England Government Still Has a Long Way To Go

All of those wind energy projects, all the hot air expended by British politicians and all the promises of meeting carbon emissions targets and what do we see today? A mere 9,000 government buildings checked for energy efficiency are responsible for the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions that are being saved through the country's entire wind energy program.

Most embarrassing of all is that one of the offices involved is that of Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary. His department's head office in Whitehall Place is one of the worst offenders.

So the ministerial pledges run along the lines that the government offices carbon emissions will be slashed by 30% over the next 12 years. When buildings and equipment are so pathetically inefficient to begin with the pledge now rings rather hollowly. Is that part of the plan? Bump up the carbon emissions to disgustingly high levels so that we're now a chance to meet our pledge guidelines?

The 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pumped out of the public buildings of England and Wales is said to be greater than the entire carbon footprint of Kenya. Staggering stuff.

The entire story can be read at The Guardian.

Australia's Carbon Footprint 2008

Here are some details about Australia's carbon emissions.

- Australia's net Greenhouse emissions totalled 576 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2006, or about 1.5% of world emissions.
- Emissions in 2006 were 4.2% higher than 1990 levels, despite a 47% increase from stationary energy.
- Australia emits 28.1 tonnes of carbon per person, one of the highest per-capita levels in the developed world and five times more per person than China, due to use of coal for electricity.
- Transport and Energy account for 69.6% of Australian emissions, or 400.9 million tonnes.
- Stationary energy, which includes electricity generation, petroleum refining and gas processing, accounts for 49.9% of emissions, or 287.4 million tonnes.
- Transport accounts for 14% of emissions, or 79.1 million tonnes. Road transport and passenger cars accounted for 12% of national emissions.
- Agriculture created 15.6% of emissions, or 90.1 million tonnes.
10.9% of Australian emissions, or 62.8 million tonnes, come from sheep and cattle, due to gases produced when they digest food.
- Land use and forestry account for 6.9% of emissions, or 40 million tonnes, down more than 70% from 96.5 million tonnes in 1990.
- Carbon dioxide represents 74% of Australian emissions (427.8 million tonnes), methane 20.5% (118 million tonnes), and nitrous oxide 4% (24.2 million tonnes).
- The energy sector is the main source of carbon dioxide (86%), while agriculture is the main source of methane (59%).
- Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter, with coal used to generate about 77% of Australia's electricity. Poland, China and South Africa also rely on coal for more than 75% of electricity generation.
- Australia has the world's largest reserves of uranium and is a major uranium exporter, but has no domestic nuclear power.
- Limited carbon trading already exists in Australia. The New South Wales state introduced a Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme in 2003, which forces electricity suppliers to meet Greenhouse targets by investing in projects to offset emissions. The Australian Capital Territory has a similar scheme.

The fact is, Australia is significantly behind the rest of the developed world thanks largely to the govenment's unholy alliance with the coal industry. The sooner those in power showed some balls and actually made some serious decisions about finding meaningful alternative energy sources as a replacement for coal-fired power plants, the more respect the rest of the world might have for the country.

Do the Bubbles From Coca Cola Contribute to the Carbon Footprint?

Is there a point where we can be considered to be taking the whole measurement of our carbon footprint just a little too far? I saw an article in today's paper that asked the question I've headed this post with - Does the escaping carbonation when you open a bottle of Coca-Cola contribute to global warming?

Sheesh, as if we haven't got enough to feel guilty about when we open a bottle of Coke, let alone our contribution to the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere by our reckless desire for a refreshing drink.

It is known that Coca-Cola is one of the biggest users of carbon dioxide in the world and that the operations emitted 1.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year. Although it is not known what the figures are for the carbon dioxide that is injected into the beverage, the estimates are that it's larger than the figure disclosed above.

The fact is there are a lot of sodas consumed each year - 60 gallons for the average American, in fact - however, experts assure us that the carbon dioxide released through opening each bottle or can is a negligible part of the world's carbon footprint.

That's a relief - now, as long as the Coke isn't stored in a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) fridge all I have to worry about is the sugar content in each bottle.

Consider DIY Wind Power

We’re all keen to reduce our carbon footprint but some of us may be running out of ways to lower carbon emissions. You may already have switched from traditional light bulbs to LED, you may no longer leave your DVD player or television on stab-by when you go out. You may even have converted to solar hot water and have a photovoltaic panel on the roof of your house.

What’s left to try? Why not consider making your own wind power? Even if you already make enough electricity from renewable resources through your solar electricity, you may be able to produce electricity to sell back into the grid. Not only will you be lowering your carbon footprint but you will be helping out others and lowering the carbon footprint of the country.

Residential wind power is not all that prevalent yet, but it’s an aspect of self sufficiency that is growing in popularity, is becoming more affordable and will continue to pay for itself in the years to come. It’s certainly something worth thinking about.

Carbon Footprint Reduction Strategy : Eat Less

Here’s a novel approach to reducing your carbon footprint and, for the majority of us, it will also give you a bonus benefit by improving your health. The strategy is simple: eat less.

The fact is, the more you eat, the larger is your carbon footprint because of the added extras that come with producing the food you consume. Carbon emissions are attached to the manufacture of the products, the packaging that the products come in and the transportation to get them to the store.

As you cut back on the food you eat, along with everyone else’s cutbacks, the demand will be effected which will flow back to a lower production requirement. With less demand to replace food on the supermarket shelves fewer products may be produced down the line.

Another great way to lower your carbon footprint through the foods we eat is by buying locally produced and organic products.

The simple 2 word strategy to combat an expanding carbon footprint could also combat an expanding waistline and will also save you money. How many incentives do you need to help the planet?

Reducing Carbon Footprint by Bottling Wine In Plastic

A few weeks ago we had a look at the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine and saw that one of the contributors to the footprint was the shipping costs. These shipping costs are actually a major part of the carbon footprint of wine in the US because of the geographical position of the majority of the country’s winemakers.

One winemaker, Boisset Family Estates in France has taken a dramatic step to reduce their carbon footprint by choosing to export its Beaujolais Nouveau to the United States this year in plastic. This is a wine that is made to be consumed in the short-term rather than to be cellared.

The wine will be exported in recyclable PET bottles that are sealed with screw caps instead of corks. This will save up to 33 per cent on freight charges but it is the carbon footprint saving that the company is doing this for, with the company emphasising that the plastic bottles weight one-eighth as much as a glass bottle.

Wondering whether the consumer will accept wine in plastic bottles shouldn’t be an issue. The wine industry has been presenting wine in different containers for use from cardboard casks to cans and the consumer has been happy to adapt. Traditional glass and cork has already been largely replaced by the Stelvin closure without too much issue.

Bottled wine represents only a tiny percentage of annual carbon emissions worldwide. Nearly 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually is attributed to the production and distribution of wine, mostly the latter, according to the American Association of Wine Economists. That’s about the amount generated by 1 million passenger cars each year.

NREL Plans a Net Zero Energy Facility

If any organisation can come up with ways of reducing their carbon footprint it should be a place like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and that's exactly what they are proposing to do with a new construction project that will give them a "net-zero energy" facility.

Plans for a new Renewable Fuels Heating Plant, a woodburning biomass plant, have been unveiled by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) which will be used to heat NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus laboratory buildings. Among these is the Research Support Facilities building which is expected to be completed in summer 2010.

According to the NREL the biomass heating facility will offset about 4.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide each year. The woodchips that will be used will come from trees lost to the region's mountain pine beetle epidemic and waste wood.

The Renewable Fuels Heating Plant meets Denver's strict state air quality regulations because the combustion process is ultra-efficient, burning fuel with a low moisture content at very high temperatures to the point where they are gasified. The wood gases are mixed with air for complete combustion in the heat recovery boiler. The ash and soot residue is kept to an absolute minimum.

It's a high-tech process that also deals with left-over particulates which normally get emitted into the air. In this case a separator deals with 85% of these particulates which are captured in dual cyclones that spin the dust particles from the gas where they are hurled against the wall of the chamber and allowed to fall into a hopper.

An Inspirational Carbon Footprint Blog - Our Green Year

If you’re looking for dedication to reducing your personal carbon footprint, or at least inspiration, you can’t go past the efforts of Craig and Layla Baird at Our Green Year. So far the blog is up to Day 224 as the choices and ways in which they are going about the task of reducing their carbon footprint is chronicled each day.

Since April 2008 Craig has made daily postings which now serve as a wonderful (dare I say, invaluable) database of ideas that is available for anyone searching for ideas to use to reduce their own carbon footprint.

The blog starts off strongly with Ten Ways To Save The World and continues on as the Bairds scrap the use of plastic bags (Day 3), retire the petrol lawn mower for a push mower (Day 23), swapped the weed whacker for a sickle (Day 85) and detail for 2 days a boycott of companies with poor environmental records – Food Chains (Day 161) and Retailers (Day 162).

