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THE IMPACT OF EPA'S GREEN POWER PURCHASES
Citation:
DECAROLIS, J. THE IMPACT OF EPA'S GREEN POWER PURCHASES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-07/019, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA report
Description:
All federal agencies, including EPA, are required to reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions attributed to facility energy use by 30% below 1990 levels by 2010. A key approach to reducing facility greenhouse gas emissions, employed by EPA, involves the purchase of "green power". Green power generally includes renewables (wind, solar, biomass) and other clean energy technologies (municipal solid waste and landfill gas) that generate electricity. Green tags, which represent the positive environmental attributes associated with electricity production from green power sources, are sold through markets to electricity consumers. This report meets three objectives: (1) establish the 1990 EPA emissions baseline in order to assess progress, (2) examine the impact of EPA's green power purchasing on facility-related greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and (3) develop a strategy for future green power purchases. In order to achieve these objectives, this report describes a new method to estimate net emissions of CO2, SO2, NOx, and Hg. The estimation of net facility emissions is complicated by the purchase of green tags because it requires detailed knowledge of which conventional power plants are being offset by purchased green power.