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Past Award

EE Project Group5:  Electric Lighting Efficiency Projects

Measure Name

Scope and Category

Pollutant Reduction

Carbon Reduction Benefits

Main Implementing Agencies

Simple Description

Electric lighting efficiency  improvements

Fixed source—industry

SO2, NOx, PM

CO2

Industrial enterprises; Government  energy conservation units

Upgrading lighting technology and  optimizing lighting systems in industry



1.     Objective

      Lightingis estimated to account for some 17-20% of China’s electricity consumption, andhence electricity used in lighting amounted to roughly 1 trillion kWh in 2014.[1]  While much of this lightingoccurs in commercial, public or residential buildings, lighting in industrialfacilities is also a large total electricity consumer.  Lighting efficiency and performance upgradeprojects can reduce industrial lighting requirements by 10-50%, depending onwhat types of systems are being replaced. The corresponding electricity savings can yield  a substantial reduction in thermal powergeneration requirements, and thereby reduce air pollution in thermal powerproducing areas and the travel of this pollution to China’s big urban centers.

     


2.     Measure Description

      a.  Relevant laws and regulations.  Most of China’s lighting efficiency policies centeron production of LEDs and other high-efficiency lamps, withdrawal ofincandescent lamps from the market, and lighting efficiency improvements inbuildings.    However, lightingimprovements in industry are also encouraged under the country’s Medium andLong-term Energy Conservation Plan, and the energy conservation parts of the12th FYP.  The projects are alsosupported with various public financial incentives available for key energyconservation projects.

     

      b.   Scope for adoption of the measure.  Although lighting typically accounts for onlya small share of factory energy use it is still substantial in the aggregatebecause it is so common in factories large and small and in all subsectors.  Technology, including high-efficiency lampsand tubes, but also improved controls and increasing sophistication in lightingconfigurations, also continues to change rapidly, leaving new, emergingopportunities even where enterprises have completed improved lighting projectsin the past.


      c.  Description of the measure.  Simple lamp or tube replacement projects areprobably the most common.  However morecomprehensive projects often can yield greater benefits.  In addition to incorporation of newhigh-efficient lamp technology, motion-detecting sensors, time-based controlsor dimmers can be added into systems to match lighting to actual demand andreduce waste.  In addition, redesign ofsystems to focus on the best solutions for different types of light, lightintensity and light focus can both save substantial amounts of energy andimprove workplace lighting yielding more productive and safer operation.


      d.  Implementation framework.  Projects are implemented by enterprisesthemselves with technical expertise and equipment available in the market.  A primary incentive is to reduce factoryelectricity costs.  Additional incentivesinclude needs to comply with energy conservation agreements with localgovernment, needs to conform with energy-use standards, and improved securityof energy supply.


      e.  Benefits and costs:


  Investment costs for manyelectric lighting improvement projects are relatively small.  Investment costs for the four green lightingprojects in the project sample ranged from just RMB 80,000 to RMB 1.5 million.    Investment costs per tce of energy savingscapacity in the sample projects were exceptionally low, ranging from RMB 1100to 3000 per tce saved.


  Similar to electric motorprojects, lighting efficiency projects save purchased electricity, reducingneeds for generation and hence air pollution emissions at thermal power plants,but not at factory sites.   Because thelighting projects are often small, the electricity savings they generate perproject also are relatively small, with corresponding estimated emissionsreductions at power plants averaging 1 ton of SO2 and 1 ton of NOx per projectin the sample.  However, as manythousands of industrial lighting projects are pursued each year, the aggregateair pollution reduction impacts are still meaningful.


  Also similar to electric motorrenovation projects, lighting efficiency projects save relatively expensiveelectricity, and typically yield very strong financial returns toenterprises.  The net financial gains toenterprises per ton of air pollutant reduced in the project sample ranged fromRMB 77 to RMB 117 per ton of SO2 and NOx reduced.


      f.  Key issues for implementation. Whilethe main types of energy efficiency projects save enterprises money,encouragement and support for implementation by local energy conservationsupervision agencies and environmental protection authorities can help raiseproject priority and overcome operational inertia.  Assistance from energy conservation units orthird-party service entities may be needed in identifying the best specifictechnical options and solutions.



3.     Method for Calculating Project EnergySavings and Emissions Reduction

      Airpollution reductions from industrial energy efficiency projects can becalculated from available data on the reduced energy use resulting the projectswhich then leads to reduced fuel combustion emissions.  For most projects, and especially waste heatand gas recovery projects, it is best to divide project energy savings into twocategories: (1) on-site coal combustion savings, which directly benefits the localair-shed; and (2) on-site electricity savings, from which a reduction in needsto combust coal in thermal power plants and associated emissions reductions atthermal power plants can be calculated, wherever they are located.


      Projectinvestment and energy savings data used for this note are from the Institutefor Industrial Productivity’s (IIP) database of 84 Chinese industrial energyefficiency projects completed during 2008-2014. Both on-site and power plant emissions reductions were then derived fromaverage national coefficients for SO2 and NOx emissions reduction per ton ofindustrial on-site coal saved and for SO2 and NOx emissions reduction per tonof coal saved in thermal power production.


      Localenvironmental protection authorities can prepare improved, location-specificair pollution benefit calculations.  Theycan obtain recent local energy efficiency project investment and energy savingsdata and information on future project potential from local energy conservationsupervision agencies (节能监察队或中心).  Coal savings-emission reduction coefficientscan be fine-tuned to account for local coal characteristics, electric powergenerating plant location and type, and prevalent emissions controlinstallations at various sites. Reductions in local air-shed ambient PM 2.5 levels that can be achievedby portfolios of energy efficiency projects can be calculated by adding coalsavings-PM emissions reduction coefficients (as well as SO2 and NOxcoefficients), and calculating synergistic effects using local air qualitymodels.


4.     Project Examples

      The investment costs, net lifecycle financial benefits arisingfrom energy cost savings, pollution reduction per year and net costs of SO2 andNOx reduction of two green lighting projects are provided in the tablebelow.  The projects have been completed,with verified energy savings levels.

     


Project Type

Province

Total Invest-ment Cost (mln RMB)

Net Lifecycle Financial Benefit   (mln RMB)*

Local SO2 reduc-tion per year

Local NOx reduc-tion per year

Total SO2 reduc-tion per year

Total NOx reduc-tion year

Net cost per ton of life-cycle SO2   and NOx reduction (1000 RMB)

1.   Green lighting project

Tianjin

0.08

1

0

0

1

1

-117

2. Green lighting project

Shaanxi

1.1

2

0

0

1

1

-77



* Lifecycle energy cost savings minus totalinvestment costs.



      Eachproject show very good financial benefits to enterprises per ton of pollutantreduced, with net benefits per ton of life-cycle SO2 and NOx reduction rangingfrom RMB 77,000 to RMB 117,000.  An issuewith these project, compared to other industrial energy efficiency projects, isthat their individual impact is small.  Large-scale impacts on overall electricity demand and air pollutionreduction are achieved through technical and organizational support for largenumbers of projects, replicated through many enterprises.