Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 22a - Environmental Protection › 174 - Abatement of Air Pollution › Section 22a-174-31a - Greenhouse gas emission offset projects

Current through July 10, 2024
(a)
Definitions and abbreviations.
Except as otherwise provided, for
			 the purposes of this section and section
			 22a-174-31
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies:
(1) "Anaerobic digester" means a device that
			 promotes the decomposition of organic material to simple organics and gaseous
			 biogas products, usually accomplished by means of controlling temperature and
			 volume, and including a methane recovery system.
(2) "Anaerobic digestion" means the
			 degradation of organic material including manure brought about through the
			 action of microorganisms in the absence of elemental oxygen.
(3) "Anaerobic storage" means the storage of
			 organic material in an oxygen-free environment, or under oxygen-free
			 conditions, including but not limited to, holding tanks, ponds, and
			 lagoons.
(4) "ANSI" means the
			 American National Standards Institute.
(5) "ASHRAE" means the American Society of
			 Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioner Engineers.
(6) "Biogas" means the gas, primarily methane
			 and CO2, resulting from the decomposition of organic
			 matter under anaerobic conditions.
(7) "Building envelope" means the elements of
			 a building, including walls, windows, foundation, basement slab, ceiling, roof
			 and insulation, that separate conditioned space from unconditioned space, or
			 that enclose semi-heated space, through which thermal energy may be transferred
			 to or from the exterior, unconditioned space, or conditioned space.
(8) "Certification" means an independent
			 third-party verification that a CO2 emissions offset
			 project application and all measurement, monitoring or verification associated
			 therewith meets the requirements of this section.
(9) "CH4" means
			 methane.
(10)
			 "CO2 emissions offset project" means a project to reduce
			 or avoid atmospheric loading of CO2,
			 CO2e or sequestered carbon where such project yields
			 reduced or avoided emissions that are real, additional, verifiable, enforceable
			 and permanent.
(11)
			 "CO2e" means "carbon dioxide equivalent" as defined in
			 section
			 22a-174-31
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(12) "Commercial building" means a
			 non-residential building to which the provisions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard
			 90.1 apply.
(13) "Conflict of
			 interest" means a situation under which an individual has a relationship with
			 any specific project sponsor, CO2 emissions offset
			 project or category of offset projects, such that the individual's other
			 activities or relationships with other persons or organizations render or may
			 render the individual incapable of providing an impartial certification
			 opinion, or otherwise compromise the individual's objectivity in performing
			 certification functions.
(14)
			 "Condensing mode" means the design and operation of furnaces or boilers in a
			 mode that leads to the production of condensate in flue gases.
(15) "Cooperating regulatory agency" means a
			 regulatory agency in a state or United States jurisdiction that is not a
			 participating state that has entered into a memorandum of understanding with
			 the commissioner and the appropriate regulatory agencies of all participating
			 states to carry out certain obligations relative to CO2
			 emissions offset projects in that state or United States jurisdiction,
			 including but not limited to, the obligation to perform audits of offset
			 project sites, and report noncompliance with this section.
(16) "Energy conservation measure" ("ECM") or
			 "energy efficiency measure" ("EEM") means an activity or a set of activities
			 designed to increase the energy efficiency of a building or improve the
			 management of energy demand and may include, but not be limited to, physical
			 changes to facility equipment, modifications to a building, revisions to
			 operating and maintenance procedures, software changes, or new means of
			 training or managing users of the building or operations and maintenance
			 staff.
(17) "Energy performance"
			 means a measure of the relative energy efficiency of a building, building
			 equipment, or building components, as measured by the amount of energy required
			 to provide building services and for building equipment and components, means a
			 relative measure of the impact of equipment or components on building energy
			 usage.
(18) "Energy services" means
			 the provision of useful services to building occupants, such as heating and hot
			 water, cooling, and lighting.
(19)
			 "Forested condition" means land that is at least 1.0 acre in size and 120.0
			 feet wide measured stem-to-stem from the outer-most edge with forested strips
			 that are at least 120.0 feet wide for a continuous length of at least 363.0
			 feet, and meets one of the following stocking criteria:
(A) The condition is at least 10-percent
			 stocked by trees of any size or has been at least 10-percent stocked in the
			 past, and the condition is not subject to non-forest use that prevent normal
			 tree regeneration and succession such as regular mowing, intensive grazing, or
			 recreation activities; or
(B) In
			 several western woodland species where stocking cannot be determined, the
			 condition has at least 5-percent crown cover by trees of any size, or has had
			 at least 5-percent cover in the past, and the condition is not subject to
			 non-forest use that prevents normal regeneration and succession such as regular
			 mowing, chaining, or recreation activities.
(20) "Furnace" means a self-contained,
			 indirect-fired appliance with a heat input rate of less than 225,000 Btu/hr
			 that supplies heated air to a residential or commercial building through ducts
			 to conditioned spaces.
