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

Integrated development projects provide for the local production of mini-briquettes made from renewable biomass wastes and residues supplemented as necessary by purpose-grown renewable crops. In the proposed application renewable bio-mass would be used for the methodology instead of manure, which was used as the energy source in past applications of the methodology. This application supplements part 09-01. CO2 savings through the reduced use of non-renewable biomass for cooking purposes through the introduction of improved stoves.

Small-scale group I CDM methodologies refer to small-scale energy generation. The production of briquettes distributed at household level for use with cook-stoves has already been used with group I methodologies as set out in 06. Selection of the CDM methodologies.

The production of mini-briquettes for cooking stoves from recycled waste and renewable woody and non-woody biomass within integrated development projects could fall as a new technology under methodology is AMS 1.E provided it can be shown that the 35% of renewable fuels used for the mini-briquettes replaces non-renewable fuels and provided it can be shown that 100% renewable energy sources are used for the briquettes. Application 09-01 physically eliminates 65% of the non-renewable fuels previously used. For extra CDM funds to be made available under this application, the remaining 35% (or part of it) must also be shown to have been non-renewable. Since it is unlikely that 100% of the fuel previously used can be shown to have been non-renewable, the amount of compensation under this application may relate to anywhere between 0% and 35% of 100% of all (non-renewable) substituted fuel.

By way of example, it is assumed here to start with that all 35% of the fuel replaced under this application was non-renewable, and that all fuels previously used were therefore non-renewable. In that case, 65% of 100% is replaced through the introduction of high efficiency cook-stoves under application 01, and this application refers to the switch from non-renewable to renewable of the remaining 35% of 100% of the non-renewable biomass previously consumed.

Renewable biomass was defined for the purposes of the Kyoto protocol in the Definition of renewable bio-mass Annex 18 by the Executive Board of the UNFCCC United Nations Council for Climate Change in its Report of the 23rd meeting, Bonn, par. 57, on 24 February 2006.

Biomass is “renewable” if it meets any one of five conditions :

01. The biomass comes from forests defined as such by the country in question. The area must remain a forest, be free from loss of carbon stocks and be sustainably managed.

02. The biomass is woody biomass coming from cropland and/or grasslands. The areas must remain crop and/or grasslands (or be returned to forests), be free from loss of carbon stocks and be sustainably managed.

03. The biomass is non-woody biomass coming from cropland and/or grasslands. The areas must remain crop and/or grasslands (or be returned to forests), be free from loss of carbon stocks and be sustainably managed.

04. The biomass is a biomass residue where there is no reduction in carbon pools. This means that if dead wood is already being systematically collected from a forest before the CDM project starts, then its use after the CDM starts is considered renewable as there is no decrease in carbon stocks there. If dead wood is not being systematically collected from a forest before the CDM project starts, dead wood biomass extracted from the forest after the CDM project starts is non-renewable, because the extracted bio-mass would result in a decrease of carbon stocks there.

05. The bio-mass is the non-fossil fraction of industrial or municipal waste.

By implication, any other biomass is non-renewable.

In the case of fire-wood for cook-stoves factors indicating that the wood is non-renewable include aspects such as variations (increases) in the time women and girls spend fetching wood, increases in the price of fire-wood, increase in the use of non-woody fuels, visible on-going reduction in the size of woodlands and forests. If any two of the factors apply, the wood is considered to be non-renewable.

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

The default emission factor for kerosene of 71,5 tonnes of CO2 per TJ. 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.

It is assumed that the total amount of non-renewable wood currently used in each integrated development project area is 36.500 tonnes a year. 65% of this is already covered under application 01.

Assuming conversion of the remaining 35 % from non-renewable to renewable energy sources through the use of mini-briquettes made from renewable biomass, the amount of non-renewable wood saved under this application 08 would be 12.167 tonnes of wood per year.

12.167 tonnes of wood fuel divided by 66,67 tonnes per TJ = 91,25, say, 182 TJ.

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

182 TJ of wood fuel x kerosene conversion factor of 71,5 tonnes of CO2 per terajoule = about 13.000 tonnes of CO2.

13.000 tonnes CO2 @ € 14 (as at 14 November 2009) = € 182.000

€ 182.000 a year for up to 18 years after the three years needed for the introduction of the stoves would produce a gross CDM income of € 3.276.000 per project. This is more than 87% of the initial capital investment cost of an integrated development project in non-pastoralist areas, and about 58% of that of projects in non-pastoralist areas.

Note : It is unlikely that ALL biomass currently used for cooking purposes is non-renewable. The proportion of renewable biomass part of the 35% currently used must therefore be deducted from the above figures. It is assumed that at least 35% of 100% of the biomass currently being used is already renewable. For the purposes of calculating realistic global expected CDM incomes, this application has therefore been assessed at zero. These figures will be adjusted from project to project according to the local situation.

Small-scale CDM group I methodologies have a limit of 45 MWth output power. According to the clarification on the calculation of the thermal output for applicability of small-scale limit of 45 MWth accompanying methodology AMS 1.E, the concept of “useful power”, being the technical specifications of the cook-stoves manufacturers, can be used to check compliance with the 45 MWth project size limits.

Each integrated development project will have a market of 10.000 - 30.000 cook-stoves. Output power of improved single pot cook-stoves should be much less than 1 KWth. (See, by way of example, Indian Improved Cookstoves : A compendium, Regional Wood Energy Development Programme in Asia (FAO), Field Document 41, Bangkok, 1993. Using conservative margins by calculating useful power of 1.5 KWth for each cook-stove, methodology AMS 1.E provides enough capacity for the installation of 30.000 cook-stoves in each integrated development project area.

Income for each integrated development project area is dedicated in principle first to the repayment of the initial costs of the project in question. After project repayment, ongoing income is paid to the Local Cooperative for the on-going management and maintenance of the project structures, which either distributes it equally amongst the local populations, who are all automatically members of the Local Cooperative, or invests the money in the extension of project structures.

Poor countries do not pay CDM registration and issuance costs. The amount is, however, 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.

On the basis of the conservative calculations (€ 1.638.000 per project) provided, the potential total gross CDM amount for 2.500 projects covering a sub-regional area such as West Africa (excluding Nigeria and Ghana) would be € 4.095.000.000. For the purposes of calculating realistic global expected CDM incomes, this application has been assessed at zero. These figures will be adjusted from project to project according to the local situation.