Agony of Sorrow

轉自"說說能源" https://www.facebook.com/talkthatenergy/posts/2305451203012272?hc_location=ufi

最近對於「綠能」的定義又被重新挑起，最常被拿來操作的就是美國環保署在 Green Power Partnership 中的定義，就是那張被台灣反核人士貼來貼去引用的圖。我昨天直接寫信去問美國環保署了，我第一次寫信給國外機關，效率滿好的，一個小時內就有回信了，得到了一個滿明確又滿大家想不到的回覆...

信中，我假定Green Power的Green指的是環境友善的意思，然後舉了核能也沒有碳排放、所需土地面積與物料最少、廢棄物產量少，相比其他發電方式也都相對可減少資源開發紛爭以及引用了美國能源部"Clean Energy"的說詞，來詢問核能是否也可以是Green Power。

得到的回覆是這樣，They defined the term "Green Power" on the market base and demand.基本上就是，他們以市場的角度定義出了"Green" 然後後面就是一些網站上的說詞，以及他也同意核能確實在我提供的資料中有這些效益。但，在這樣的計畫中，核能並無法歸類為"Green Power"而只是Conventional Power。這一切與核能就科學上的環境效益基本上沒有太多關係，只是在憑證交易市場的歷史脈絡裡，核能就是~沒那麼潮(我自己加的)。

另外，我也發信詢問了美國能源部對於"Clean Energy"的定義以及也發信到聯合國的永續發展組織詢問他們對於"Sustainable Energy"的定義，因為晚了幾個小時發，他們應該下班了，所以晚點如果有收到回覆再跟大家分享。

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The Green Power Partnership works to protect human health and the environment by expanding U.S. renewable energy markets through the voluntary use of green power. We define the term "Green Power" on the market base and demand. We do this by addressing market barriers through the delivery of credible information to the our partner organizations and by rewarding end users for taking leadership in buying green power at a level that is greater than business-as-usual.Our Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as large Fortune 500® companies, small and medium sized businesses, colleges and universities as well as local, federal and yes, state governments.

As you know, the U.S. energy supply is composed of a wide variety of energy resources; however, not all energy resources have the same environmental benefits and costs.

For EPA’s program requirements,we use the market definition of "green power" as electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resource such as solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact biomass and low-impact hydro. This is just a subset of the total renewable energy sources and represents those renewable energy resources and technologies that offer the highest environmental benefit. Green power sources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to that of conventional power technologies and produce no fossil-fuel based greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable energy includes resources that rely on fuel sources that restore themselves over short periods of time and do not diminish. Such fuel sources include the sun, wind, moving water, organic plant and waste material (eligible biomass), and the earth's heat (geothermal). Although the impacts are small, some renewable energy technologies can have an impact on the environment. For example, large hydroelectric resources can have environmental trade-offs on such issues as fisheries and land use.

While nuclear reactors do not emit greenhouse gases during power generation and the high energy density can really bring benefit that you mentioned, but like large-scale hydro, however there are environmental impacts associated with this energy source. And clearly, nuclear power doesn’t fall within the broader category of renewable energy.

I hope this helps to clarify how the market defines different types of energy resources based on their relative environmental benefits