Previously, methodologies approved by the CDM Executive Board were approved for use on ACR for the registration of projects in non-Annex 1 countries or for registration of projects in the U.S. after ACR review and approval of special applicability conditions. Under ACR Standard v7.0, CDM methodologies are no longer accepted for crediting new projects on ACR. Therefore, ACR’s approval of the methodology Switch from non-renewable biomass for thermal applications by the user, which is based on the Clean Development Mechanism’s Small Scale Methodology: AMS I.E, Version 05, is withdrawn and the methodology is ineligible for crediting projects on ACR.
Methodology History
When project proponents wish to propose modifications to an existing methodology, ACR requires an approval process either via ACR’s regular public consultation and scientific peer review process in the case of significant modifications, or by an independent ACR AFOLU Technical Committee in cases where the proposed modifications are minor.
First methodology modification, approved April 2011:
- Adds to the list of eligible technologies/measures a switch from conventional fuels (e.g. fuelwood and charcoal) to renewable fuels. As in AMS I.E Version 03 with “renewable energy technologies,” renewable fuels reduce the use of conventional fuels and the project proponent must demonstrate what portion of those fuels are non-renewable woody biomass.
- Provides a new equation to derive By, the quantity of woody biomass substituted or displaced. This is based on the quantity of renewable fuels sold, with terms to account for the fact that less than 100% of renewable fuel sold may displace traditional biomass, and for the difference in net calorific value (NCV) between the new and old fuels.
- Requires monitoring of fuel use by households, in a similar annual sampling approach as is required in AMS I.E Version 03 for monitoring the use of renewable energy technologies.
Second methodology modification, approved July 2013:
The second modification results from an analogous modification to CDM methodology AMS II.G, Energy Efficiency Measures in Thermal Applications of Non-Renewable Biomass, approved by the ACR AFOLU Technical Committee and published in July 2013. In that modification, the fossil fuel emission factors used in AMS II.G to calculate baseline emissions are based on an assumed shift from non-renewable biomass to fossil fuels. These were replaced by biomass emission factors for fuelwood and charcoal.
The rationale was that households in many developing countries where this methodology may be applied are using fuelwood/charcoal in the baseline, and when they install an efficient cookstove they still use fuelwood/charcoal but less of it, rather than switching to fossil fuels. This leads to a reduction in use of and emissions from non-renewable biomass. To recognize this, ACR replaced the fossil fuel emission factors in Equation (1) of AMS II.G with appropriate and conservative biomass emission factors for fuelwood and charcoal, derived from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
AMS I.E uses the same fossil fuel emission factors. With the same rationale, ACR in this modification to AMS I.E replaces those with biomass emission factors.
