5.1 Defining Project Boundaries

5.1 DEFINING PROJECT BOUNDARIES
5.2 DEVELOPING THE PROJECT EMISSIONS BASELINE
5.3 MEASURING POST-IMPLEMENTATION EMISSION LEVELS
5.4 EXAMPLE: COMINCO LTD. STEAM MANAGEMENT

Project boundaries are the physical and temporal boundaries that contain the project (activity or equipment) that currently emits greenhouse gases. The main purpose of project boundaries is to enable project proponents to have a common point of comparison both before and after the project has been implemented in order to compare pre- and post-project greenhouse gas emissions.

The project boundaries must apply to both pre- and post-project conditions. They must be clearly documented so that third parties can verify the accuracy of emission reduction estimates. The pre- and post project conditions must compare a common functional unit, so that you are comparing ‘apples to apples’.

For illustrative purposes, consider the following example. The before-project setting is a gas-fired co-generation turbine producing 20 MW of electricity and 25 MW of heat by-product that is sold as industrial steam to a nearby facility. The project entails the installation of a combined cycle natural gas turbine, which generates the same amount of electricity, 20 MW, but is more efficient and so only produces 10 MW of heat by-product. The nearby facility will now need to obtain the other 15MW of steam heat from another source. The pre-project boundary includes the original gas-fired co-generator. The post-project boundary must include not only the new combined cycle natural gas turbine, but also the source for the other 15 MW of steam heat. This is because the common functional unit that must be compared is 20 MW of electricity and 25 MW of steam heat.