Rather than have me pick the eyes out of the site I suggest you make your way over to Our Green Year, but be warned, you will lose hours at this site because Craig writes with purpose, passion and engaging ease. The ideas to reduce your carbon footprint are well presented, widely varied and in most cases, easily implemented.

We could all use this as an instructional guide for our own carbon emissions.

Listed in the sidebar of the blog is the carbon footprint reduction so far. Craig lists the carbon emission tonnage when the blog started and the carbon emissions now. The savings have been nothing short of staggering.

Government Carbon Footprint Initiatives

Governments around the world are busy coming up with different ways to reduce the carbon footprint in their local or wider communities. Here are a few recent initiatives and suggestions announced over the last week or so that are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint either of the government department itself or the wider community.

In South Africa an IFP Member of Parliament has called on the government to reduce its carbon footprint by phasing out glossy publications. The idea is to make use of eco-friendly printing methods to produce the Annual Report and Strategic Plan documents.

In England there have been recent announcements of a green technology sector stimulus to the tune of £100 for insulation incentives to help home owners improve energy efficiency in their mones. The Town and Country Planning Association welcomed the move. Additionally, the government there agreed to include carbon emissions from aviation in its calculation of the national carbon footprint. Acknowledging the problem is often the first step in solving the problem.

CitiesGoGreen.com has reported that in San Francisco next year, all new buildings and renovation projects in San Francisco will be held to environmental regulation under an encompassing green building rating system design to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint. The idea involves a GreenPoints rating system. The expectation is that the new code will eliminate 60,000 tons of CO2 and save 220,000 MWh as well as a list of other benefits. Story here.

The council at Carmarthenshire in Wales plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 10% over the next three years by making changes to its fleet of more than 1000 vehicles. The first Green Car Day in the county is also going to be held at the Nant-y-Ci Showground with the council proposing to add 2 new vehicles to its fleed, a Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDI Blue Motion and Totota Prius Hybrid. Hopefully what the article meant to say was that the council were going to replace 2 existing cars with these new ones.

The Onus On Companies To Reduce Carbon Footprint

A recent survey in Australia has shown that consumers are prepared to pay a little extra for products that are made by companies who are actively minimizing their carbon footprint. This survey covered 1,000 people and the result showed that 85% of respondents had already made changes to their lifestyle in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint. When you consider that 5 years ago just about no-one even knew about carbon emissions or the need to reduce them, this is a very encouraging figure.

The report that this survey was performed for was in L.E.K. Consulting’s Carbon Footprint Report, Carbon and the Consumer: Are Consumers Ready to Pay?

What all of this means for companies is that there will be more of an onus on them to not only become more conscious of their carbon footprint and the emissions produced during their business operations but they will have to demonstrate what they are doing to reduce them. It will also be important that when they make an announcement about the carbon savings they will be making, that they actually follow through and deliver on their promises.

The report has gone on to say that those companies who have done some analysis on their carbon footprint have often been surprised to find that there are many simple opportunities for carbon reduction either in their immediate production or along the supply chain. Finding these simple savings often drives business leaders to seek further changes and so the progression goes.

It will be up to consumers to follow through on their assertions in the survey to favour those businesses that have made the effort to reduce their carbon emissions.

Hobson's Bay's Carbon Footprint is Shrinking

As they say, every little bit counts, but Hobson's Bay council in Victoria Australia is aiming to be carbon neutral by the year 2020. It seems they are going to be taking it one little step at a time, but then it all adds up so they must be commended on their latest announcement, although it is rather puzzling.

That announcement is that their quarterly eNewsletter is going to be launched next month and in so doing, the council has moved a step towards their goal of being carbon neutral. What the story omits (I hope) is that the eNewsletter will replace an already existing hardcopy newsletter, otherwise, the production of an email anything isn't going to do squat for the environment.

The fact that must be remembered is that, for people to access their eNewsletter they must logon to their computer which, of course, uses electricity. Of course, if Hobson's Council is also buying electricity that is generated using renewable sources, then they're still on track to reducing their carbon footprint.

Carbon Footprint of Wine

We’ve wondered about the carbon footprint of a t-shirt, now we can ponder the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine, thanks to the work of wine enthusiast Tyler Colman. Colman has, along with sustainability expert Pablo Päster of ClimateCHECK, calculated the carbon footprint of wine, in terms of both its production and transportation. Their findings were published as an American Association of Wine Economists working paper in October 2007.

The wine story starts on the vine with the first source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases coming from the chemical fertilizers used by some wine growers to nourish their plants. It was found though that fertilizers for wine production don't have much of an impact.

Grapes don't require the high levels of fertilizers that other crops do so the proportion of wine's overall footprint is quite minor.

It was the same story with the carbon dioxide released during the fermentation of wine grapes which make up an insignificant percentage of the total emissions associated with wine production.

It’s in the transportation of wine from the cellar door to the consumer where the largest portion of the carbon footprint is produced. The fact that wine is such a region specific product means that it must be transported long distances to get to wine drinkers.

Take the United States for example with the vast majority of wine produced on the west coast of the country while the majority of the population lives east of the Mississippi. Most of the West Coast wines are shipped east by truck, which results in a large carbon footprint.

Out of the various ways to transport wine, Colman and Päster found that air cargo was the worst, followed by trucking, with container shipping by sea having the lowest impact (five times less than trucking and 11 times less than air cargo).

These differences in emissions factors mean that distance isn't always the key factor in determining which wine has the lowest footprint for a given location. If you live in San Francisco, you can get your wine from the many California vineyards; but if you live in New York, it may be more environmentally friendly to buy wine sent by container ship from Bordeaux to a port in New Jersey than to buy American with a wine from Napa Valley, which would be trucked across the country.

Packaging also has an influence on transportation efficiency and on the wine’s carbon footprint. Transporting heavy glass bottles uses much more fuel, and therefore has a bigger impact, than lighter glass or other alternative packaging, which some winemakers are turning to.

Of course, wine's carbon footprint is low in comparison to other contributors, such as electricity generation, and even to other agricultural products, such as corn. But the trend is to become more aware of our carbon footprint and also that of the pleasures with which we indulge ourselves.

Fonterra's Eco-Efficiency Programme

Throughout the world there are companies making announcements detailing how they are reducing their carbon footprint. In fact, if a company is to be taken seriously as an environmentally aware company, they will have had to make some sort of statement letting their business partners know of their position because the carbon footprint of the next company down the line is affected. Every now and then I like to highlight a company that has been doing its bit to be more eco-friendly.

There are many ways a company can go about reducing its carbon footprint. Fonterra Kauri, a dairy factory in Whangarei, New Zealand has managed to reduce its carbon footprint through a rigorous eco-efficiency programme.

Over the past year Fonterra Kauri has recycled 63 tonnes of plastic, cardboard and paper which has reduced the amount of waste going to landfill by 77 per cent. Over the entire Fonterra sites across the country there has been more than 5000 tonnes of recycled products which has effectively saved around 2700 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

As well as the recycling programme, Fonterra has introduced some changes in the way they go about their business in order to cut down on materials. For example, they have introduced a new milk sample carton using an electronic chip rather than a plastic label reducing more than 100 tonnes of plastic use each year. A new docketing system has also reduced printing requirements by 22 reams of paper nationwide each year.

The aim of Fonterra, who started their eco-efficiency programme in 2003, is to have reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by 90 per cent by 2009. It’s all about being seen to be carbon footprint aware which will prompt more companies to follow suit.

Commuting Your Carbon Footprint Reduction

Sometimes it’s the simpler practical ideas that give you hope that maybe we are capable of saving ourselves. Those who know about their carbon footprint and are seeking ways to reduce it would be aware that using their car less will play a major role.

A husband and wife team in North West Arkansas has come up with a way that expands the car savings beyond simply their own friends and family to, potentially, the entire region. They have founded a website called NWAcommute.com that is in place to help commuters find each other with the goal of forming car pools.

The goal of the Northwest Arkansas Commuting is to remove at least 1,000 cars from the road by 2009 which would decrease the NWA carbon footprint by 3.8 million pounds. The site got off to a good start with 70 members after only 1 week and that number is growing steadily.

There is room for two types of commuters - those who absolutely need their car on a daily basis who can offer space in their car to others for the ride to work, and those who are looking to leave their cars at home and be the passenger. The website gives both parties a means of finding each other and coming to an arrangement that is beneficial to both.

There are many other categories and options available for those looking to help the environment in this way. If you’re in the North West Arkansas region you might like to visit NWAcommute.com. If you’re not, you might feel inspired and start a similar initiative in your own part of the world.

New LED Lighting

As continually specified here and on other carbon footprint websites, the push is on to lower carbon footprints around the world. Switching to LED (light-emitting diode) lighting is often touted as one of the simple means of reducing your carbon footprint. The problem has been the limited range of choices available as an alternative to traditional bulbs. Another new product expands the range available making it even easier to make the switch and whittle down the carbon footprint produced.

