Posts filed under 'Energy Efficiency'
The carbon offset market took a big jump today with the alliance between E+Co and Goldman Sachs (GS). Goldman has agreed to purchase the majority of E+Co’s carbon offset portfolio and help promote E+Co’s goal of providing investment capital and support services to small, clean energy business ventures in developing countries.
E+Co is a 15-year-old nonprofit investment company started as a result of a Rockefeller Foundation study on opportunities for developing clean energy businesses in developing nations. It provides business support services and capital to clean energy businesses in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the United States.
E+Co also assists clean energy businesses with the aggregation, validation, verification and creation of high quality GHG offsets, including those that will be sold to Goldman Sachs. The carbon financing provides the enterprises with additional capital that supports, sustains and helps clean energy ventures grow.
Goldman has made a big bet on the growth of the U.S. carbon offset market and on the continuing pressure to do something about climate change issues. Small-scale clean energy projects, while supporting important social and environmental benefits, can struggle to attract sufficient capital to assure success. The financial backing and business development services provided by E+Co assists small businesses in those developing nations to supply clean and affordable energy to those regions, efforts that simultaneously increase employment opportunities and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Goldman’s move is just another subtle reminder that smart companies are preparing now for the advent of a U.S. carbon trading market. Even though companies must exercise prudence in order to survive this market correction, executives must be mindful that failure to address both current and future market shifts will put your organization at a competitive disadvantage.
We anticipate the mounting wave of clean energy activity will generate greater pressure for companies of all sizes to measure and monitor their GHG emissions and acquire those carbon credits Goldman Sachs will help E+Co create.
Tags: carbon credits carbon offset market carbon trading e+co ghg emissions goldman sachs greenhouse gas
November 12th, 2008
One of President-elect Barack Obama’s stated first objectives in office is to lead the U.S. back into the heart of the global debate on climate change, ending the country’s years of isolation from other leading industrialized nations. Obama has pledged a demolition of the policies in place since March 2001 dealing with global warming.
He has called climate change “one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation,” and proposes cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 by implementing a cap-and-trade system.
Efforts to craft a more ambitious successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, has been stalled by a standoff between the United States and developing nations. Obama — in his election manifesto, has pledged that his administration will take a more active role engaging with other nations to find climate change solutions.
In addition, Obama promised an “Apollo project” that will generate jobs and provide energy security through a new alternative energy economy.
“That’s going to be my number one priority when I get into office,” Obama has said of his “green recovery” plan. “We’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced and help end our dependence on foreign oil.”
To marshal support for his plan, Obama argues that investment in renewables will create a significant number of new jobs. He also emphasizes that energy efficiency is linked to national security, weaning the U.S. away from imported fossil fuels.
The process of putting a new administration in place while securing support for emissions curbs isn’t going to be easy — especially when millions of Americans are worried how the plan will impact the nation’s sick economy. Then there is the mammoth challenge of getting a carbon emissions bill through Congress – not expected until 2010 at the earliest. We’ll be watching closely as the incoming president’s new direction takes shape.
Tags: cap and trade carbon emissions energy efficiency global warming kyoto protocol obama us climate change policy
November 5th, 2008
Office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller’s investments in areas such as energy efficiency have resulted in a 32 percent rate of return, according to a case study recently published by Forrester Research.
According to the study, Herman Miller has reduced landfill waste by 80 percent, hazardous waste by 91 percent, overall emissions by 87 percent and water usage by 67 percent. During the same period, sales doubled to more than $2 billion.
Herman Miller has maintained sustainable business practices for more than 50 years. It has been known for its audacious environmental goals and for transforming its organization, design, manufacturing processes, marketing materials and customer relationships.
The company uses techniques such as lean manufacturing and the Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol to reduce costs and improve overall manufacturing efficiency. It is aiming to be carbon-neutral by 2020.
Herman Miller’s CEO Brian Walker recommends that companies wanting to green their supply chains should design products with sustainability as a core principle, put the goals on paper and embrace transparency and meaningful metrics that can be efficiently measured and communicated to stakeholders and investors.
This is an example of how companies can leverage EHS management to improve performance and generate measurable benefits. In this case, Herman Miller identified process improvements that enabled the company to meet its sustainability goals, increase operational efficiency and earn a solid return on investment. It’s a reminder that EHS management is no longer just about compliance.
Tags: cradle to cradle design protocol emissions energy efficiency investments forrester research herman miller lean manufacturing
October 30th, 2008
The deepening global economic recession could delay implementation of a U.S. cap on carbon emissions and reduce demand for carbon credits in states that have enacted regional carbon limits. However, both U.S. presidential candidates support alternative energy programs and climate change initiatives. In our view, it’s not a matter of whether these regulations will be implemented. They will. It’s simply a matter of when they will take effect.
The recession is expected to slow industrial production and reduce demand for carbon offsets. Nonetheless, a recession is a good time to prepare for widely anticipated legislative mandates. The drought will eventually end and companies need to be ready for the post-recession regulatory era.
The EU is already tightening regulations on GHG emissions. Now we’re watching to see what the American election will bring in the way of commitment to climate change initiatives, which have to be balanced with the slowing US economy.
Even though U.S. legislative initiatives may be delayed, companies would still be wise to move forward with their investments in technology, including integrated carbon management solutions. Implementing a proactive strategy will lower your company’s risk exposure to carbon market fluctuations. Delaying your decision could be very costly going forward.
The global carbon market is on pace to grow more than 80 percent this year to $116 billion, according to New Energy Finance, a clean-technology research and analytics firm. That growth can be attributed to consistently high prices for carbon allowances and credits in European Union countries that are bound by the Kyoto Protocol cap on heat-trapping gases.
