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The California Global Warning Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32) is the nation’s leading regulatory and market based approach to reducing greenhouse gases. The statute gives authority to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to monitor and coordinate efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. The CARB must establish a emissions cap for 2020 and develop mandatory reporting rules. It must develop a plan of action and adopt regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective emissions reductions. The CARB also must convene an environmental justice advisory committee and technology advancement advisory committee to advise the Board. AB32 also requires early action measures to be implemented before January 1, 2010. Transportation, energy generation, and cement manufacturing are some of the sectors that will be directly affected by this new legislation.

Currently, the CARB has developed the steps that different entities are required to take in order to comply with AB32. Our AB32 consulting services include an examination of specific requirements for your organization, as well as an assessment of how your organization can benefit from the emission trading schemes that developed under AB32.

Because carbon dioxide is evenly mixed in the atmosphere, concentrations are approximately the same worldwide, regardless of whether you measure them in Australia or New Jersey. Thus, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be done anywhere in the world, with the same effect. In some instances, it may make more sense to reduce your carbon footprint by investing in forests in Brazil and wind farms in Iowa rather than making expensive on-site reductions. Recognizing that, agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol allow such investments in lieu of on-site carbon reductions.

However, not all carbon offsets are created equal, and some are more legitimate, effective, and efficient than others. Properly created and registered offsets can allow you to reduce overall emissions more cost effectively, but great care must be taken to avoid purchasing offsets that do not actually reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The ACUPCC Guidelines for Carbon Offsets Investment is a great place to start to understand how the legitimacy of offsets may be determined.

EcoShift consultants offer services in both developing and investing in carbon offsets.

Climate change reduction programs utilize a market for greenhouse gas emission permits that are allotted based on past emissions. Emission reduction goals are set and companies are required to reduce where possible or face penalties for noncompliance. Companies that reduce emissions below the value of their permits may sell unused permits to companies not meeting their emission goals. So these goals be met through incorporating renewable energy, investing in energy efficiency, or employing various offsets. Additionally, organizations that are not required to reduce their emissions, but do so anyways, are credited and able to sell those reductions as offsets to regulated entities.

We have an established relationship with an international carbon credits broker that will be able to assist in the sale of offsets that we can help you generate.

Cogeneration, or combined heat and power, is the use of a power station, usually a turbine, to simultaneously generate both electricity and usable heat. Conventional power plants are not capable of effectively using heat that is produced as a byproduct of electricity generation. Cogeneration captures the heat by-product for domestic or industrial heating purposes. This usually occurs very close to the plant or in district heating systems, which are common in Scandinavian countries. Heat can also be used in absorption chillers for cooling purposes. Cogeneration increases the efficiency of fuel consumption and is valuable method of reducing carbon emissions.

One of the most productive, and potentially lucrative, ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is through improving the efficiency of energy and transportation infrastructure. If we use lighting as an example, a standard incandescent light bulb is only 4% efficient. This means that you only get to use 4% of the energy that you pay for, which largely comes from burning fossil fuels. By comparison, compact fluorescent lighting is 10-15 times more efficient, while producing the same amount of light. There are multiple opportunities for increasing energy and transportation efficiency which can dramatically reduce costs, help meet mandated carbon reduction goals, and reduce the climate change impact, all at the same time.

A new report from McKinsey and Company details the potential energy savings that accompany energy efficiency improvements

Agriculture has significant effects on carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, both directly through cultivation practices, and indirectly through the energy used to produce agricultural inputs, such as pesticides and fertilizer. Different techniques, such as low-till cultivation, multi-cropping, and low-input or organic practices help reduce the climate change impact of agriculture, and have additional ecological and financial benefits.

Additionally, animal production is associated with significant greenhouse gas emissions. Different strategies exist that minimize these emissions, and the implementation of these strategies in some instances can serve as a basis for carbon offsets.

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) trap heat from the sun that would otherwise escape into outer space, making the Earth too cold for human life. But increased GHG levels in the atmosphere are causing the Earth’s surface temperature to rise. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that human activities over the past century have had a significant impact on greenhouse gases levels, and “increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is very likely to have caused most of the increases in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century.”

The global warming potential (GWP) of various greenhouse gases varies greatly. Carbon, by far the most widely emitted greenhouse gas, is the baseline to which other gases are compared, so is given the GWP value of 1. Methane has a GWP of 25, nitrous oxide has a GWP of 298, hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) have GWPs that range from 1,430 to 14,800, and sulfur hexafluoride has a GWP of 32,600. Although these gases are emitted in smaller quantities than carbon, it is still very important to consider emissions from these less prevalent GHGs.

We offer a range of GHG reduction consulting services that we tailor to your organization’s needs and regulatory requirements.

Lifecycle assessment or analysis (LCA) is a performance metric for characterizing the resource use and material throughput for a particular commodity along all stages of the product life cycle form raw material extraction, through the manufacturing process, to the end-of-life of a product. LCA starts by defining the goals and scope of the system under investigation and defining the systems boundaries. Next, an inventory of material and energy flows is collected along the entire commodity chain. Finally, each of the inventories is assessed against specific environmental impact categories and indicators. Efforts can then be made to reduce impacts where the most impact can be achieved. LCA can be used to encourage product stewardship from cradle to cradle, utilizing material reuse and recycling. LCA can also be used to market your product against other similar products.

Our Lifecycle analysis services can help your organization identify potential for improvement of energy and greenhouse gas emission efficiency in all stages of operations.

Listen to a recent Commonwealth Club podcast on sustainability and the value chain

Take a look at a good example of an LCA done by Apple Computers here.

Here is an example of a comparison between a traditional and an LED lightbulb, from a lifecycle standpoint

Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are tradable commodities which represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from a renewable energy resource. A green energy producer is credited with one REC for every megawatt hour of electricity produced. Each REC is coded with an identification number to ensure that it is not double-counted. Renewable energy produced is fed into the electrical grid, but the REC associated with that energy can be sold separately. An entity that desires to use renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions can purchase a REC from the energy producer and claim the emissions reductions associated with it. The purchaser only receives the REC, not the energy produced. RECs create incentives for carbon-neutral renewable energy by creating a commodity separate from the energy produced which in effect subsidizes renewable electricity generation. Renewable energy credits are fraught with controversy as to whether they actually create incentives for additional renewable energy, and we at EcoShift have the experience to determine REC fact from fiction.

Renewable energy utilizes the sources that are replenished from the non-exhaustible resources like the wind, sun, geothermal heat, rain, and tides. It is contrasted with conventional energy that relies on limited stocks of resources that have taken millions of years to accumulate. The range of renewable energy technologies includes wind turbines, solar thermal water heating, geothermal, small scale hydro-electric turbines, tidal and wave power, and solar photovoltaics. Renewable energy requires an initial investment, after which it is “fueled” by processes that are naturally available and routine maintenance. There are many choices for renewable energy, and they will depend on your needs and location.

Our team has developed partnerships with several organizations that specialize in different renewable energy technologies, and together we will implement ones that make the most sense for your organization.