In 1999, the SF
6
Partnership began with 49 electric utilitiesas Charter Partners. During the intervening five years, anadditional 25 utilities have joined the Partnership, such thatcurrently, the program represents over 38 percent of U.S.transmission mileage. In 2004, SF
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Partners managed equip-ment on their systems with a total SF
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capacity (nameplatecapacity) of 4,635,465 pounds. As detailed in this Section,the last five years are noted for a significant decrease in SF
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emissions.
2.1 Partner-Reported Emissions
2004 was another record year, with 85 percent of Partnersreporting emissions of 439,010 pounds in total. Table 1 pro- vides a summary of total nameplate capacity, SF
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emissionsas reported by the Partners, and the calculated emissionrates for 1999 through 2004.SF
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emission rates reported by Partners in 2004 rangedfrom zero to 45 percent. The overall Partnership’s SF
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emis-sion rate equaled 9.5 percent; a decline of 0.5 percent fromthe previous year. With a Global Warming Potential (GWP)of 23,900, even this small decline in SF
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emissions has aprofound effect on reducing the impact of climate change.Overall, between 1999 and 2004, the Partnership’s SF
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emis-sion rate has decreased by over 45 percent (Figure 1).Table 2 presents a summary of total annual SF
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emissionreductions achieved by all reporting Partners through 2004.The information presented is derived by evaluating emis-sions data provided by reporting Partners for each year (seeTable 1), and is not adjusted to account for Partners whohave not reported consecutively. Emissions reductions arealso presented in terms of million metric tonnes of carbondioxide equivalent (MMTCO
2
e) with 1999 as the baseline year, the start of EPA’s SF
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Partnership.
0.0%2.0%4.0%6.0%8.0%10.0%12.0%14.0%16.0%18.0%20.0%1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Figure 1. SF
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Emission Reduction PartnershipSF
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Emission Rate Trend, 1999–2004
E m i s s i o n R a t e
Table 1: Aggregated Statistics for all Reporting Partners
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Reporting Partners80%77%80%71%85%85%Total SF
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Emissions (lbs.)
a
601,699583,524555,867486,858444,691439,010Total Name-Plate Capacity (lbs.)3,467,8723,858,8843,918,8094,438,8674,479,0914,635,465SF
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Emission Rate
b
17%15%14%11%10%9.5%
a
Since several reporting Partners have not provided data for consecutive years, the aggregated statistics should not be used to com-pare annual SF
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emissions.
b
SF
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emission rate is calculated by dividing total emissions by total name-plate capacity (i.e., the total quantity of SF
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contained inelectrical equipment)
July 2005 www.epa.gov/electricpower-sf6 2
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