A new BR30 LED light has recently been released by GlacialTech Inc in two different models and has been designed to replace the existing equivalent BR30 globes and lamps currently used today. The big advantage with LED BR30 Globe is that it can be used for general everyday use from indoor applications to spotlighting.

The GlacialTech BR30 LED light is innovative because it incorporates the same structure and style as the traditional BR30 bulbs but burns brighter per watt with less heat radiation.

In the growing quest to reduce our individual carbon footprint, products such the BR30 LED home lighting unit delivers considerable power savings as well as providing much longer life than the traditional filament globes. The LED light is “instant on” with no necessary warming up period such as the type you see with conventional CFL lighting.

If Truckers Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint Then Surely...

That's right, the American Trucking Associations Inc. have been developing a plan to reduce the industry's carbon footprint for quite some time now. According to a story at VirginiaBusiness.com the truckers association wanted to be proactive rather than reactive. It comes in a six-step plan that will reduce the diesel and gasoline that is consumed by 86 billion gallons over 10 years. Not an insignificant figure, to be sure.

So the 6 step plan, in short.

1. Reduce the national speed limit to 65 miles per hour.
2. Reduce idling.
3. Improve fuel efficiency.
4. Reduce congestion.
5. Improving productivity.
6. Create national fuel-economy standards.

This is an inspiring initiative that shows tremendous responsibility and not only will it save the planet in terms of carbon emissions, but it will also reduce the cost of haulage too.

To read abou the reasoning behind each of these strategies can be found by reading the Trucking association looks to reduce carbon footprint story on VirginiaBusiness.com.

Alternatively, you can go straight to the source of the strategy itself and visit the American Trucking Association website where the six strategies are laid out for you with a nice detailed explanation for each idea.

U.S. Geothermal Receives Drilling Permit for Neal Hot Springs Project

A renewable energy company focused on the production of electricity from geothermal energy, announced today that the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) has issued a drilling permit for the first full size exploration well at the Neal Hot Springs Project located in eastern Oregon.

The new exploration well is permitted for a depth of 3,500 feet and is expected to further develop a geothermal resource discovery made by Chevron Resources in 1979. The surface discharge of Neal Hot Springs was sampled and shows a potential source temperature of 311 to 347 degrees F.

"Neal Hot Springs provides an excellent target for us, and is consistent with our corporate focus of reducing risk by taking on projects that have a discovery," said Daniel Kunz, President and CEO. "We anticipate drilling the well during the second quarter of the year, once a drill is contracted and site preparation is complete.

A water supply well to support the drilling operation was completed at the site in December 2007. Construction of the access road, drill pad and test pond is scheduled to commence within the next 15 days, and it is expected that drilling operations will start within the next 30-60 days depending upon availability of a suitable drill rig. Upon completion of the well, flow testing and reservoir engineering will commence. It is anticipated that temperature and flow results from the well may be available by the end of the second quarter.

The Neal Hot Springs project was selected by Idaho Power Company for negotiation of a 26 megawatt power purchase agreement.

Carbon Neutral House in Shetlands

The UK Times Online has done a story on a couple who live on the Shetland Islands who live a carbon neutral lifestyle. Their house has a zero-carbon footprint and the couple who live in it do so “off grid”.

The house has double glazed windows filled with argon gas. The insulation in the house is 140mm of expanded foam. Power is supplied by a 2.5kW wind turbine. The house is so well sealed that little cold and moisture get in while no heat escapes.

The house uses a fuel cell and under flooring heating is created by an air-to-water heat pump. Heat recovery is used to recapture 90 per cent of the heat generated within it helping to provide constant warm indoor temperatures.

Contrary to the belief of many that it would cost an inordinate sum of money to maintain a house like this, the cost of the four bedroom cottage was around £210,000.

Apart from the fuell cell to heat the water tank, all the other items that go into making this house such a brilliant carbon footprint defeater are available off the shelf.

Owing to the size of the carbon footprint that is produced by such a house, this project taking place on the Shetland Islands is generating quite a bit of interest around the world.

The Carbon Footprint of Your T-Shirt

The carbon footprint of your clothes could be excessively large depending on how you wash them, how you dry them and how often you do your laundry. Research done by a Queensland University of Technology researcher has assessed t-shirts, comparing cotton to polyester in areas such as the production, use and disposal and the impact on the environment.

The research has taken the life cycle of a t-shirt measuring the impact of the growth and production of the materials used to make it, the environmental cost of its manufacture, transporting it, retail, wear and disposal.

It turns out that over this lifetime, around 75 per cent of the t-shirts carbon footprint will be caused by machine washing and drying (around 19 per cent of the life-cycle energy consumption on washing and 53 per cent on tumble drying). The figure falls significantly if you dry the t-shirt on a clothesline as opposed to frequently tumble drying it.

The study also concluded that the manufacture of a polyester t-shirt will consume slightly higher levels of energy.

A goal of the study was to analyse the effect of increasing the number of times the t-shirt is worn before washing. It was found that a polyester t-shirt is more prone to sweat odour than a cotton t-shirt. Therefore, it would be more likely that you would get away with wearing a cotton t-shirt multiple times before washing it reducing the carbon footprint of the cotton t-shirt over its lifetime.

Lights

Turn your lights off or keep your lights on, it’s a decision we all have to make and it’s a decision that has far-reaching implications on an environmental, societal and economical level. But it’s also one of the many contentious issues that constantly come up in the debate over how we might reduce out carbon emissions.

As a matter of fact, every damn thing about carbon emissions and greenhouse gases seems to be contentious. It’s getting to the point where you can’t try to better the world we live in without some know-all ignoramus pulling a half-baked scientific “fact” from their arse and claiming that it is gospel. Idiots cite "hundreds of scientists" out of the hundreds of thousands of scientists in the world who reject global warming as proff it's not happening.

“The world’s temperatures aren’t rising.” “It’s all part of an ebbing and flowing climate that has nothing to do with the horrendous amounts of pollution we pump into the air every day.” “Reducing carbon emissions is just a plan for governments to take more money off us.”

There have been dumbass nay-sayers for as long as there have been enlightened visionaries willing to take bold action or make brave predictions. With today’s communications systems being what they are these sorts of people are just so much more noticeable. Heck, look at some of the halfwits who make comments on sites like Renewable Energy World and the like.

Believers who are truly committed to making a difference will always win out against the lazy criticizing weaklings who prefer to hide at home and pour scorn on others.

SDG&E Adds 40 Megawatts of Geothermal Energy

San Diego Gas & Electric has signed a power-purchase agreement with Esmeralda Truckhaven to supply 40 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy to the region's electric system. The agreement will boost SDG&E's total geothermal energy supply to 60 MW produced from Esmeralda facilities located in Imperial County, California.

Just to get an idea about how much electricty we're talking abot, a megawatt is the equivalent energy needed to power 650 homes.

A quote to celebrate the deal: "The Imperial County is a renewable mecca for our region's future energy supply," said Debra L. Reed, president and chief executive officer of SDG&E. "As we continue to aggressively seek out renewable sources of energy to meet the state's 20-percent-by-2010 mandate, we will look to renewable developers such as Esmeralda to help us expand our renewable energy footprint throughout the county."

In addition to the Esmeralda contract, SDG&E also received approval of its Envirepel agreement from the California Public Utilities Commission. The Envirepel agreement is for 1.5 MW of biomass energy to be produced at a facility being developed in Vista, California.

Around five percent of SDG&E's energy-resource mix comes from renewable resources such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. SDG&E has continuously pursued renewable energy with market solicitations every year since 2002. In the most recent solicitation, developers bid more than 5,000 MW of renewable energy for a majority of projects that would be built in the Imperial Valley.

A Couple Of Carbon Footprint Stories

Coca Cola Looks at it's Carbon Footprint

Coca Cola has done a study on it's carbon footprint

Majority of UK Companies Believe Reducing Carbon Emissions Too Costly

For every far-sighted company CEO who can see the long-term benefits in developing a plan for reducing the carbon footprint of their company, it seems that there are more who have placed it in the too hard basket and simply assumed that it will cost them money rather than save it. Company after company have proven that by changing their way of thinking they have been able to reduce their carbon emissions while also reducing their operating expenses.

Here's the attitude that proponents of carbon reduction are fighting

South Australian Government Carbon Neutral

We've heard stories of local communities going carbon neutral and even cities heading towards a carbon neutral balance, but today, the South Australian government has announced that it promises to make the South Australian state government carbon neutral in 12 years. South Australian Premier Mike Rann outlined a timetable to offset all greenhouse gas emissions produced by government activities. He has thrown out the challenge for other industries and governments to do the same in the hope that the inspiration will cause a chain reaction of events.

