STARBUCKS was blasted by environmental experts last night after Britain's Sun newspaper accused it of pouring millions of litres of precious water down the drain at its coffee shops.
The giant coffee chain allegedly has a policy of keeping a tap running non-stop at all its 10,000 outlets worldwide, wasting millions of litres a day.
That would provide enough daily water for the entire two million-strong population of drought-hit Namibia or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.
Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink, called a dipper well, used for washing spoons and utensils.
Bizarre health and safety rules are said to ban staff from turning the water off, as bosses say that a constant flow stops germs breeding in the taps.
The huge Starbucks chain proudly boasts of its work for the environment. But British water companies accused it of harming the environment by frittering away a vital natural resource.
And experts dismissed the claim that it was necessary to run taps for hygiene reasons.
Even a slow-flowing tap spurts out at least three litres of water a minute, meaning British Starbucks wastes an estimated 1.63 million litres a day, according to The Sun.
A tap running for just over three minutes wastes the amount of water one African needs to survive a day in drought conditions.
The Sun investigated after a Starbucks executive revealed the policy in a letter to a couple who complained of a tap left running at their local branch.
Lisa Woolfe, 39, of Hertfordshire, said: "I noticed a small sink behind the counter had its tap running. The assistant said the store was told to keep it running, as it cleaned the pipes.
"I could not believe it but when we contacted head office, they confirmed that the taps were left on and the water was not recycled. It is an absolutely astonishing waste of water, especially for a company which prides itself on its green credentials."
The Sun's undercover team checked Starbucks outlets across Britain and some around the world, and found some baffled staff did not use the running tap and did not even know what it was for.
On 52nd St New York, a tap ran the whole time the paper's investigators were there, although nothing was cleaned under it. It was the same in Los Angeles and in Sydney.
Staff at one of the 50 Starbucks in Beijing threatened to call police as newspaper staff photographed a running tap.
In Vienna, Starbucks staff confirmed the tap was always left running.
In Romania, also hit by a drought, a Starbucks worker said of the tap: "We don't know what it is. Nobody ever uses it."
But staff at Melbourne's Swanston St store, one of the few left in Victoria, said taps weren't left on, and denied the practice had ever been employed. "That's never happened here. We don't waste water," the store manager said.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Europe gains carbon credits with India projects
The United Nations has issued credits to three projects in India for emissions reductions from renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism rewards companies or developed countries with certified emission-reduction certificates (CERs) for helping developing countries reduce emissions. Those credits can then be used to meet Kyoto standards or sold to other countries (see StatoilHydro, ONGC to look at carbon capture and storage).
A credit currently trades for about €19 ($26 USD). The market for trading in carbon emissions is estimated to be in the range of $60 billion to USD $70 billion annually (see Global carbon trading value almost doubles in 2007).
India has generated about 30 million carbon credits and is one of the largest beneficiaries in the carbon credit trade, according to Mumbai, India-based Multi Commodity Exchange (see MCX launches carbon credit trading in India).
Across the globe, 195 million credits have been issued through the program’s 1,170 projects. About 2,800 projects are in the application or registration process, with 155 projects applying for admission in September, the most recent data available.
A new 8-megawatt grid-connected biomass plant in state of Chhattisgarh in central India, below Uttar Pradesh, received 47,482 credits.
The biomass plant achieved an equivalent annual offset of about 21,488 metric tons of CO2 and annual production of about 47 million kilowatt-hours in 2007, its first full year of operation.
The plant developed by ISA Power uses rice husk from less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) away in the Rice Bowl region, which is around the Raipur, Dhamtari, Durg and Kanker districts. ISA Power estimates that 1.3 metric tons (2,866 pounds) of rice husk can generate 1 MW of power. The availability of rice husk is 267,000 metric tons, while the plant’s capacity is 70,000 metric tons.
The UN also issued credits to Germany for a 4.5 MW grid-connected hydroelectric power plant in Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The Maujhi project received 7,507 credits for 2007 and had banked 21,881 credits since July 2004.
