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Green Markets’ Programs Green Markets has strived to increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency for environmental protection and economic development. Green Markets' programs have intended to build knowledge about carbon market logistics and opportunities, and about other mechanisms to support the expanded use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other climate protection options. Principal activities have included:
The Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific offer a range of activities that can generate greenhouse gas reductions while advancing sustainable development. The carbon offsets market holds substantial promise as a source of catalytic funding, but existing barriers impede market access for small and medium sized enterprises, local government bodies, and development organizations. To enable their participation, various barriers must be overcome, including: a lack of awareness about the market and the logistics of participation; the need for assistance navigating complicated participation rules; and the need for aggregation for smaller-scale projects, without which transaction costs can overwhelm the benefits of carbon finance. Green Markets' carbon market information program provides information and links to resources to help increase access to the greenhouse gas reduction market so that it can become more broadly inclusive, enabling support for small-scale activities and for initiatives conceived and implemented by stakeholders who might otherwise be left out.
Sustainable Energy Acceleration Under the sustainable energy acceleration program, Green Markets has worked to enhance understanding about the climate protection attributes of renewable energy and energy efficiency applications, and to build knowledge about innovative financial mechanisms for small-scale sustainable energy technologies. Areas of focus have included:
With support from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, Blue Moon Fund, and Oak Foundation, Green Markets worked to boost the use of solar water heating systems for climate protection and economic development through the Innovative Financing to Accelerate Solar Water Heating initiative.
Solar water heaters are often cost effective, locally manufactured in many countries, and can contribute substantially to climate protection and economic development. Yet solar water heater markets have remained small in many locations, even where conditions for market growth appear quite promising. Barriers related to the lack of available arrangements to address the high up-front cost of the technology are commonly among the main impediments to market growth for solar water heating. Innovative business structures such as fee-for-service and ESCO operations and financial mechanisms such as carbon trading can help to surmount financial barriers and support growth in solar water heating markets. Under the Innovative Financing to Accelerate Solar Water Heating initiative, Green Markets worked collaboratively with the Vitae Civilis Institute of São Paulo, Brazil, Bill Guiney from Caribbean Solar Technologies of Anguilla, and others to facilitate the use of fee-for-service and ESCO business structures as well as carbon finance for solar water heating in the Americas and beyond. For further information and resources, visit www.green-markets.org/SWH
Photovoltaic solar home systems (SHS) have proven their ability to supply modern energy to rural areas of the developing world while directly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by replacing kerosene lamps and candles with solar powered electric lights. Carbon abatement per system is very small, yet PV SHS installations achieve perhaps the highest level of carbon abatement per Watt peak of PV. As with most other off-grid electrification activities, SHS projects also have intrinsic social benefits, increasing the quality of life for rural households. Building on prior work examining the role for SHS in climate protection and development, developing standardized procedures for baseline setting and other aspects of carbon market participation, and helping to create and support rural PV energy enterprises and consumer financing programs, Green Markets has worked to accelerate PV SHS dissemination by facilitating access to carbon finance and through other strategies.
Diesel generators commonly supply power for isolated communities and productive applications in off-grid areas across much of the world. Revenue from the sale of verified or certified emission reductions can improve project economics and potentially catalyze diesel fuel replacement with renewable energy in mini-grid systems.
Green Markets has worked to build knowledge about renewable energy options and carbon finance for diesel replacement in mini-grids, and to facilitate access to carbon finance and other environmental market programs for diesel replacement projects. Visit http://green-markets.org/diesel.htm for more information and resources. |
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Green Markets International, Inc. ¤ 691 Massachusetts
Avenue, Suite 7 ¤ Arlington, Massachusetts 02476 ¤ USA |
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