The South Australian Government timetable has made provision to offset 30% of the government's greenhouse gas emissions by 2010, rising to 50% by 2014 and by 2020 be carbon neutral. The government is planning to achieve this goal by purchasing green energy or energy produced from renewable resources.

Toyota Prius Hybrid Also Going Solar

Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodelling, responding to growing demand for "green" cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday.

The panels, supplied by Kyocera Corp would be able to power part of the air-conditioning on high-end versions of the gasoline-electric Prius, the source said.

According to Toyota this is more a symbolic gesture than anything else because it's not easy to power anything else with solar panels in a car.

Apparently, sales of the Toyota Prius have skyrocketed with Toyota having difficulty keeping supply up to demand ever since gasoline began to soar.

Bath Council Reducing Carbon Footprint

It's nice to see local governments doing their bit to lead the way in reducing carbon footprints. Bath and North East Somerset Council has joined a programme aimed at reducing the impact of local authorities on the environment.


The council will be looking at its street lighting service, vehicle fleet and the use of electricity in its buildings. With a staff of 6,000 they hope to get everyone on board and the council has already signed up to the Carbon Trust's Local Authority Carbon Management Programme.


Hopefully, there will be a little more imaginative thinking involved and they come up with some ideas that will truly reduce great chunks of carbon emissions - the means mentioned above are nothing more than a reasonable beginning. Perhaps Bath council might like to look at what some other organizations are doing to get an idea of what is actually possible.

Take the case of InterFLOR Australia, for example, now THAT's how you reduce your carbon footprint.

Geothermal energy gains momentum in India

Geothermal energy projects are going to be developed in India and Nepal thanks to renewable energy expert Glitnir, a Nordic bank which has teamed up with Bhilwara Group.

They will draw on their experience in financing and advising on geothermal energy projects around the world, the partnership will be a 60:40 one between Glitnir and LNJ Bhilwara Group.

Glitnir will be responsible for raising capital and supplying specialist consultants for projects to build geothermal power plants in India and Nepal. LNJ Bhilwara will bring its large-scale infrastructure and local experience to its 60 per cent share of the partnership.

Geothermal energy is a sustainable and clean energy source because it harnesses heat generated by the earth and is considered virtually inexhaustible. Unlike wind and solar installations, geothermal energy can run 24 hours a day, providing a higher and more reliable power yield.

India has planned for $475 billion of energy investments in the next five years in anticipation of the large energy demands created by India’s fast-growing economy.

Glitnir focuses on geothermal energy as one of three global market niches (the other two are the seafood and offshore supply industries). The investment and corporate bank has formed teams of specialist bankers which operate in 11 countries around the world including China, Scandinavia, the US and the UK.

Visit the Glitnir website for more information on Glitnir and geothermal energy

Note: definitely revisit the glitnerbank website for projects in progress.

iThermostat Could Revolutionise our Energy Consumption

Here’s a new device that could be the way of the future in terms of managing your home energy use and regulating when the peak and troughs occur.

The following press release from TXU Energy will give all the details and the link to the website is at the end of the release.

TXU Energy Unveils iThermostat
TXU Energy introduced its new energy conservation product - the TXU Energy iThermostat(TM). It replaces a customer's old thermostat with one designed to manage home energy use, save money and help the environment from any device connected to the Internet. It also allows TXU Energy to manage electricity use during periods of peak energy demand.

"Our focus is on helping customers control their energy use so they can save money," said Jim Burke, chief executive officer, TXU Energy. "Combined with the TXU Energy Conservation program, this new tool will help accomplish that and help the environment at the same time."

The TXU Energy iThermostat(TM) benefits include:

-- Customer control: At home, from work or on the road, a customer can control their home's heating and cooling system from any Internet- connected device.
-- Save money: Settings can be adjusted for weekdays and weekends, with up to four programmable periods a day. Depending on use and settings, customers can save as much as $150 or more every year in energy costs.
-- Help the environment: The TXU Energy iThermostat(TM) helps the environment by allowing TXU Energy to manage peak electric use, which can prevent power interruptions and help keep prices down.

The iThermostat is free to eligible customers in the Oncor Electric Delivery service area who sign up for the TXU Energy Conservation Program.

This program allows TXU Energy to cycle on and off a customer's heating and air conditioning system during periods of peak energy demand – typically between the hours of 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. from May through September. However, customers have ultimate control and can easily override a cycle period from any Web-enabled computer or by calling TXU Energy. Cycling in this way can help TXU Energy reduce the strain on the state's transmission and generation facilities and ensure everyone has the electricity they need to keep their homes comfortable.

The TXU Energy Conservation Program has a two-year minimum term. However, customers can choose to change TXU Energy plans at any time without affecting the participation in this unique and beneficial program.
For more information about this program, customers can visit http://www.txu.com/iThermostat

Water Power Receives US Funding

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that there is up to US $7.5 million of federal funding allocated to research and development of the advancement of water power systems. The viability and ability to make the systems cost-competitive will fall inder this funding allocation.

US companies and universities will be sourght by the DOE to develop technologies capable of harnessing ocean wave, tidal, current and other water-based resources.

The Funding Opportunity Announcement will provide the opportunity for research to be conducted on engineering standards and codes, energy grid interconnection issues, assessments of tidal and water resources and siting requirements. The DOE intends on awarding up to 17 grants after applications are received by the June 16 due date.

An Alternative Wind Power Source

The push to find alternative energy sources continue with governments around the world looking at viable alternatives for generating clean electricity from renewable sources. Just about every developed country in the world have announced some sort of renewable energy target to, at the very least, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels if not for climate change reasons then for pollution reasons.

Wind power continues to grow as a reliable supplier of electricity although the number of sites available for wind farm construction is falling for a number of reasons. One of the chief reasons that construction is delayed and projects have difficulty gaining government approval stems from local groups who oppose projects on the grounds that the wind turbines make too much noise or are ugly. (They always seem to ignore the fact that their present source of electricity, which is invariable a coal-burning power plant, is a much uglier and unhealthy alternative).

Increasingly, the answer to this opposition is to locate the wind farms offshore, beyond hearing and seeing distance of local residents. Given the vast expanse of oceans suitable for constructing giant wind farms, the potential power that might be generated is enormous. Currently the offshore wind power industry is still pretty much in its infancy, but projects are being proposed and funding is being secured at an increasing rate. Costs are still high and there are many more contingencies to be considered when constructing the wind farms and then connecting them to electricity grids.

For more information about planned projects as well as projects already in commercial operation you can visit this offshore wind power page.

A New Solar Power Plant in Israel

The Renewable Energy Development site has reported on the invitation for tenders by the Israeli government for the planned 250MW solar power plant that has been talked about for the past couple of years. The Negev Desert is the intended site and, by the looks of things, the actual capacity of the power plant could fall anywhere between 160 – 250MW and still meet with the tender pre-requisites.

The expectation is that the new solar power plant in Israel will be a concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) plant, but the exact technology that will be used will be determined by the company whose tender offer is successful.

The new project will be a further significant step forward in the use of renewable energy sources to produce power with the size of this project sitting fairly close to the top in terms of CSP plants in terms of electricity capacity.

Carbon Footprint Australian Government Not Doing Enough

When it comes to fostering the use of renewable energy, it is an undeniable fact that the Australian Government are all talk and very little action.

The Australian coal industry is the beneficiary of a taxpayer-funded $300 million discount on diesel fuel. At least $9 billion of taxpayer subsidies are palmed across to fossil fuel industries, greenhouse gas increasing, polluting, carbon footprint bloating fossil fuel giants.

Meanwhile the development, construction and funding of renewable energy in this country creeps along at glacial pace with little or no help from our State or Federal Governments.

For heavens’ sake, we are a renewable energy goldmine here in Australia. With our hot climate and endless open spaces we have enough sunshine (plus room to capture it) to power the entire country hundreds of times over. We’re an island with endless coastal breezeways that would be wind farm paradise. And, did I mention we’re an island? Tidal and ocean current energy sources completely surround us. We have got renewable energy potential coming out of our proverbials.
Instead, the Federal government directs public money at the ratio of 28:1 towards fossil fuel use over renewable energy use.

All it takes is a government with the gumption to divert the funds away from the coal, gas and oil industries and into the renewables industry. The Howard Government has left us languishing behind the rest of the world and it seems no-one is willing to make the effort to catch up.

To give you an example of how pathetic some of our governments around the country are, you need go no further than the New South Wales Government’s sorry excuse for a Renewable Energy strategy. What does the Iemma government come up with? Committees, billions pumped into new baseload power stations, calls for private sector to fund infrastructure costs. And when they get to Clean Energy, the first thing mentioned is Clean Coal – in other words carbon capture. Rather than reduce the use of coal powered power plants, the Iemma Government wants to

1. Increase their use and
2. Rely on an, as yet, unproven form of locking away the carbon emissions they will produce.

On December 10, 2007 the NSW State Government announced a total of $160 million in additional funding for clean energy. You know what $160 million will get you? If you’re lucky you may just get an 80MW wind farm out of it. Basically, a good start.