The run-of-the-river project by Dharmshala Hydro Power draws power from the Maujhi Khad, a small tributary of river Beas that drains in the Kangra District. The Rs. 265.3 million (USD $5.77 million) project generates about 20 million kWh a year for the state-owned Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, representing an offset of about 13,168 tons of CO2.
The third set of credits went to the United Kingdom for energy-efficiency improvements at ITC Paperboards & Specialty Papers in Andhra Pradesh, about 300 km from Hyderabad. The project made efficiency improvements at its pulp-and-paper mill, which is one of the largest in India. Those upgrades have reduced energy consumption by 13.38 gigawatt-hours a year.
The UN issued 2,056 credits to the paper mill, which also generates power using steam. Additionally, black liquor solids from wood pulp, a byproduct of the paper mill, is a climate-neutral fuel, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The mill has received 13,314 credits since April 2002.
UN: Financial chills are ill wind for climate
EW YORK (AP) — The financial turmoil rippling across the globe will set back efforts to fight climate change, drying up capital that could help poorer countries upgrade to clean energy technology, the U.N. climate chief said Thursday.
"You can't pick an empty pocket," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. climate secretariat.
In an Associated Press interview, de Boer said a pledge of northern investment in developing countries, for "green" economic growth and for adapting to droughts, floods and other impacts of warming, would be essential to get poorer nations to sign onto a new global climate agreement.
Ongoing negotiations aim to produce such an agreement at a U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen in late 2009. Richer industrialized nations want China, India and other big Third World emitters of greenhouse gases, countries exempt under the current Kyoto Protocol, to contribute in some way to a new regime of reducing emissions.
But the credit crisis gripping the international economy changes the outlook, de Boer said.
"I think that the financial crisis is going to make it more difficult for industrialized countries to make public resources available for cooperation with developing countries," he told the AP.
"Many industrialized countries at the moment are propping up their financial sector and they're borrowing money to do it, which means to my mind that there's going to be a constraint on the capital market, and that potentially can impact the negotiations."
De Boer was in New York to confer with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and to take part in a public debate with Columbia University's Jeffrey Sachs, a leading development economist, on whether the world should pursue carbon taxes to discourage the burning of fossil fuels — source of much atmospheric warming — rather than the "carbon trading" system overseen by de Boer's U.N. agency.
In carbon trading, under the Kyoto Protocol, industries subject to emissions caps are allotted or sold emission allowances that they then can buy and sell among one another.
But such long-running economic arguments — the consensus among four debaters was that many devices will be needed — are increasingly overshadowed by scientific news that experts say points up the need for more urgent, sweeping action.
It was reported last month that worldwide man-made emissions of carbon dioxide — the leading greenhouse gas — leaped by an unexpected 3 percent in 2007. And de Boer noted that U.N. scientists who last year forecast a need for 50 percent reductions in global emissions by 2050 are now saying 60-to-80 percent cuts will be necessary to avoid the worst of climate change.
The U.N. climate chief finds encouragement in the U.S., however, where both major presidential candidates, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, favor a cap-and-trade system, after eight years in which the Bush administration rejected the Kyoto Protocol and mandatory emissions cuts.
De Boer said he hoped the next president could show his commitment personally at the annual U.N. climate conference in early December, in Poznan, Poland.
"If the president-elect or vice president or a bipartisan delegation of some kind could come to Poznan with the message that the U.S. takes this issue seriously, that would be a very strong signal of encouragement," he said.
Friday, October 10, 2008
FAQ
What is climate change?
Climate change is the term commonly used when talking about global warming.
The Earth is like a giant greenhouse, but instead of having glass panes which trap heat, it has gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. As the sun's rays shine on the Earth this blanket of gases traps some of the heat – which has the effect of warming the planet and keeping it at a relatively constant level. Without it the Earth would either get too hot or too cold.
When greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by human activity like burning fossil fuels and clearing land, it's like constantly adding more glass layers to the greenhouse, ultimately raising the temperature inside. If we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is a risk that the Earth will heat to a level which could seriously affect life on our planet.
Why the focus on carbon dioxide?
Greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons but the mostly commonly referred to greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) and it has become the standard measure of greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 is released every time we turn on the light at home, switch on our computer, take a flight or drive the car.
What does it mean to be carbon neutral?
