News I CNIS & iCET hosts first drafting meeting for the Chinese National Standard: Fuel Carbon Emission Lifecycle Assessment Principles and Requirements.
iCET's Low Carbon Fuel Policy and Standards project is forging ahead with groundbreaking research and development for a new Chinese National Standard which will define a methodology for fuel companies to use when they want to measure the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of the fuels they produce.
On June 11, 2009, the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS), with technical and financial support from iCET, convened the first drafting meeting for the Chinese National Standard, Fuel Carbon Emission Lifecycle Assessment Principles and Requirements. With experts from Tsinghua University, The China Coal Research Institute, The China Academy of Sciences, Petrochina, COFCO, iCET and CNIS in attendance, great progress was made in the development of the draft standard.
The development of a standard methodology for analyzing the lifecycle carbon emission of transport fuels is not easy. Each type of fuel and feedstock has its own special characteristics. Yet, based on the principles of lifecycle analysis, it is found that the production of all types of fuels can be broken into similar units: feedstock production, feedstock preparation, feedstock transport, conversion to transport fuel, fuel transport to market, and fuel blending. Other important considerations include how to allocate carbon emissions to byproducts of the fuel production process, and ensuring that double counting is avoided. By breaking the analysis into these units, it is easier for companies to find information about GHG emissions that result from their production processes.
Defining a methodology for measuring the lifecycle carbon emissions of transportation fuels made by companies will be invaluable for China as it establishes new institutions for regulating the environmental and social impacts of alternative fuels. iCET will continue to support China in the development of leading edge, low carbon, environmentally responsible transport fuel policies.