But wait, you keep reading and of that $160 million, the state government is setting aside $100 million of it for the Clean Coal Fund. So once again, the coal industry gets the bulk of the funding rather than putting it where the future lies, in renewable energy.

Are CRAGs the Latest Fashion?

The spread of Carbon Rationing Action Groups (CRAGs) across Britain is a sign that the idea of reducing your carbon footprint is becoming more firmly entrenched in the psyche of the wider community. According to Andy Ross who is said to have reduced his own carbon emissions by more than 80% over the last 2 years, there are around 16 groups in the UK with the same number in the process of forming.

How Does a CRAG work?

Essentially, everyone who becomes a member of the group adheres to a carbon ration. The group has a nominated carbon accountant who records each member's car mileage, household bills, air travel, etc. This is then converted to CO2 and recorded.

As a point of reference, the average carbon footprint for Britons in 2005 was 5.5 tonnes. This is then used as a baseline for group members who then aim to reduce their footprint by a certain amount per year, say, 10%. Some groups then set up a fee system whereby they pay a fine for every kilo they break their ration by. This fine acts as a kind of carbon offset.

At the moment it's a small proportion of the population who have become CRAGs but it's an important demonstration of the public will and it also sends a faint message to the government that people are willing to take action towards the global warming issue.

For some CRAGgers, the changes to their lifestyle are going beyond simply fitting an energy efficient lightbulb or turning down the thermostat. Some are selling the car and car-sharing, others are thinking of selling their single occupancy flats and sharing with friends.

Lifestyle changes are the most difficult to catch on, but it's these small steps that could generate a greater wave of change. Watch out for the new CRAG in your neighborhood.

Carbon Hero Will Track Your Carbon Footprint

A new innovation to help calculate your carbon footprint from travel has just moved a step closer to being released to the market. Carbon Hero is a small handheld device, resembling a mobile phone, that uses ssatellite navigation technology to determine the carbon footprint created by the travel you do.

In 2006, Andreas Zachariah gave life to the idea of a small, compact device that could track carbon emissions released into the atmosphere by measuring both the distance travelled and the mode of transport used. That idea earned him a regional prize in the 2007 European Satellite Navigation Competition and last year, Carbon Hero was awarded the British Standards Institute prize for Sustainability Design in July.

Andreas Zachariah describes reasons for using Carbon Hero like this, “If you go on a diet you want to see if all that effort has made a difference so you weigh yourself. The beauty of our system is that it’s easy; you have a ’weighing scale’ on you all the time giving you your carbon footprint. When you make the effort to walk instead of taking the car you can immediately see the result, so it feels more worthwhile doing it and you are more likely to stick with it,”

Zachariah and business partner in the project Nick Burch have filed a patent for the invention and plan to have Carbon Hero ready for beta-testing in a company in April 2008. With companies find it increasingly necessary to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and the efforts they are making to reduce their carbon footprint, they will be able to use Carbon Hero to document the carbon emissions produced from business travel.

At this stage there has been no indication on a probable price of the Carbon Hero.

Much more detail can be found her at the Carbon Hero website.

The full press release can be found at Science Daily.

Virgin Atlantic Biofuel Flight

A Carbon Footprint Step Forward, Or Not?

I think one notable point can be made from the story that has been picked up be every news agency around the globe today – Virgin Atlantic and Sir Richard Branson make great headlines.

The story is, of course, that a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 has made a test flight from London to Amsterdam powered by biofuel. At least, that’s the headline. The reality is that the plane contained a 20% biofuel mix in one of its four main fuel tanks. The biofuel was made from a mixture of coconut and babassu oil.

Sir Richard Branson, in his statement to the media (yeah, surprise, surprise, Branson talking to the media, wonders never cease) said, “The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.”

Colour me unimpressed because herein lies the problem. The whole biofuel continues to rage over whether biofuel actually makes any difference at all in terms of lowering carbon emission and reducing the carbon footprint of a company.

Virgin, in using coconut and babassu oil have taken the issue of using potential food source and food crops out of the equation, but studies still suggest that clearing land for these crops can generate more carbon emissions than the savings made out the other end.

Biofuels still have a long way to go before the claim that using some in a test flight will lead us towards cleaner flying has wings. Great marketing for Virgin though and considering the guy making the pretty speeches after the demonstration and the frenzy of news coverage…well, I’d just say mission accomplished.



As for the carbon footprint, I think it might be sticking around at Virgin for a little while longer.

Manage Carbon Footprint Overload

This is a short cautionary post and something of a note to myself as a reminder that all things should be done in moderation. It’s okay to take up the championing of a worthwhile cause such as reducing your carbon footprint while doing your best to raise awareness about the benefits of energy efficiency. But don’t take things too far or you’ll risk having the opposite effect on people.

They say there’s nothing worse than a reformed smoker for taking the moral high ground when around people who still haven’t kicked the habit. The same could possibly be said of people who have recently come to the realisation that we are damaging the planet with our daily lives. No one likes to have perceived faults shoved down their throat at every opportunity, and haranguing people to change their lifestyle to a more eco-friendly one could be the biggest mistake you can make.

It’s all about subtlety. People will change when they want to change. A hint here, a comment about how much money you’re saving on your energy bill there and pretty soon you’ll find that another environmentally conscious newcomer is calculating their carbon footprint.

Emissions Trading

We hear about one of the suggested solutions to manage carbon footprint growth to have come out of the Kyoto Protocol is the establishment of emissions trading schemes. Below is a brief overview of what emissions trading is and how it works to lower the production of greenhouse gases. I’ve tried to present this in layman’s terms where possible.

What Is Emissions Trading?

Emissions trading is a way in which government or regulatory bodies can control the level of carbon emissions produced, usually within a single country, although the EU trading scheme has been in place for a few years now. It's done by issuing emissions permits to companies that give them the right to produce a certain level of carbon emissions. To get emissions permits companies must earn credits and one of the ways they can get these credits is to buy them off companies who don't produce as much greenhouse gas as their limit dictates.

Emissions trading seeks to put a cap on the carbon emissions produced by rewarding those companies who have reduced their carbon emissions while creating an incentive for those who haven't.

Over time the carbon emissions cap is reduced which will ensure that all companies will continue to seek ways in which they can reduce the level of greenhouse gases they produce. The theory is that those who can easily reduce carbon emissions will do so at little cost allowing the focus to turn towards the larger polluters who, hopefully, will have begun to reduce their carbon emissions levels too.

Success of Emissions Trading

The success of an emissions trading scheme depends on having a tradable commodity with willing buyers and sellers. To get the buyers you need to make participation mandatory in certain sections of the economy. The ultimate success or failure of an emissions trading scheme will depend on the strength of the regulatory structure overseeing it.

Type of Emissions Trading Schemes

There are two major types of emissions trading schemes: cap and trade (e.g. the European Union’s emissions trading scheme) and baseline and credit (e.g. the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme).

Baseline and Credit schemes give credit to reductions relative to a projected future ‘baseline’ growth in emissions that in practice can become identical with business-as-usual. With this approach, there is no guarantee that emissions will ever be reduced in absolute terms. In the NSW scheme over 95% of abatement certificates issued in 2003 went to installation built prior to the commencement of the scheme. Coal-fire power stations have been the beneficiaries of payments due to minor efficiency improvements made that most likely would have been made even if the scheme weren’t in place. The fact that the major contributors to the problem are the ones receiving funds highlights a basic flaw in the system, particularly when you consider that any workable greenhouse gases solution would not involve the presence of coal-fired power stations.

Cap And Trade schemes put solid limits on total emissions in future years. Depending on how well designed, operated and regulated the scheme is, only enough permits are issued to reach that limit. Initially some of the European countries involved in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme issued more permits than were needed to cover their emissions. This is an oversight that should be corrected when phase two has been properly implemented and the provision to lower the cap will see allowable emissions levels come down regularly. As countries begin to gain control of their carbon emissions and the trading part of this scheme really takes hold we should see significant drops in emissions numbers.

A further aspect to note about the introduction of an emissions trading scheme is the allocation of emissions permits through grandfathering clauses. What this means is that existing industries, often the big producers of greenhouse gases, are allowed to carry on as before the scheme was introduced to avoid large economic losses and possible major disruption of supply to consumers. A controlled revaluation of grandfathered permits need to be regulated over a period of years.