Carbon Neutral means that an activity, a person or a business has no net CO2 emissions. By cutting the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere and offsetting any CO2 we do release, we can bring Intrepid's carbon emissions down to 0% - becoming a Carbon Neutral company.
What is carbon offsetting?
Carbon offsets are a way for individuals and businesses to balance out their greenhouse gas emissions by allocating funds to emission reduction programs e.g. If, for every 1 kg of CO2 emitted during your flight you save another 1 kg from being emitted through your support of programs such as tree planting or sustainable energy initiatives, you have offset your emissions.
Carbon Neutral diagram
Why is Intrepid carbon offsetting flights?
Aviation is now the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases and it's a sad truth that by flying to the destinations we love so much, we're actively contributing to climate change. This year alone our travellers' flights will add around 500,000 tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. That's about the same as 116,000 cars would emit in a year. For those choosing to book flights with Intrepid from Australia, you can fly in the knowledge that your flight is offset and you have greatly reduced the impact of your holiday.
Why are flights so bad?
Not only do planes release a lot of greenhouse gases, they also release it in the delicate upper atmosphere where its impact is far greater.
Is the Carbon Offset Payment a tax?
No, it's simply a payment directed to carbon offset programs.
Is the Carbon Offset Payment compulsory?
Yes, all flights sold by Intrepid departing from Australia have a carbon offset payment included in the price. Climate change is a huge issue and to tackle it we all need to get behind the solutions. We understand that by adding a carbon offset payment to our airfares, you may find slightly cheaper flights elsewhere, but we hope you will join us and choose a greener way to fly; after all, the cost is minimal and the benefits are immense! Intrepid will soon be including carbon offset payments on all flights sold from our international sales offices.
How is the Carbon Offset Payment calculated?
The carbon offset payment is calculated according to regional zones e.g. A return flight from Melbourne to Bangkok is a flight to Zone 3 and will have a carbon offset payment of around AU$54 while a return flight from Melbourne to Paris is a flight to Zone 2 and will have a carbon offset payment of around AU$150. There are thirteen regional zones in all, including South America, Oceania and Africa.
Does Intrepid Travel profit from carbon offsetting?
No. Intrepid Travel does not add any margins onto the price of the offset. This is no a profit making exercise for us, it's part of our commitment to the future of the planet.
Why do companies charge different amounts?
Companies charge different amounts to offset depending on how they calculate greenhouse gas emissions. There are two ways that the greenhouse gas emissions can be calculated...
* Emissions based on the amount of fuel that is consumed per kilometer
* Emissions based on the burning of fuel, then multiplied for the increased global warming impact, also known as the Global Warming Potential (GWP)
The GWP takes into account that emissions in the upper atmosphere, where planes fly, trap more heat and consequently contribute more to global warming. We choose to take the added effect of GWP into consideration and offset more than just the fuel burn.
Where does my money go?
With Origin's help, your money will be invested in genuine sustainable energy projects that build a long term solution to climate change. You'll be contributing to energy efficiency projects, energy generation from micro-hydro (low impact) and tree planting to name a few.
Find out more about where your money goes
What guarantee do I have that the money is being sent to Origin and Intrepid is not keeping it?
All the projects to which your funds will be allocated are independently verified to ensure your money is used for abatement projects.. A strong auditing framework is essential so that you can be confident that your money is really making a difference. The auditors are selected on the basis that they must demonstrate a high level of experience and recognition, including being active in audit panels for other abatement schemes.
What guarantee do I have that Origin is spending the money appropriately and not just keeping it?
All the projects to which your funds will be allocated are independently verified. A strong auditing framework is essential so that you can be confident that your money is really making a difference. The auditors are selected on the basis that they must demonstrate a high level of experience and recognition, including being active in audit panels for other abatement schemes.
Climate change is the term commonly used when talking about global warming.
The Earth is like a giant greenhouse, but instead of having glass panes which trap heat, it has gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. As the sun's rays shine on the Earth this blanket of gases traps some of the heat – which has the effect of warming the planet and keeping it at a relatively constant level. Without it the Earth would either get too hot or too cold.
When greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by human activity like burning fossil fuels and clearing land, it's like constantly adding more glass layers to the greenhouse, ultimately raising the temperature inside. If we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there is a risk that the Earth will heat to a level which could seriously affect life on our planet.
Why the focus on carbon dioxide?
Greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons but the mostly commonly referred to greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) and it has become the standard measure of greenhouse gas emissions. CO2 is released every time we turn on the light at home, switch on our computer, take a flight or drive the car.
What does it mean to be carbon neutral?
Carbon Neutral means that an activity, a person or a business has no net CO2 emissions. By cutting the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere and offsetting any CO2 we do release, we can bring Intrepid's carbon emissions down to 0% - becoming a Carbon Neutral company.
What is carbon offsetting?
Carbon offsets are a way for individuals and businesses to balance out their greenhouse gas emissions by allocating funds to emission reduction programs e.g. If, for every 1 kg of CO2 emitted during your flight you save another 1 kg from being emitted through your support of programs such as tree planting or sustainable energy initiatives, you have offset your emissions.
Carbon Neutral diagram
Why is Intrepid carbon offsetting flights?
Aviation is now the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases and it's a sad truth that by flying to the destinations we love so much, we're actively contributing to climate change. This year alone our travellers' flights will add around 500,000 tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. That's about the same as 116,000 cars would emit in a year. For those choosing to book flights with Intrepid from Australia, you can fly in the knowledge that your flight is offset and you have greatly reduced the impact of your holiday.
Why are flights so bad?
Not only do planes release a lot of greenhouse gases, they also release it in the delicate upper atmosphere where its impact is far greater.
Is the Carbon Offset Payment a tax?
No, it's simply a payment directed to carbon offset programs.
Is the Carbon Offset Payment compulsory?
Yes, all flights sold by Intrepid departing from Australia have a carbon offset payment included in the price. Climate change is a huge issue and to tackle it we all need to get behind the solutions. We understand that by adding a carbon offset payment to our airfares, you may find slightly cheaper flights elsewhere, but we hope you will join us and choose a greener way to fly; after all, the cost is minimal and the benefits are immense! Intrepid will soon be including carbon offset payments on all flights sold from our international sales offices.
How is the Carbon Offset Payment calculated?
The carbon offset payment is calculated according to regional zones e.g. A return flight from Melbourne to Bangkok is a flight to Zone 3 and will have a carbon offset payment of around AU$54 while a return flight from Melbourne to Paris is a flight to Zone 2 and will have a carbon offset payment of around AU$150. There are thirteen regional zones in all, including South America, Oceania and Africa.
Does Intrepid Travel profit from carbon offsetting?
No. Intrepid Travel does not add any margins onto the price of the offset. This is no a profit making exercise for us, it's part of our commitment to the future of the planet.
Why do companies charge different amounts?
Companies charge different amounts to offset depending on how they calculate greenhouse gas emissions. There are two ways that the greenhouse gas emissions can be calculated...
* Emissions based on the amount of fuel that is consumed per kilometer
* Emissions based on the burning of fuel, then multiplied for the increased global warming impact, also known as the Global Warming Potential (GWP)
The GWP takes into account that emissions in the upper atmosphere, where planes fly, trap more heat and consequently contribute more to global warming. We choose to take the added effect of GWP into consideration and offset more than just the fuel burn.
Where does my money go?
With Origin's help, your money will be invested in genuine sustainable energy projects that build a long term solution to climate change. You'll be contributing to energy efficiency projects, energy generation from micro-hydro (low impact) and tree planting to name a few.
Find out more about where your money goes
What guarantee do I have that the money is being sent to Origin and Intrepid is not keeping it?
All the projects to which your funds will be allocated are independently verified to ensure your money is used for abatement projects.. A strong auditing framework is essential so that you can be confident that your money is really making a difference. The auditors are selected on the basis that they must demonstrate a high level of experience and recognition, including being active in audit panels for other abatement schemes.
What guarantee do I have that Origin is spending the money appropriately and not just keeping it?
