Power plants, refinery voluntarily cut emissions

Three local power plants and one petroleum refinery have obtained verification from the International Standards Organization (ISO) after reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by following the ISO 14064-2 principles and requirements, said Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) officials yesterday.

Economic Minister Steve R.L. Chen presented the ISO 14064-2 certificates to the Taoyuan refinery owned by the state-run CPC Corp., Taiwan (CPC) petroleum company, as well as Taiwan Power Company's (Taipower's) Tunghsiao, Taichung and Hsingta power plants, during a ceremony held by the MOEA to publicize GHG management results in the energy sector.

Chen said the government began helping the CPC, Taipower and another eight private power plants around the country in planning a voluntary GHG emission reduction project long before the legislative committee of sanitation and environment passed a draft bill in May setting concrete targets for the reduction of GHG emissions in Taiwan.

The country, he went on, is expected to cut its total anticipated GHG emissions amount during a 10-year period between 2005 and 2015 by 12 million tons: the equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide that can only be absorbed by 12,860 forest parks the same size as Daan Park in Taipei.

The MOEA Energy Bureau began operations to help local energy producers calculate, record and cut GHG emissions in 2005. So far, 75 companies in the power generation, oil refinery and gas fuel sectors have received assistance to reduce GHG emissions.

The ISO 14064-2 standard provides guidance at the project level for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of activities intended to reduce GHG emissions.

The system includes requirements for planning a GHG project, identifying and selecting GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs relevant to the project, a baseline scenario,monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting GHG project performance, as well as managing data quality, according to the Switzerland-based ISO, a network of the national standards institutes of 157 countries.