There are actually many ways in which an emissions trading system can be designed and implemented with important choices made between schemes that:

• Either reduce emissions that can be physically measured, or include ‘reductions’ that are uncertain.
• Either allocate emission permits free of charge to industries in proportion to their current positions, or auction permits with everyone entitled to bid.
• Either define the liable parties to only those industries who directly produce the emissions, or define the consumers who indirectly produce emissions through their purchase of goods and services.
• Either focus on carbon emissions alone, or include other greenhouse gases with emissions measured in carbon dioxide equivalents.
  

Why Is Knowing Your Carbon Footprint Important?

Many of us cruise through our daily lives completely oblivious to such things as a carbon footprint and the impact we are having to the growing problem of greenhouse gases and the whole global warming crisis. This isn’t surprising, it’s just a fact of life that there are many distractions that take place and we take for granted the imprint we are leaving on the world, just by living.

Our multiple digital clocks run in our houses 24 hours a day – we’ve got one on the microwave, one on the conventional oven, one on the CD player, one on the stereo and one in each of our three bedrooms, all of them drawing passive energy and we don’t even give it a thought. It’s just one of the assumed “rights” of living in a modern affluent society, we may not use it but we don’t mind paying for it regardless. Some people might be a little bit shocked if they were to find out exactly how much carbon emissions they are producing per year, not to mention an indication of how much it’s costing them and how simple it might be to save a few bucks and the environment at the same time.

You Can’t Change What You Don’t Know

I like that sentence, it neatly sums up a whole range of human instincts and precisely describes one of the roadblocks in front of those trying to educate people on the importance of reducing our carbon footprint. It’s only when someone is shown the consequence for the actions of their daily lives that they can begin to grasp the idea that there is a need for change.

It’s not until you’re told that running your car produces around 2 ½ tonnes of carbon dioxide per year that you begin to realise that this could be a problem. It also allows you to then set a goal to lower your number for the next year. Suddenly you have a goal – a quantifiable goal – that you can set for yourself and aim for with real purpose. Without the calculation of your carbon footprint you would be resigned to stating that you produce some (or a lot of) carbon dioxide. Trying to produce less in the future would be next to impossible to gauge.

The fact that there is also a corresponding cost benefit i.e. you save money! to reducing your carbon footprint size should have people flocking to the cause. The word will continue to leak out while, hopefully, carbon dioxide doesn’t.

Carbon Footprint Inspirations

A Canadian local community has been challenged by a local politician to leave a smaller carbon footprint on the earth. The residents of Parkdale-High Park in Ontario have embraced the carbon footprint challenge with open arms to take on a 16 point action plan which is comprised of 3 categories: Transportation, Natural Gas and Electricity.

What I like about this story, apart from the fact that an entire community is getting into reducing their carbon footprint together, is that some of the ways they are reducing their energy emissions are so simple. They’re worth noting, for sure, things like taking the car in for a tune up, washing clothes in cold water and turning off and unplugging electrical appliances that are not in use. All of these simple little things will save you money too.

(I went for a quick once over in my house and turned off the Playstation, a video recorder, a CD player, the speakers on my computer, a night light that was left on in the daytime – and that was just a quick two minute check)

There are a few interesting estimations included in the challenge information of what a few careless actions might cost you in terms of money and carbon emissions. Consider this: limiting the time you allow your car to idle to 10 seconds could save you $70 a year and 21 kilograms of carbon dioxide; reducing the speed you drive on the highway by 5 kph saves approximately $24 and 8 kilograms.

Sounds like a terrific incentive and one that more communities could take up in a bid to combine in the fight to shrink the global carbon footprint. If nothing else it will save the need to see an ecopsychologist.

* * *

Ecopsychology, according to the New York Times, is a new form of therapy that examines the normal personal relationship issues but goes on to also encourage the patient to develop a relationship to nature. Apparently there are people out there who are so anxious about the state of their carbon footprint that a trip to an ecopsychologist followed by the purchase of a solar hot water system will allay their fears and help them feel better about themselves.

For those of you who feel a little more in control of your carbon footprint, nice work. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Don’t forget to turn off the light – our session is over for the time being.

* * *

It's gratifying to read about big companies like Sony pledging to drastically reduce their carbon footprint and, not only that, urging other companies to join them. Twelve companies such as Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Nike have all signed up to the Tokyo declaration to pledge to do their bit to limit global warming. They’ve all pledged to support a worldwide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050.

It’s a good start and Sony is following through, having set itself a target of reducing emissions by 7% by 2010 from their 2000 levels have already cut annual carbon emissions by 9%.

* * *

Nine percent reduction is pretty good you’ve gotta admit, but UK company Totally Fitness has aimed to go a whole lot better than that with an announcement that they are working with co2balance.com to calculate their carbon footprint to take action to reduce their emissions and then offset the remaining amount. They plan to become carbon neutral very shortly.

The company provides fitness equipment to stars such as Julia Roberts and Jim Carrey as well as to hotels and hospitals. They believe that people are becoming more mindful of the environmental outlook of companies they purchase goods from.

The carbon offsets that will help take their carbon footprint down to zero will include energy efficiency projects in Kenya, renewable energy projects in East Africa and tree planting in various locations throughout Europe.

Carbon Footprint Sins

Okay, I admit it. I don’t do everything I can to reduce my carbon footprint and the reason only comes down to 1 factor, general laziness. As with most modern day, reasonably affluent suburbanites I take many things for granted, not least of which is jumping in the car for trips that take less than 5 minutes. Wanna know the worst bit? I’m a marathon runner, I’m fit, yet I will still take the kids to the park in the car, a journey of less than a kilometre.

You know it has become a bit of a habit too. My two boys’ soccer gradings were on down at the park tonight, one starting at 5:30, the other starting at 7:00. When I suggested that I walk them down rather than drive, at first there was stunned disbelief which soon turned into outraged indignation. How dare I suggest we walk to the park when we’ve got a perfectly good car sitting in the garage!

Well sins like that are going to stop and the family are going to be swung around until they’re outraged when I suggest we drive down to the park. I’ll know I’ve done my job of educating my kids about energy reduction, greenhouse gases, carbon emissions and our carbon footprint when they demand to know why we’re daring to drive somewhere when it’s only a half hour walk.

There, confession is good for the soul or so they say. Now I’ll invite you all to join me. Calculate your carbon footprint, check out ways you can reduce it and start making a difference.

Can I Make My Carbon Footprint Disappear?

That's the challenge I want to pose to myself...can I make my carbon footprint disappear. I'm certain I can make my carbon footprint smaller, actually I DID make it smaller last night when I replaced a couple of incandescent lightbulbs with energy efficient lightbulbs. That's a start, but that's all it is, the bare minimum start.

With a long list of possible options that will help me to reduce my carbon footprint, I should begin to see more obvious signs that my carbon footprint is beginning to disappear.

I've already begun to look at options like changing energy suppliers to someone who can supply green energy without significantly raising the costs. I'm also checking out the cost and suitability of putting a solar hot water system in.

We've been planning to install insulation in the roof of our house for some time now and doing this will also make significant energy savings as we find it easier to heat and cool the house.

So, can I make my carbon footprint disappear? I still don't know, but I can definitely shrink it down by a good proportion just by trying.

A Brief Introduction to Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse gases are the collective chemicals that make up the Earth’s atmosphere that help keep the temperature of the Earth’s surface relatively constant. This is done by maintaining a balance between the sunlight that is reflected from the Earth’s surface and the infrared radiation that is absorbed by the greenhouse gases and trapped in our atmosphere. The process of absorption is what we refer to as the greenhouse effect.

Many gases contribute to the greenhouse effect, some of them are naturally occurring such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Others are exclusively man-made such as chemicals from aerosols.

The Carbon Cycle

Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are controlled in nature by a process known as the “carbon cycle”. The movement of carbon is controlled between the air, land and water by natural processes such as photosynthesis, respiration and decay. While natural processes can handle some of the anthropogenic (caused by humans) carbon dioxide emissions produced each year, there is an estimated 3.2 billion metric tons added to the atmosphere annually. It’s this growing imbalance between emissions and absorption that is attributed to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon Dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. It has been made even more abundant through the human process of removing the naturally occurring carbon from the earth in the form of coal, oil and natural gas, and burning it for fuel, releasing it into the atmosphere in incredible quantities.

When we talk about anthropogenic carbon emissions we are referring to such things as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and clearing of forests which removes large swathes of potential sources of photosynthesis…and human exhalation. At a time when it is becoming increasingly imperative that we reduce our carbon emissions, the evidence points to the fact that they are still increasing.

Methane

Another greenhouse gas that is contributing to the problem of global warming is methane. High levels of methane are produced from landfills when open dumps and waste decomposes under anaerobic conditions. It is also released as part of the coal mining process when trapped methane is released into the atmosphere. Significant amounts of methane are also naturally produced by livestock as part of their digestive system. Rice cultivation produces quite high levels of methane due to the flooding process which promotes anaerobic decomposition or organic matter in the soil.