All the projects to which your funds will be allocated are independently verified. A strong auditing framework is essential so that you can be confident that your money is really making a difference. The auditors are selected on the basis that they must demonstrate a high level of experience and recognition, including being active in audit panels for other abatement schemes.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The author of the Government's 2006 report on climate change said that spending money on renewable and low-carbon industries could help stimulate the economy during a recession and when oil prices were high.
"We're going to have to grow out of this... and this is an area which looks as though it could well grow strongly and with the right support could be one of the major engines of growth," Lord Stern told The Guardian.
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
He said that the current financial crisis demonstrated the consequences of not dealing with dangerous risks early enough and with sufficient international co-operation.
Warning that there were "two kinds of danger" posed to efforts to tackle climate change by the present fear of recession, Lord Stern said: "One is people can only concentrate on a limited number of things at the same time.
"The second is people will be sensitive to cost increases, and those will have to be managed carefully... There's a danger: it needs leadership."
Lord Stern's comments came as MEPs prepared to vote on Europe's controversial climate change plans, which face a tough test in the face of the financial crisis.
The plan, which was drawn up before the present crisis struck, is for an EU commitment to cut greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020 - and by 30 per cent if the rest of the developed world promises to do the same.
But some governments are now pleading on behalf of key domestic industries that the emissions cuts would be too harsh coming amid the pain for businesses caused by market turmoil.
However, following weeks of argument, the European Parliament's Environment Committee is still expected to endorse the target.
The Committee will also pass judgment on plans to step up Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme, which caps overall carbon dioxide emissions and gives industries limited annual emissions allowances.
TeraVista Systems Joins the Novecta Soil Carbon Sequestration Standard Committee
TeraVista Systems has joined and participated in the first Soil Carbon Sequestration Standard Committee that was held last month in Des Moines, Iowa. The goal of the committee is to create an industry-wide standard for validating carbon offsets resulting from soil carbon sequestration or greenhouse gas emission reductions at the soil interface.
St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) October 8, 2008 -- TeraVista Systems has joined and participated in the first Soil Carbon Sequestration Standard Committee that was held last month in Des Moines, Iowa. The goal of the committee is to create an industry-wide standard for validating carbon offsets resulting from soil carbon sequestration or greenhouse gas emission reductions at the soil interface. The committee, including TeraVista Systems, was selected by Novecta from leading agriculture businesses and members of the carbon industry including aggregators, verifiers, exchange traders, soil scientists and others interested in carbon measurements.
TeraVista Systems is an independent software technology provider that has developed products and services under the brand of ClimateSuite™. The platform and services focus on increasing integrity of verification through third part data and automation and streamlining of project management.
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) currently offers a voluntary soil carbon credit program for farmers in the United States. Various standards are used today to measure carbon, but for the budding US carbon credit trading market to grow, credit purchasers must have confidence in the sequestration credit they are buying to offset their own carbon emissions.
Delay in U.N. project approval worries Japan
http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalEnvironment08/idUSTRE49636720081007
TOKYO (Reuters) - A slowdown in the United Nations' approval process for carbon emission-reduction projects could derail Japanese plans to buy Kyoto credits to offset the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
Investing in clean energy projects in developing countries in return for credits called CERs to offset domestic emissions is a major plank of Japanese climate policy under the Kyoto Protocol.
But tighter regulation standards at the UN and a recent slowdown in project verification and registration means there is a substantial downside risk for future CER supply.
"A delay in project delivery means investors receive less CERs," said Tsuneo Takahashi, representative director at Natsource Japan Co, a carbon trading company.
"The Japanese government and electric power companies may have to buy more credits to make up for fewer-than-expected CERs they receive from projects they have secured," he told Reuters as part of the Reuters Environment Summit.
Mitsubishi Corp , Japan's top trading house, expects the UN to approve credits worth up to 2.2 billion tonnes in carbon dioxide equivalent by the end of 2012, much less than the forecast global demand of up to 2.7 billion. It expects demand from Japan to account for up to 800 million tonnes.
The Japanese government and power companies such as Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), are seen as some of the world's most active CER buyers to offset their emissions.
Mitsubishi, now the world's third-biggest project developer and holder of CO2 emission credits, said the company may cut its target for building 100 UN-approved projects through 2012.
"We are seriously worried by the delay," said Tsuyoshi Nakamura, deputy general manager at Mitsubishi.
