Contribution project

Geothermal energy for residential and commercial buildings

China, Shandong

ClimatePartner ID: 1528

Project details

Geothermal energyGet to know the project

During wintertime, some households in Yantai in the Shandong province, China, would still have to use high emission isolated coal-fired boilers if this project has not been implemented. Since the winter season of 2020 newly installed geothermal space heating systems replace the former heating method in some newly built residential and commercial buildings.

A total of 48 thermal wells were constructed including heat substations and heat supply pipelines with a total heating load of 344.20 MW. The new system provides heat to 5,588,600 sqm new residential buildings and about 1,117,500 sqm for new commercial buildings. By providing heat during the winter season with geothermal energy instead of coal saves about 382,540 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year.

382,547 t CO₂Estimated annual emissions reductions

Project Standard

The project contributes to the the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

How does geothermal energy help fight global warming?

Geothermal power plants create emission-free energy from ground heat. The ground heat is used to heat water, and the resulting steam is used to drive turbines. The growth of renewable energy production is essential in limiting global warming and securing energy supplies for the future. The amount of emissions saved by a geothermal project is calculated using the baseline method: how much CO2 would be released by generating the same amount of energy using standard energy production methods for the region? Geothermal energy projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.

The project aims to contribute to these United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project facts

Climate projects generally fall into one of three groups: carbon reduction, carbon removal, or carbon avoidance. Carbon reduction projects reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a specific activity (e.g., improved cookstoves). Carbon removal projects remove carbon from the atmosphere by sequestering it in carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation). Carbon avoidance projects avoid greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere (e.g., protecting forests from deforestation with REDD+ projects).

All climate projects are based on international standards. They set processes and requirements which carbon projects must fulfill to be recognised as a proven method of reducing carbon emissions.

Climate projects demonstrably reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. This is achieved with various technologies, ranging from nature-based solutions to social impact projects and renewable energies.

Most standards on the voluntary carbon market list their projects in public registries. The registries are used to store project data and track issuances and retirements of verified emission reductions. The registry ID can be used to identify projects in the standard registry.

Check out this project

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Verification happens regularly after each monitoring period. A validation and verification body checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct and verifies them. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the process.

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Validation happens early in the project life cycle and ensures that the project design is in line with current processes and requirements. This phase often also involves field visits with on-site interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved as a validation and verification body (VVB) by the standards body.

This figure shows the estimated annual emission reductions calculated before the project started. The actual number of emissions saved in each monitoring period may differ. The background to this process is that in order to be registered as a climate project, the project operator must submit the calculation of the estimated emissions savings using the ex-ante methodology in a Project Design Document (PDD), which is similar to a business plan. This calculation is validated by an independent auditor. The values determined in the PDD are recalculated during regular monitoring periods based on actual project performance, documented in a monitoring report, and verified again by independent auditors at the end of the monitoring period to ensure a robust process. Independent verification thus provides ex-post verification of actual emission reductions. Verified emission reductions are not distributed until the savings have actually been made.

* For certified projects only: the project-related information on this page is based on the documents in the register.

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