Each year around 350-500 million tons of methane from human related activities are released into the atmosphere adding to the greenhouse gases. The problem lies in the fact that methane is 20 times effective at trapping in heat than carbon dioxide.

Nitrous Oxide

Better known to most people as laughing gas, this is the stuff that we use as an anaesthetic but it’s a naturally occurring gas and one of our greenhouse gases. It is released naturally from the ocean and by bacteria in the soil. Humans add up to 15 million tons into the atmosphere through nitrogen-based fertilizers, sewerage treatment and car exhausts. Nitrous oxide emissions need to be reduced because it stays trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere for a long time.

Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming

Future carbon dioxide levels are expected to continue to rise due to fossil fuel emissions and destructive land use changes. Possibly one of the saving graces will be the limited availability of fossil fuels but until then it’s up to us to change our pattern of daily energy consumption and look to alternative energy sources, changed transport patterns and more responsible land use practices.

I'll be revealing my own plans for how I will be reducing my impact on greenhouse gases over the coming months. I intend to track the size of my carbon footprint and will try to cut it in half so stay on the lookout for a regular series of posts that will regularly update my progress.

InterfaceFLOR Australia : A Carbon Neutral Example

I’ve talked about ways we, as individuals, might reduce carbon emissions and the impact we might make with carbon offsets and reducing our personal carbon footprint. It’s a much more daunting task for a big company to make a significant reduction in its carbon emissions, but for InterfaceFLOR Australia, the progress in the goal of achieving a carbon neutral position is almost within reach.

InterfaceFLOR Australia is a modular carpet manufacturer and is the Australian subsidiary of United States company Interface. The company has managed to eliminate all carbon emissions completely from the production of its carpet tiles. Carbon offsets are being used by the company for unavoidable carbon emissions that are not able to be eliminated by operational or technical changes.

It’s all part of an ambitious program embarked upon by the parent company called “Mission Zero” which seeks to eliminate all harmful effects to the environment caused by its commercial activities by 2020. This will include the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, waste, a reduction in the consumption of non-renewable energy and eliminating the use of toxic substances.

Chief executive Rob Coombs has pointed out that the company has demonstrated that it is possible to practice environmental sustainability and still run a business profitably. Popular belief is that the two concepts are mutually exclusive. But over the last 5 years InterfaceFLOR Australia reduced carbon emissions by 25% and has averaged profit growth of 25% for the last 3 of those years.

InterfaceFLOR has benefited from its reduced energy usage, water consumption and waste:

• By streamlining its operations.
  
• By improving innovation and product design by forcing people to think creatively outside the box.
  
• By attracting new customers, drawn by the environment friendly philosophy and products.
  
• By attracting new production partners.
  
• By attracting and retaining quality employees.

The measurement of InterfaceFLOR's impact on the environment does not stop at the factory door, it also covers the complete lifecycle of its products from raw materials to supply chain store activity right through to it’s removal and disposal.

The Spread of Carbon Emission Consciousness

What this amounts to is encouraging suppliers and distributors to reduce their carbon emissions and paying to purchase the carbon offsets associated with any remaining emissions. All tenders for new contracts with InterfaceFLOR has sustainability as a key component of the evaluation process, a great way to spread the concept that it is beneficial on more than just the environmental level to reduce carbon emissions.

For example, when Border Express bid for the InterfaceFLOR freight contract, the sustainability clause acted as a catalyst for the company to review its own ecological footprint. The company engaged an environmental consultant to conduct an audit on the effect it was having on the environment and will implement changes to make it a more sustainable business. Changes to fuel and engine efficiency, the age of the fleet and driver training will be key areas where changes can be made.

Since 1994, InterfaceFLOR Australia has:

• Saved more than $25 million through waste elimination activities.
  
• Reduced waste cost per unit of production by more than 90%.
  
• Reduced manufacturing emissions in water to zero.
  
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 12%.
  
• Reduced total energy consumption in Australia by 36% per unit of production.
  
• Installed skylights in facilities to save on lighting energy consumption.
  
• Been the first carpet manufacturer to use fibres made from polylactic acid, a commercially viable plastic made from corn starch.
  
• Introduced a Cool Fuel™ Program which aims to "zero out" the carbon dioxide caused by the company's car travel with carbon offset packages for employees - more than 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide have been offset since its inception in 2002.
  
• Diverted nearly 30 million kilograms of carpet from landfills globally through recycling.
  
• Introduced Cool Carpet™ the first "climate neutral" carpet option. "Climate neutral" means that the greenhouse gases emitted during the carpet's lifecycle are balanced by InterfaceFLOR's investments in carbon emissions offsets.

If a global company such as Interface can make this kind of commitment to reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, perhaps a few more businesses can take up the challenge. It's an inspirational story and one that could be repeated throughout the business community.

Offset Carbon Emissions

When talking about trying to reduce your carbon footprint the argument is pretty compelling when suggesting small changes to your lifestyle, particularly when many of the changes will save you money. The thing is though, we all have a carbon footprint, we all contribute to the ever-increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and no matter how diligent you are at reducing it, you won't lower it completely to zero. The answer is to offset your carbon emissions and this could be a little harder to sell because people won't see an immediate tangible benefit to their way or life. It doesn’t necessarily have to but it may also cost you money.

What Is Carbon Offsetting?

Carbon offsetting is a process of purchasing carbon credits to help fund reduction projects that have been put in place to remove or reduce carbon dioxide around the planet. The idea is, you calculate, say, the emissions produced driving your car for a year and then purchase the credits equal to that amount of carbon emissions that have been reduced by that project. These projects might involve the establishment of renewable energy resources in developing countries or a tree-planting project. Carbon credits can also be attained through energy efficiency projects.

So, as an example, say you own a small 4 cylinder 1.8litre car and drive around 10,000km in a year, this would emit around 1.87 tonnes of carbon. To offset this, it would cost you AUD30.86 in credits.

Carbon Offsetting Businesses

Businesses can significantly reduce their carbon footprint by having a carbon assessment done which will highlight the areas in which immediate improvement can be made and then offsetting those emissions which are unavoidable with the aim of becoming a carbon neutral business.

Organisations might offset their carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits to neutralise its carbon impact on the planet. Carbon credits could be purchased by replacing incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). A CFL uses up to 80% less electricity than the old conventional bulb and when replaced building wide in large installations will make a huge impact on energy consumption.

I’ve found a directory of low carbon businesses in Australia. Using these services or buying products manufactured by these companies will reduce your own carbon footprint and will reward these companies for making the effort for our planet.

It’s All About Awareness

Naturally, offsetting won’t completely solve the problem of global warming and climate change, but by simply being aware of the effects of your activities by calculating your emissions, some sort of progress might be made. By making the production of carbon emissions more quantifiable, individuals can begin to set themselves goals in reducing the greenhouse gases they produce and hence, lower their carbon footprint numbers.

There are many organisations devoted to the greenhouse effect by reducing carbon emissions through offering carbon offsets. In fact, I daresay there’s a link or two at the top of this page that will take you to one of them.

Biocrude: Fuel From Waste

I don’t think there’s much doubt that first generation biofuels are not the answer to solving the carbon emission problems that stem from burning fossil fuels. However, it looks as though there may just have been a major breakthrough in the search for a viable second generation solution with a biocrude that has been produced from green waste and paper.

Developed by the CSIRO and Monash University in Australia, the Furafuel process uses green waste such as forest thinnings, household waste and crop residues as a source for a biocrude which is said to be more stable than any being produced around the world. Dr Steven Loffler of CSIRO Forest Biosciences says, “the oil that we've made is both stable and also PH neutral, so the advantage of that is that it can be held in storage for as long as it needs to before further processing”. This is compared to other second generation biofuels which, when left in storage begin to thicken after only a short time into a gum.

Lignocellulose

The plant wastes being targeted for conversion into biofuels contain chemicals known as lignocellulose, which is increasingly favoured around the world as a raw material for the next generation of bio-ethanol as they are renewable and potentially greenhouse gas neutral. Materials such as lawn clippings, tree trimmings and other materials that households already put in their green bins for removal by local councils.

The Advantages of Biocrude Are Many

Some of the big disadvantages I noted in my earlier discussion about biofuels would be addressed with the development of this biocrude. Issues such as the food vs fuel crops debate and forest clearing for agricultural crops, both of which have the potential to be more harmful than the fuel they’re replacing, would no longer be an issue.

The development of this biocrude would also put another couple of entries into the advantages column. The source of biocrude could come from household green waste and paper, of which there is between 1 and 2 million tonnes going into landfill in Australia alone.

Add to this the plan to operate from small regional facilities close to the source of the bio-material converting it into the crude oil and then shipping the crude which would be much more efficient and would produce much less greenhouse gas emissions than moving the bulkier solid material to a large central facility.