"Frequent changes in UN rules make it difficult to predict whether the projects will be accepted. We are also worried that we may have to abandon registration of some of our projects," he said.
Japanese trading houses invest in clean energy projects in developing countries and then sell them on.
Mitsubishi now has some 69 projects in the pipeline, which could produce more than 100 million tonnes of emissions credits by 2012. But it only has nine of the projects registered, generating only 65 million CERs.
Marubeni Corp , Japan's fifth-biggest trading company, said there was a delay in registration of about three to six months in 30 to 50 percent of its projects, but it would stick to its target of acquiring 100 million tonnes of credits by 2012.
A government official said the delay in the UN process was a worry but the government is hoping to buy credits from former communist countries under the UN schemes called Joint Implementation (JI) and Green Investment Scheme (GIS).
"There is no delivery risk on such credits," said Toshihiro Mitsuhashi, a director at the International Trade Ministry.
Tokyo, struggling to meet the Kyoto target, needs to buy 77 million more tonnes of credits by 2012, worth around $1.9 billion based on current European carbon emission futures prices of about 18 euros ($25).TEPCO, Japan's biggest CO2 emitter, has not said how many credits it has bought or plans to buy, or how much they cost. It expects its CO2 emissions to increase by 30 million tonnes in the year to March 2009 if its biggest nuclear power plant, halted since July 2007, remains shut. That would be worth $750 million at the current CER rate.
Its CO2 emissions rose 30 percent to 126.5 million tonnes in the year that ended in March, hit by the shutdown of the nuclear power plant.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Monday, October 6, 2008
Carbon offset market grows up, problems remain
By Nina Chestney
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - A growing carbon offset market is trying to woo the public and companies with new ways and standards to cut their contribution to climate change, while dispelling continued doubts that such schemes do any real good.
The offset market is dominated by companies that fund emissions cuts, often in a developing country, thereby generating emission reduction credits that they sell on to customers in the West.
That voluntary carbon market sold about 65 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2007, worth some $330 million, but is still dogged by criticisms that it lacks transparency.
"We started off as an offset charity but soon realised all the complications that came with it. The whole market is shrouded in controversy," said the chief executive of C-Change Trust, Jonathan Ekin.
"We go to companies and tell them to forget about offsetting. It's a dying breed, like the dotcom boom."
Instead, the trust asks businesses to acknowledge their emissions of the greenhouse gas through a charitable donation of 10 pounds a tonne.
The group then invests the profits into the UK education system, investing in renewables to reduce the overall carbon footprint of schools, Ekin said.
"People are looking for alternatives. Offsetting was something that worked a while back but now it has a negative undertone. If you want to buy credits, you don't know where they have come from. That is why it is so controversial," Ekin said.
GROWING UP
Offsetting companies defend their business models by saying they have introduced new trade bodies and standards, some of which include tracking systems so that buyers know exactly where, how and when the emissions cuts were made.
The industry got a bad press from projects that sold emissions reductions from planting trees -- which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow -- as it was selling emissions cuts now, which may not happen for decades as the trees reach maturity.
"The smaller (forestry) firms really only made up 2-5 percent of the market," said Edward Hanrahan, executive director at JPMorgan ClimateCare .
"There were several hundred of them existing as cottage industries, and while some came in with good intent, that wasn't always backed up with the knowledge necessary to ensure the quality of projects and real emissions reductions," he said.
One bonus of the voluntary market is that it is cheaper than funding emissions cuts in regulated carbon markets, such as the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) and under the Kyoto Protocol.
These are more expensive because the resulting offsets draw extra demand from big corporates, which can use them to comply with greenhouse gas emissions targets under regulated Kyoto and EU caps.
For example, carbon emissions permits accepted under a U.N.-led scheme under the Kyoto Protocol cost around 19 euros ($26.33) per tonne, compared with a $6.3 per tonne for voluntary permits in mid-2008, according to New Carbon Finance.
In addition, the regulated, U.N.-run market charges approval fees that smaller and perhaps more socially beneficial projects, notably in Africa, cannot afford -- pushing them into the voluntary market.
