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The implementation of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Inventories is now considering by the UNFCCC for non-Annex I countries in order to enhance the compilation of inventories based on comparable good practice methods. This work constitutes the first GHG emissions estimation from the waste sector of Argentina applying the 2006 IPCC Guidelines and the ad doc developed software. It will contribute to identifying the main differences between the models applied in the estimation of methane emissions on the key categories of waste emission sources and to comparing results with previous inventories based on 1996 IPCC Guidelines.

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Steam injection in gas turbines has been used for many years to increase the power output as well as the efficiency of the system and, more recently, to reduce the formation of NOx during the combustion. The major drawback in steam-injection technology is the need of large amounts of fresh water that is eventually lost into the atmosphere along with the exhaust gas. This loss not only increases the operating costs of the system, but also creates other “external” costs in terms of environmental impacts. In order to take advantage of the steam-injection technology and reduce both operating costs and potential environmental impacts, water recovery systems to recuperate the injected steam from the exhaust gas can be implemented. This paper briefly describes the computer models developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to optimize water recovery systems. As an example, the optimum size, power requirement and capital cost for two different systems applied to the GE LM2500 gas turbine are shown. Finally, a comparative economic analysis between the costs of installing and operating a water recovery system and the costs of buying and treating water on a regular basis during the lifetime of the project is presented. The results support the economic feasibility of water recovery for mid-size steam-injected gas turbines before having introduced the external costs associated with the use of water resources.

This paper summarizes the results of the implementation of the CDM in Argentina during the first period of commitment of the Kyoto Protocol. From a total of sixtyfive projects ideas, forty-four achieved registration under the CDM EB while the rest remained approved at national level (12), under evaluation (2), suspended (5) or rejected (2). Most of the projects focused on the generation of electricity from renewable energy, mainly wind energy and the use of landfill gas and methane for energy. Emissions reductions achieved 33.4% of the expected CERs up to 2012 with strong differences among sectors. Results demonstrated that under the current Argentina's energy policy framework, the income by the selling of CERs covered less than 6% of the incremental costs for renewable energy projects. A sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impact of CDM in the coverage of incremental costs for renewable energy based on the prices of both the energy in the local market and the CER demonstrated that the best conditions would only cover 15% of those costs. The contribution of CDM to technology transfer in Argentina was minor considering that 45% of the projects qualified as type III where technological learning and capacity building were limited at the level of operation and maintenance of a foreign technology. Domestic and external barriers that prevented a better performance of CDM projects in terms of GHG mitigation, technology transfer and the contribution to a sustainable development were also analyzed.