50 MAKALE / ARTICLE Reporting requirements The Directive would create extensive reporting requirements tor Member States and the European Commission. Energy performance of buildings The basic objective of the Directive is to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings within the EU, taking into account outdoor climatic conditions and indoor climatic requirements, local conditions and cost-effectiveness. For new buildings with a total surface area over 1000 m 2 Member States would have to demand technical, environmental and economic feasibility studies of decentralized energy supply systems based on CHP betore the building permi! is granted. According to Article 3 of the proposed Directive, calculation of the energy performance of buildings explicitly has to take into account the benefits of electricity generation from on-site CHP units and/or district heating. Member States are thus expected to design a calculation system that credits a better energy performance to buildings using CHP The Directive requests Member States to define different requirements tor different types of buildings, including apartment blocks, hospitals, and hotels, which are generally more suitable tor CHP than other types of building. Also, the setting of national requirements should take into account 'best practice' - this includes CHP and district heating. Emisslons trading This proposal aims to establish a legal framework tor an ELJ greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme to be launched by 2005 tor a three-year pilot phase. it was published in October 2001 . The emissions trading scheme would be limited to COz emissions and apply to most installations regulated by Directive 96/91/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC), plus some installations not covered by the IPPC Directive. These are combustion installations with a rated thermal input of greater than 20 MW, and certain activities in the refinery, ferrous metal, mineral, pulp and paper industry - altogether some 4000-5000 installations emitting approximately 46% of estimated EU COz emissions in 201O. Member States would allocate COs emission quotas to these installations in line with national emission reduction targets under the EU Burden Sharing Agreement on the Kyoto Protocol, and the requirements set out in Annex 111 of the Directive. The draft amendments from the May 2002 of the European ECOGENERATION WORLD Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy are available. Key issues tor CHP within the Parliamentary debate appear to be as below. Consideration of CHP within emissions trading: a new subparagraph proposes that Member States shall take account of the corresponding carbon value of savings achieved through CHP investments when allocating allowances to operators. A new European Guidance on Carbon Equivalence of CHP shall be prepared by the Commission prior to the scheme's entry into force. This Carbon Equivalence should be used in calculating the benefit of CHP 7 Also, it has been suggested that the Directive should not apply to CHP district heating installations even if they have a rated thermal input greater than 20 MW. it is argued that it would be contradictory if the Community wants more district heating, yet, if households switched from individual to district heating the installations would emit more CO" and theretore would have to buy more allowances. 7 Allocation of allowances: the contentious issue of allocation of emission allowances, which arc potentially valuable, is a major headache. lnitial suggestions of the Rapporteur proposed that tor the first three years of the scheme, 70% of them should be allocated free of charge on the basis of verified emissions from each installation in 1990. The remaining 30% should be allocated by auctioning. The revenues from the auctioning should be distributed by Member States to the participants of the scheme according to 'environmentally friendly criteria.' CONCLUSIONS The present situation tor cogeneration in Europe is difficult; the market is stagnant and some of the current capacity is under threat from the expansionist priorities of large electricity companies and the lack of price competition in natura! gas markets. This situation is in direct opposition to the needs of Europe tor a sustainable energy policy and the requirements to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, however, hope is not dead. The European Commission has developed a range of new legislative instruments that will help the cogeneration sector, either directly or by improving the policy framework. The next steps are tor the Member States of the European Union to finally commit themselves to a sustainable energy path that will include a substantial role tor cogeneration. Siman Minett is the Director of COGEN Europe Fax: +32 2 772 5044 e-mail: simon.minett@cogen.org Source: Cogeneration On-Site Power 2002-2003 Review lssue
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