Carbon Accounting and Management in the Water Industry

Carbon Accounting Conference

11th March 2009

Heriot Watt University

Dr Mark Williams

Business Strategy and Climate Change Manager

The challenge

Vast business

Complex activities

Energy intense

Major capital investment

Long-life assets

Investment and energy intensity

2002-2010 £4bn in quality enhancement Improved infrastructure, service,

quality Increased treatment intensity

But – 2.5% annual rise in energy demand

One of Scotland’s largest consumers

of electricity

Carbon accounting: seeking a common water industry approach

Strong UK water industry approach – consistency

Long history of development

Operational, embodied, supply chain

Guidance on Whole Life Costing

Dominant GHG emissions from the water industry

CO2 – direct and indirect from fuel and electricity

CH4 – direct from sewage and sludge processes

N2O – direct from sewage and sludge processes

The “Whole Life Carbon” challenge: - making the right choices- evolving a sustainable asset base

Carbon embedded in materials

Carbon emitted during construction

Carbon emitted during capital maintenance

Carbon emitted during operation

From “Carbon accounting in the UK water industry: Guidelines for dealing with ‘embodied carbon’ and whole life carbon accounting”, UKWIR 08/CL/01/6

CO2 from direct and indirect energy use

See Phase 1

First Construction

See Phase 2 (Section 2 + Section 3)

N2O, CH4 from processes

See Phase 1

Capital maintenance and renewal

See Phase 2 (Section 4.3.4)

Construction – Embodied emissions

Operation and Maintenance – Operational emissions

Embodied Emissions

DEFRA Guideline Emissions Non-Defra Emissions

FF CO2 emissions* Other GHG emissions

+

*CRC, ROCsand EU ETS all only consider Fossil Fuel CO2 but their rules differ in detail.

++

Home water heating

Local customer water recycling or harvesting investment

Water N2O emissions downstream of effluent discharges

See Phase 2 (Section 5)

Excluded emissions(examples)

Embodied Emissions

CO2 from direct

and indirect

energy use

First

Construction

N2O, CH4 from processes Chemicals for Treatment

Capital maintenance and renewal

Construction – Embodied emissions

Whole Life Carbon Emissions

Operation and Maintenance – Operational emissions

Embodied Emissions

DEFRA Guideline Emissions Non-Defra Emissions

CO2 emissions*

Other GHG emissions

+

*CRC, ROCsand EU ETS all only consider Fossil Fuel CO2 but their rules differ in detail.

++

Home water heating

Local customer water

recycling or harvesting investment

Water N2O emissions

downstream of

effluent discharges

Excluded emissions(examples)

Embodied Emissions

Operational Boundaries

(adapted from Figure 5.2, UKWIR, 2007)

Operational activities from

leased buildings

Sludge transport and

disposal

Waste water treatment

Water treatmentSludge

treatment

PFICompany

Direct and indirect emissions

ScottishWater

Raw Water

Abstraction Water

DistributionSewage

TreatmentTreatment

SewageCollection

Discharge

2006-7 Carbon Footprint

• Scotland: 8% of UK population• Scottish Water: 10.6% of UK Water Industry emissions

469,000 tonnes CO2e

A Water FootprintBreakdown

• Wastewater = 45%• Sewerage = 13%• Water = 30%• Water supply = 9%• Others = 3%

100%

66%Grid electricity:

13%Gas

9% Sludge

Process emissions

6%WW process

emissions

2.2%Skip Waste

0.3%Water treatment

process emissions

3.5%Transport & Travel

A Water FootprintBreakdown

Improving operational footprinting

Ongoing measurement and tracking

More ‘granular’ reporting

Management at asset level

Supply chains

Capital Emissions: First construction

SitePreparation CommissioningConstruction

DemolitionClearanceWasteTransport

ConcreteSteelAggregatesWastePlant

PumpingSampling mileage

Non Infrastructure

SitePreparation CommissioningConstruction

DemolitionClearanceWasteTransport

ConcreteSteelAggregatesWastePlant

PumpingSampling mileage

Excavation Pipe work

WasteTransport

MaterialsWaste

Infrastructure

Excavation Pipe work

WasteTransport

MaterialsWaste

Current Capital Programme – initial assessment

“top down” using “bottom up” case studies

£ built from aggregating ‘construction components’

Carbon tagged to components/sub-components

Testing using case studies - extrapolate across programme

Circa 1.4m tonnes 2006-2010

Our ambition

Develop WLC tools that will allow carbon accounting in capital programme

Enable design engineers to account for carbon

Build capability to make sustainable decisions

“Doing the right thing”

Carbon mitigation strategy Proactive Contributing towards

Scotland’s targets Reducing demand Renewable generation Building a sustainable business