The volume of carbon emissions transacted will grow 31 percent this year to 3.9 gigatons. European Union allowances, which constitute about 68 percent of trading by volume, have averaged about $34 a ton. Meanwhile, collective trades in secondary certified emission reductions (CER) more than doubled to $10 billion.
Although the trading volume of secondary CERs increased by 100 percent, the volume of the new CDM market — the main currency of the European Union’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market — fell 26 percent. New Energy Finance analysts underscored that there has been a drop in the size, but not the number of carbon mitigation projects, such as industrial heat recovery and afforestation investments.
Experts are projecting that when the U.S. — the world’s top per-capita CO2 emitter — adopts an emissions cap-and-trade scheme, the global carbon trading market will reach $3 trillion annually by 2020.
Investing in carbon management technology tools can minimize companies’ exposure to the growing carbon market. As organizations prioritize their IT expenditures, carbon management systems should be at the top of the list. Addressing emissions now means your company won’t be at risk whenever government officials put new limits in place.
Tags: carbon management certified emission reductions ghg emissions global carbon market kyoto protocol new energy finance
October 24th, 2008
When you think of companies with sustainable operations, it’s hard to imagine that such a list would include technology companies that use massive amounts of electricity to run data centers.
However, a consortium of high tech companies and nonprofits is turning that assumption on its head. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative, spearheaded Google and Intel and supported by organizations like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, HP and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has shown that technology companies can be leaders in sustainability and energy efficiency.
Climate Savers members demonstrate their commitment to green IT operations in two ways: manufacturers produce products that meet specified power-efficiency targets; and corporate participants purchase power-efficient computing products.
Google, in particular, has demonstrated exemplary leadership as a company that both generates healthy profits for its shareholders and maintains sustainable operations. The company powers a portion of its operations using electricity from renewable sources, operates efficient PCs and servers and invests in carbon generation offset projects when it can’t reduce emissions.
Google’s successful implementation of green-friendly practices has motivated its executives to boldly promote an ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2010.
That will be a steep challenge, because its data centers run all over the world and consume electricity in quantities almost unheard of ten years ago. However, the company started focusing on its sustainability initiatives very early in its growth. Green-friendly operations and energy efficiency are now an important part of its operational model.
Climate Savers members, including Google, are at the forefront of climate change activism because, as tech companies, they understand the power of software platforms to deliver the information they need to make changes. With our carbon management solution, ESS is showing industrial companies that energy efficiency isn’t just the domain of the tech sector.
Tags: carbon management climate savers efficient computing google power efficiency software platforms sustainable operations world wildlife fund world wildlife fund wwf
October 20th, 2008
Prior to the Olympics, some experts were concerned about whether the Chinese government would withdraw from its commitment to addressing climate change once the games ended. However, Chinese officials recently made good on their pledge when the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed a law, signed by President Hu Jintao, that is expected to boost sustainable development through energy saving and emission reduction measures.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, contains provisions including tax breaks, special spending and other measures to promote sustainable economic growth.
Chinese officials will conduct closer monitoring of resource-intensive and heavily polluting industries such as steelmaking, non-ferrous metal production, power generation, oil refining, construction and printing, according to Xinhua, China’s official news industry.
Much of China’s pollution is caused by the use of coal as a power source; China consumed 1.16 tons of coal every 10,000 Yuan of GDP in 2007, down 3.66 percent from 2006, and the government has set a 2010 target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and major pollutant emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels.
The law will also encourage industries to adopt water-saving technologies and use cleaner sources of energy such as natural gas and alternative fuels and promote recycling of waste materials such as straw, livestock waste and farm by-products to produce marsh gas.
The pollution control portion of the law is especially important for slowing the impact of further climate change. Studies by American scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration have revealed that pollution from manufacturing, as well as cooking and heating in Chinese homes could create summer hot spots in Europe and the U.S. by mid-century.
Tags: china climate change NPC pollution sustainable economic growth
September 9th, 2008
We are approaching a time when sustainable energy will not require tax credits and government subsidies. New money is flooding into alternative energy investments from the private markets all over the world. It’s as if everyone has finally figured it out that we can’t continue to depend on the same energy sources.
Global investment in sustainable energy rose by 60 percent in 2007. Much of the investment went to financing assets — building plants to generate alternative energy. Wind power, especially, attracted investment this year.
Of course it didn’t help that the credit markets tightened in 2008 and the stock markets didn’t receive IPOs well. That drove many companies to mergers and acquisitions.
On the whole, alternative energy investments have not only continued to grow, they have broadened and diversified, taking in innovative financing structures for distributed renewable generation and demand-side management. Ordinary people (outside Europe, Canada and California, where sustainable energy gained acceptance long ago) are adopting alternative energy, creating more demand for innovative sources and more tolerance for changes in lifestyle.
Another sign of the market’s acceptance of the sustainable energy is greater activity in next-generation technologies, such as cellulose ethanol, thin-film solar technologies and energy efficiency. Wind continues to dominate sustainable energy investment, but the portfolio of available technologies has both widened and deepened (as existing technologies are refined and new ones come online). This is partly in response to changing supply/demand patterns (e.g. silicon shortages, or competition between food and fuel from food-based ethanol feedstocks), but also reflects improved efficiencies and decreasing costs as renewable technologies become more widely used.
According to the United Nations’ Environment Programme study on Sustainable Energy, the flow of dollars toward renewable energy will not stop. The trend has broadened to Asia, where China has taken the lead. This is a good sign — it’s something we can all support.
Tags: alternative energy energy efficiency renewable technologies solar technologies sustainable energy wind power
August 18th, 2008