Cost of Biocrude

It’s still very early days in this process and one of the unanswered questions that will be a huge factor towards the success or failure of the project is how much the biocrude will cost to produce. At this stage no cost analysis has been performed although Dr Loffler believes that it will at least be as competitive as current crude production.

Biofuels

We've had a look at the carbon footprint and ways in which we can reduce our personal carbon footprint. On a global scale, one of the proposed solutions to the problem of carbon emissions from transportation has been the growing biofuel industry. The question of whether biofuels are contributing in the fight against increased greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect and are really the saviour we hope they'll be still rages.

What Is Biofuel?

Man has been using biofuels for millenia for heating and cooking purposes. Throwing a branch on a fire and huddling around it for warmth is an example of biofuel use in its simplest form. It’s only relatively recently that biofuels have been developed in a liquid form which may be used in petrol and diesel engines giving us our first sign that we are well on our way to replacing high polluting fossil fuels as our energy source in transportation. The issue of whether the production of biofuel as a liquid fuel is a more greenhouse friendly solution than using the traditional fossil fuels has become a hotly debated topic and later on there are a list of the pros and cons of biofuels.

Types of Biofuels

Firstly, though a little bit of a distinction should be made between two types of biofuels that are currently in the spotlight. First generation biofuels have been available for years now while second generation biofuels are close to becoming a reality.

First generation biofuels are made from food crop feedstocks while second generation biofuels are made from agriculture and forestry waste such as the straw left over after havesting a crop.

When looking at first generation biofuels there are two that are used commercially: ethanol and bio-esters.

Ethanol is made from sugar crops and corn / maize crops by fermenting the sugars produced in the plants. The ethanol is distilled out of the resultant solution. The way current gasoline specifications are regulated, ethanol can only be blended with standard fuel up to 10% in the US and 5% in Europe. Additionally, ethanol has lower fuel economy performance than gasoline so, although producing ethanol is cleaner than fossil fuel, more is needed to run your car.

Bio-esters are produced by a chemical reaction between vegetable oils from products such as rapeseed and soyabeen oil and alcohol. The result is a liquid which can then be blended with diesel to create biodiesel. Bio-esters can be used in low concentrations in current vehicles or in a pure form in modified vehicles.

The carbon emission reduction generated from the use of these two types of biofuels comes in at around 3% and 2.5% respectively.

We’ll turn our attention to second generation biofuels which are made from agricultural and forestry waste. A process has been developed to make a product known as cellulose ethanol from straw using enzymes. Potentially, the use of cellulose ethanol solves many of the problems that have arisen during the creation of the first generation biofuels, such as using a potential food source.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels

When discussing the pros and cons of biofuels, it’s probably fairest to concentrate solely on first generation biofuels because that’s what’s currently in commercial use.

Advantages

• Biofuels lower the use of unrenewable resources such as coal and oil.
  
• Power levels of carbon emissions are produced when measured from well to wheel. The greatest benefit will come from locally grown product.
  
• Air pollutants when burning biofuel blended products are greatly reduced.

Disadvantages

• Rainforest clearing has proceeded in order to create large scale agricultural land devoted to biofuel crops.
  
• A potential source of food is being used for food when world wide starvation continues to be a problem.
  
• Carbon emissions generated harvesting and hauling biofuel crops, particularly internationally, largely negates the carbon emission savings.
  
• Even greater levels of greenhouse gas is produced by clearing of tropical forests to plant sugar cane crops. Soil degradation, peat drainage and waste burning create even greater levels of carbon emissions.
  
• Large scale biofuel plantations in countries such as Indonesia and Brazil are unsustainable.

As can be seen, the idea that biofuels are the clean, green and sustainable answer to the growing oil shortage and emissions of greenhouse gases problem is premature at this stage. More definitive studies must be undertaken if the first generation biofuels are going to be a successful option, for the sake of the industry and the planet. It appears that there has been an initial grab for cash with little regard to the environmental consequences, in fact the very problems that are supposed to be solved.

Fortunately there is a lot of research and development going into the production of second generation biofuels with a very interesting breakthrough made in the creation of biocrude. This is an area that we will look at in a little bit more detail.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Once you have understood that greenhouse gases are accumulating to cause a dangerously high greenhouse effect and that we are all partly to blame and how you calculate your carbon footprint, or even the fact that you have a carbon footprint (go back and read my piece on What Is A Carbon Footprint) we can now discuss ways we can begin to reduce our carbon footprint.

There are two main ways that you can attack the size of your carbon footprint. You can make plenty of lifestyle changes that directly affect the amount of energy you use. Here are a few suggestions, some of which we are all familiar with, others may not have occurred to some people. The crazy thing with a lot of these tips are that they will actually save you money…and not just a little bit of money in some cases but significant chunks of the stuff.

• When you leave a room, turn off the light.
  
• Turn down the central heating by 1 degree.
  
• Hang your washing on the clothesline rather than use your clothes dryer.
  
• Every once in a while (or even every day) do the washing up in the sink rather than running the dishwasher.
  
• Turn the water heating setting down by 1 degree.
  
• Organise to car pool to work with someone who lives nearby.
  
• Walk the kids to school if you live locally.
  
• If you don’t do it already, recycle all of your cans, bottles, PET plastic and paper.
  
• Eat fruit and vegetables you've grown yourself.
  
• Buy locally grown fruit and vegetables.
  
• Buy fruit that is in season.
  
• Use recycled copying paper.
  
• Reuse a canvas shopping bag each time you go shopping.
  
• Cut your shower time by two minutes.
  
• Replace light bulbs with energy efficient fluorescent bulbs.
  
• Unplug your stereo if you're not using it.
  
• If you're not using your iPod charger or cell-phone charger, unplug them.
  
• The next time you buy a car, make it a hybrid.


• Switch to green electricity if it's available.
  
• Keep your tyres properly inflated.
  
• Buy products with minimal packaging.
  
• Install a low-flow showerhead.
  
• Insulate your home - walls and ceilings.

There are over 20 tips on how you might reduce your carbon footprint here, but it is by no means exhaustive. We live in an increasingly throwaway society and this fact leds us to becoming increasingly wasteful which only adds to the problem.

At the start of this post I mentioned that there were 2 ways we can reduce our carbon footprint. I have only given you the way it may be reduced immediately in your personal life. The second way is to offset your carbon footprint, possibly a concept that will be a harder sell to the general population because most people would see it as having to pay for something in which they will get nothing back, which is of course a completely wrong attitude to take. The level of greenhouse gases will not be reduced without everyone's help and even the smallest change in lifestyle will have a global impact on the greenhouse effect.

The subject of offsetting your carbon footprint will be the subject of another post but if you check some of the links at the top of this post you should be able to find some more information about calculating and reducing your carbon footprint.

What Is A Carbon Footprint?

I had a bit of fun mentioning that the word (or phrase, to be more specific) Carbon Footprint "won" an honourable mention in the Macquarie Dictionary 2007 Word of the Year. Now we'll look at the greenhouse effect that the carbon footprint concerns as we use it as a way of measuring the carbon emissions that makes up just one of the greenhouse gases that we humans are pumping into the atmosphere at a frightening rate.

I decided to investigate and found out quite a bit about what's being attempted around the world to try to offset and reduce greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect.

So on to the question that adorns the title of this post: What Is A Carbon Footprint?

A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels. It is measured in tonnes and can be calculated on a personal, business, country-wide and global basis.

A carbon footprint is made up of two parts:

the primary footprint which involves all the things we use that directly burn fossil fuels such as electricty use, driving a car, travelling by plane,

the secondary footprint which involves all the manufactured things we buy and use - food, clothes, sport and leisure.

My Carbon Footprint

Naturally enough, I calculated my personal carbon footprint by visiting the Carbon Footprint site and going through the Carbon Footprint Calculator. The calculator takes you through a series of questions after you've entered your home country. You answer questions in categories such as Home, Flight, Car, Motorbike, Bus & Rail and Secondary. Having a rough idea of how many kWh of electricity you burn in a year and how many kilometres your car does annually will enable a more accurate calculation.

So how did I do? Well, I suppose like the majority of us I could do with some work but I was surprised that I was well under the national average for Australia. My Carbon Footprint came in at 9.224 tonnes while the country average is at 16.3 tonnes. The carbon footprint calculator goes on to say that, in order to combat climate change the worldwide average needs to drop to 2 tonnes and it is currently at 4 tonnes.

The idea behind learning about your carbon footprint are twofold. First, if you're aware of the extent of the damage you're doing you're more likely to actively try to make your footprint smaller. Second, there are initiatives and strategies in place that allow you to offset your carbon footprint. If you take up some of these initiatives you are effectively reducing your footprint.

This is a seriously worthwhile exercise so in the next couple of posts I'll have a closer look at the two ways we can go about slashing the size of our carbon footprints. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to calculate your carbon footprint and perhaps become a little more aware of the greenhouse gases you produce and the part you play in the greenhouse effect.