Ecoshift Consulting

Wal-Mart

ecoshift — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:41:09 +0000

Wal-Mart is moving forward with plans to green its supply chain by working with suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with products sold at Wal-Mart. This will put additional pressure on other retailers to take similar actions.

Green Cement in Davenport?

ecoshift — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:50:59 +0000

On California’s coast in Davenport, an idea being discussed is to revive the cement plant and use carbon dioxide exhaust to make a new variety of greener cement in an adjacent process. Cement products, because of carbon dioxide emissions associated with production, are an important source of CO2 reductions, but knowing just how much CO2 is sequestered in the process requires detailed life cycle analysis. A life cycle analysis of this project would be valuable information.

Fed stimulus money will stimulate solar financing

ecoshift — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:39:14 +0000

Money from the recovery and reinvestment act will go toward a solar financing program CaliforniaFIRST. Like many of the local programs have been pursued, the financing program will leverage future property tax revenues. The program will lend out $200 million, which could be up to 100 MW of of renewble energy. Though an interest rate around 7 or 8% may still too high to be effective.

low carbon fuel standard and renewable fuel standard on a collision course

ecoshift — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:41:47 +0000

In a move that sets up a clash with California’s low carbon fuel standard, the EPA yesterday finalized rules for the renewable fuel standard. While both programs incorporate land use change in their life cycle analyses, the controversy stems from different carbon intensity values for particular biofuels in the LCFS and RFS.

Converting coal plants to biomass is an inexpensive way to save carbon

ecoshift — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:25:02 +0000

A new life cycle analysis published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology suggests that even substituting part of the coal at coal fired power plants with biomass could have significant low-cost emissions reductions.

SEC ruling on requirements to disclose climate change risk

ecoshift — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:55:37 +0000

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission determined today that companies “must consider the effects of global warming and efforts to curb climate change when disclosing business risks to investors.” Companies must also disclose risks posed by climate change to the investors.

CEQA

ecoshift — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:21:17 +0000

New CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) guidelines, adopted at the end of 2009, require that Environmental Impact Statements now include information on climate change impacts, which involves calculating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. A brief summary of the changes notes that Federal regulations will soon follow suit.

Energy-Shift – Energy Assessment Services

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:40:04 +0000

Energy efficiency improvements have the potential to lower operational costs, which will increase profitability and savings. Most companies can save 10-30% of facility operating costs through energy efficiency improvements, and the return on investment on projects is usually less than four years. Rising fossil fuel energy prices due to decreasing fossil fuel supplies, rising demand, and changing legislation can increase financial uncertainty. An EnergyShift strategy involves three steps:

Assessment: Since every enterprise is different, we perform a comprehensive and customized assessment of all aspects of your energy usage, including heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, the building envelope, and operational and maintenance procedures.

Planning: After identifying opportunities for energy savings and renewable energy, we create a plan of action consistent with your goals and investment horizons. We calculate a set of decision metrics including project costs, energy savings, payback times, and return on investment.

Financing and Implementation: Because many sources of incentives and financing exist, we will work with you and our partners to identify funding and financing sources. We also reduce your management burden by tapping our broad network of vendors and installers of energy technologies.

For more information on EnergyShift, download our new InfoPak.

Climate-Shift – Climate Action Planning

ecoshift — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:47:13 +0000

A comprehensive and well-designed and climate and sustainability plan can help your organization minimize costs, improve your bottom line, reduce regulatory risk, and demonstrate environmental stewardship to your customers and employees. A ClimateShift strategy involves three steps:

Assess: Conduct a Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Using Climate Registry protocols and tools developed by EcoShift, we perform a comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, or carbon footprint, providing a snapshot of impacts of business operations and creating baseline data needed to demonstrate reductions. Our carbon accounting process is transparent and verifiable, enabling efficient auditing and effective planning.

Design: Create a Climate Action Plan. With a completed inventory, our climate change consulting team helps you identify low cost options for reductions. We use several metrics to aid in choosing which strategies to pursue, including payback periods, cost per ton of reductions, upfront costs, and public visibility. Options we assess include: energy efficiency improvements, staff education, transportation incentives, renewable energy, alternative fuels, and carbon offsets.

Implement: Select and Execute Projects. Utilizing our broad network of expert providers makes executing a climate action plan cost effective and efficient, so implementation easy for you. We also build customized analytical tools to allow ongoing monitoring.

For more information on ClimateShift, download our new InfoPak.

Life-Cycle-Shift – Life Cycle Assessment

ecoshift — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:48:30 +0000

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool used to identify the net impacts of a product’s life cycle from raw materials extraction, through manufacturing, use, and disposal. Knowing the lifecycle impacts of your product or project can provide critical information to customers and decision-makers to enhance your brand and market sustainability features, creating new sources of value. This argument has been proven by innovative products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, hybrid vehicles, and insulation made from recycled blue jeans. Demonstrating low environmental impact of a product with lifecycle assessment is particularly important for emerging green technologies and green developments projects. For an example of a corporate LCA, take a look at Apple’s LCA comparison between products of different generations here.

Our approach to lifecycle assessment provides you with clear metrics that allow you to improve the sustainability features of your product. In addition, we can compare your product or project with a conventional equivalent, using this information to enhance your brand. EcoShift lifecycle assessment consultants use standardized LCA methods (ISO 14040-14049), as well as tailor-made procedures, to assess the unique characteristics of individual goods.

For more information on LifeCycleShift, download our new InfoPak.