Optimal sampling plan for clean development mechanism lighting projects with lamp population decayI

This paper proposes a metering cost minimisation model that minimises sampling cost under the constraints of the required sampling accuracy of clean development mechanism (CDM) energy efficiency (EE) lighting project. Usually small scale (SSC) CDM EE lighting projects expect a crediting period of 10 years given that the lighting population will decay as time goes by. The SSC CDM sampling guideline restricts that the monitored key parameters for the carbon emission reduction quantification must satisfy the sampling accuracy of 90% confidence and 10% precision, known as the 90/10 criterion. For the existing registered CDM lighting projects, sample sizes are either decided by professional judgments or by rule-of-thumb without considering any optimisation. Samples are randomly selected and their energy consumptions are monitored continuously by power meters. In this study, the sampling size determination problem is formulated into a metering cost minimisation model by incorporating a linear lighting decay model as given by the CDM guideline AMS-II.J. The 90/10 criterion is formulated as constraints to the metering cost objective function. Optimal solutions to the problem minimise the metering cost whist satisfying the 90/10 criterion for each reporting period. The proposed metering cost minimisation model is applicable to other CDM lighting projects with different population decay characteristics as well.