard Foundation, Geneva, 2008 offers more specific guidance on cook-stove projects.

2. A schematic drawing of a business plan for a CDM cook-stove project under integrated development projects.

Cook-stoves projects in integrated development projects are designed to fall under the type iii) small-scale CDM projects provided for under par. 6 c) of decision 17/CP.7 covering “other project activities that both reduce anthropogenic emissions by sources and directly emit less than 60 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually”(1/CMP.2, paragraph 28).

Click here to view a proposed business plan for a CDM cook-stove project under integrated development projects.

3. Determining existing cooker user groups.

01. Accurate identification of the non-renewable part of bio-mass (or of other fuels) traditionally used for cooking purposes is at the heart of CDM cook-stove projects. The weight in tons of non-renewable biomass saved by the introduction of high-efficiency stoves multiplied by its carbon-dioxide conversion factor to produce a weight in tons of carbon-dioxide emissions is what determines the number of CER (Carbon Emission Reduction) units awarded.

02. A “photograph” is made of current energy use for cooking such as the amount of “Woody biomass”, the amount of “Renewable energy fuels” (solar, fuels without greenhouse gases (GHG) and the amount of “alternative fuels” ( being fossil fuels, dung, residues not falling under the term “renewable energy”) consumed. This is done by dividing users into “clusters” according to their traditional features, e.g. biogas, solar cookers, charcoal, fire-wood, kerosene, institutional kitchens, commercial kitchens etc.

03. How much of each cluster of materials is traditionally used in the project area ? How much does it cost? This is done through a so-called “kitchen survey” with minimum surveys of 10% of kitchens (families) with a minimum sample of 100 where there are more than 1000 users in a cluster. In principle, the more samples the better.

04. It must be shown which biomass used is not offset by re-growth in the collection area. What is the fuel collection (e.g. forest, grassland) area? How much of it is regenerated in forests and on grasslands on an annual basis ?

05. Calculate the amount of non-renewable extracted woody biomass, non-woody biomass used, and biomass residues used for each source area (e.g. forest, grassland).

06. Take into account eventual lower than required use of cooking utensils and fuels. (E.g. Where there is under-nourishment ; where is food not available; where people cannot afford to pay for fuel).

07. Can use of renewable energy in the project area lead to increase in the use of non-renewable energy elsewhere? (This is called “leakage” and has to be taken into account).

4. Calculate base-line emissions.

01. Decide which units of emission will be used : e.g. stove-year, kitchen-year, meal-year, product-year.

02. Groups or clusters are formed for each of the energy sources traditionally used in each project area. Mostly there are four categories : wood collected by hand, wood bought commercially, charcoal, and kerosene bought commercially. In the case of integrated development projects, all cluster groups would then use the same new stove technology distributed only within the project area and the same renewable-energy mini-briquettes for them distributed only within the project area.

03. The control period for each sample in each cluster should last at least one week before the installation of the new stoves with use of the mini-briquettes, and one week thereafter.

04. Calculate the base line emissions. These are (the non-renewable fraction of biomass harvested, times the mass of biomass consumed, multiplied by its CO2 emission conversion factor) plus the mass of alternative fuel consumed, multiplied by its CO2 emission conversion factor. The resultant sum is expressed in tons of CO2.

05. Decide the percentage of non-renewable bio-mass used in the project area.

06. Compare emissions under the new stove regime with those under the old one(s). This is the difference in the efficiency of the old stoves compared with the new ones. This is most commonly done by a water boiling test.

07. Decide which type of non-renewable fossil fuel would be used to substitute non-renewable bio-mass if the improved cook-stoves were not introduced.

08. Choose the preferred application period. This can be a single period of ten years, or a period of seven years renewable twice (for a total of 21 years) subject to full review and analysis by a Designated Operational Entity (DOE) after each of the first two seven-year periods.

5. Monitoring.

01. Monitoring CDM projects is an expensive and complex exercise. It involves full base-line emission reviews, usually on a two-year basis, and on-going comparison with the original base line statistics. This is particularly onerous with small CDM projects where on-going compliance costs have traditionally been out of proportion with the relatively low value of the carbon credits granted.

02. In some developing countries with potential carbon emission savings projects, the on-going ecological degradation and the total lack of sustainability in project areas are so obvious that a common sense man in the street would wonder why simple default monitoring systems could not be applied, doing away with costly and complex compliance requirements altogether. This common sense logic might not, however, be in the interests of the multinational CDM “servicing” companies involved in the administration of Kyoto-based projects.

03. Since most production items, including but not limited to improved cooking stoves, tanks, toilets are made locally under the local money system set up in each project area, monitoring in integrated development project areas is easy because it can be carried under the local money system . For example, the monitoring of a stoves project can be carried out by coupling the number of stoves actually sold to the number of locally-made mini-briquettes which serve as fuel for the stoves distributed over any given period.

Menu for : 09. CDM funding indications for the selected applications and methodologies.

09-01. CO2 savings through the reduced use of non-renewable biomass for cooking purposes through the introduction of improved stoves.

09-02. Demonstration project for the recovery of forest lands and natural parks and reserves using traditional species.

09.03. Afforestation activities in settlements as defined for the distributed planting of fruit and nut trees and similar.

09-04. Small-scale agro-forestry activities – such as distributed bamboo plantations on grasslands and croplands.

09-05. Small-scale agro-forestry activities – distributed demonstration plantations for practical purposes for local use, including but not limited to Moringa plantations on marginal lands.

09-06. Demonstration afforestation and/or reforestation (AR) projects on wetlands using traditional species.

09-07. Demonstration afforestation and/or reforestation projects on lands having low inherent potential to support living biomass.

09-08. Use of renewable biomass instead of non-renewable biomass with improved cook stoves.

09-09. Recycling of human waste to avoid the use of industrial fertilisers.

09-10. Methane recovery from animal waste for cooking and lighting purposes especially in pastoralist areas.

09-11. Replacement of kerosene lamps, incandescent light bulbs, and of the use of throw-away batteries by renewable energy sources (wind, solar and/or renewable bio-mass including but not limited to plant oil, gasification of biomass).