(21) "HVAC
			 system" means a system or systems that provide, either collectively or
			 individually, heating, ventilation, or air conditioning to a building,
			 including the equipment, distribution network, and terminals.
(22) "IESNA" means the Illuminating
			 Engineering Society of North America.
(23) "Independent verifier" means an
			 individual who has been approved by the commissioner or the commissioner's
			 designee to conduct verification activities.
(24) "Market penetration rate" means a
			 measure of the diffusion of a technology, product, or practice in a defined
			 market, as represented by the percentage of annual sales for a product or
			 practice, as a percentage of the existing installed stock for a product or
			 category of products, or as the percentage of existing installed stock that
			 utilizes a practice.
(25)
			 "Non-census water" means streams, sloughs, estuaries, and canals that are more
			 than 120 feet and less than 1/8 of a mile wide and lakes, reservoirs, and ponds
			 that are 1 to 40 acres in size.
(26) "Non-forested condition" means land that
			 does not meet the definition of "forested condition" and any land that includes
			 areas used for crops, improved pasture, residential areas, city parks, improved
			 roads of any width and adjoining rights-of-way, power line clearings of any
			 width, and non-census water. If intermingled in forested areas, unimproved
			 roads and non-forest strips are more than 120.0 feet wide, and clearings more
			 than one acre in size, to qualify as non-forest land.
(27) "Offset project" means all equipment,
			 materials, items, or actions directly related to the reduction of
			 CO2 equivalent emissions or the sequestration of carbon
			 specified in a consistency application submitted pursuant to this
			 section.
(28) "On-site combustion"
			 means the combustion of fossil fuel at a building to provide building services,
			 such as heating, hot water, or electricity.
(29) "Passive solar" means a combination of
			 building design features and building components that utilize solar energy to
			 reduce or eliminate the need for mechanical heating and cooling and daytime
			 artificial lighting.
(30)
			 "Permanently retired" means a greenhouse gas allowance or credit has been
			 placed in a retirement account controlled by the jurisdiction that generated
			 the allowance or credit, or has been placed in an allowance retirement account
			 controlled by the commissioner or is otherwise determined by the commissioner
			 to be rendered unusable.
(31)
			 "Project commencement" means the date on which physical construction,
			 installation of equipment or materials or other work at an offset project site
			 began; or the date on which a management activity or protocol is first utilized
			 for an offset project.
(32)
			 "Project sponsor" means any person who owns or operates an eligible
			 CO2 emission offset project or who owns a
			 CO2 emissions credit retirement.
(33) "Regional-type anaerobic digester" means
			 an anaerobic digester using feedstock from more than one agricultural
			 operation, or importing feedstock from more than one agricultural
			 operation.
(34) "Renewable
			 portfolio standard" means the statutory requirement that a load-serving entity
			 provide a certain portion of the electricity it supplies to its customers from
			 renewable energy sources pursuant to section
			 16-245a
			 of the Connecticut General Statute or any other statute or regulation requiring
			 a certain portion of electricity supplied to the electricity grid be generated
			 from renewable energy sources.
(35)
			 "Residential building" means a low-rise structure used as a single family home,
			 a multifamily home of three or fewer stories above grade, or a modular or
			 mobile manufactured home for which the provisions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard
			 90.1 do not apply.
(36) "RESNET"
			 means the Residential Energy Services Network, a not-for-profit corporation
			 that establishes nationally recognized standards for building energy efficiency
			 rating systems.
(37)
			 "SF6" means sulfur hexafluoride.
(38) "SF6-containing
			 operating equipment" means any equipment used for the transmission or
			 distribution of electricity that contains SF6.
(39) "System benefit fund" means the monies
			 collected directly from retail electricity or natural gas ratepayers pursuant
			 to section
			 16-245
l
of the Connecticut General Statutes or the statutes and
			 regulations of other states.
(40)
			 "Total solids" means the total of all solids in a sample, including total
			 suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and volatile suspended
			 solids.
(41) "Transmission or
			 distribution entity" means the assets and equipment used to transmit and
			 distribute electricity from an electric generator to the electrical load of a
			 customer, including all related assets and equipment located within the service
			 territory of the entity, defined as the service territory of a load-serving
			 entity specified by the Connecticut Department of Public Utility
			 Control.
(42) "Verification" means
			 the determination by an independent verifier that certain parts of a
			 CO2 emissions offset project consistency application or
			 measurement, monitoring and verification report conform to the requirements of
			 this section.
(43) "Volatile
			 solids" means the fraction of total solids that is comprised primarily of
			 organic matter.
(44)
			 "Whole-building energy performance" means the overall energy performance of a
			 building, taking into account the integrated impact on energy usage of all
			 building components and systems.
(45) "Whole-building retrofit" means any
			 building project that involves the replacement of more than one building
			 system, or set of building components, and also requires a building
			 permit.
(46) "Zero net energy
			 building" means a building designed to produce as much energy, using renewable
			 energy sources, as the building is projected to use, as measured on an annual
			 basis.