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.

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.

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.

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.