"If I had 24 euros to spend, I would want 2.5 tonnes of real reductions to be made, not one Phase II EUA," said Hanrahan, referring to more expensive EU allowances under the EU emissions trading scheme. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Gerard Wynn and Anthony Barker)
LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - A growing carbon offset market is trying to woo the public and companies with new ways and standards to cut their contribution to climate change, while dispelling continued doubts that such schemes do any real good.
The offset market is dominated by companies that fund emissions cuts, often in a developing country, thereby generating emission reduction credits that they sell on to customers in the West.
That voluntary carbon market sold about 65 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2007, worth some $330 million, but is still dogged by criticisms that it lacks transparency.
"We started off as an offset charity but soon realised all the complications that came with it. The whole market is shrouded in controversy," said the chief executive of C-Change Trust, Jonathan Ekin.
"We go to companies and tell them to forget about offsetting. It's a dying breed, like the dotcom boom."
Instead, the trust asks businesses to acknowledge their emissions of the greenhouse gas through a charitable donation of 10 pounds a tonne.
The group then invests the profits into the UK education system, investing in renewables to reduce the overall carbon footprint of schools, Ekin said.
"People are looking for alternatives. Offsetting was something that worked a while back but now it has a negative undertone. If you want to buy credits, you don't know where they have come from. That is why it is so controversial," Ekin said.
GROWING UP
Offsetting companies defend their business models by saying they have introduced new trade bodies and standards, some of which include tracking systems so that buyers know exactly where, how and when the emissions cuts were made.
The industry got a bad press from projects that sold emissions reductions from planting trees -- which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow -- as it was selling emissions cuts now, which may not happen for decades as the trees reach maturity.
"The smaller (forestry) firms really only made up 2-5 percent of the market," said Edward Hanrahan, executive director at JPMorgan ClimateCare .
"There were several hundred of them existing as cottage industries, and while some came in with good intent, that wasn't always backed up with the knowledge necessary to ensure the quality of projects and real emissions reductions," he said.
One bonus of the voluntary market is that it is cheaper than funding emissions cuts in regulated carbon markets, such as the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) and under the Kyoto Protocol.
These are more expensive because the resulting offsets draw extra demand from big corporates, which can use them to comply with greenhouse gas emissions targets under regulated Kyoto and EU caps.
For example, carbon emissions permits accepted under a U.N.-led scheme under the Kyoto Protocol cost around 19 euros ($26.33) per tonne, compared with a $6.3 per tonne for voluntary permits in mid-2008, according to New Carbon Finance.
In addition, the regulated, U.N.-run market charges approval fees that smaller and perhaps more socially beneficial projects, notably in Africa, cannot afford -- pushing them into the voluntary market.
"If I had 24 euros to spend, I would want 2.5 tonnes of real reductions to be made, not one Phase II EUA," said Hanrahan, referring to more expensive EU allowances under the EU emissions trading scheme. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Gerard Wynn and Anthony Barker)
ERA Carbon Offsets Product Update
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 3, 2008) - ERA Carbon Offsets Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:ESR) ("the Company") - Over the past four years, ERA has successfully developed and sold carbon offsets generated through its Community Ecosystem Restoration Projects in the Lower Fraser Valley. These offsets have been sold to a range of companies and organizations, large (e.g. Shell) and small (The Steve Nash Event organizers). ERA continues to develop this EcoNeutral® product, for existing and future customers in the voluntary market.
In addition, and in response to the quickly evolving international carbon marketplace, ERA is developing a unique product that bundles forest-conservation based offsets, or "REDDs", with the restoration-based carbon offsets. REDDs refer to "reduced emissions from deforestation and land degradation". This "hybrid" product is unique to the carbon marketplace and indicates very favourable economics, given the ongoing annual income stream from REDD offset sales, which are augmented annually with reforestation offset revenues that grow each year.
REDD projects and carbon products represent a growing focus for carbon brokers, funds, and re-sellers, as international environmental and humanitarian organizations demonstrate growing support for forest conservation-based carbon offsets.
This market development was clearly demonstrated at an "Avoided Deforestation Partners" event held at the Yale Club in New York city on September 22, 2008, where Nobel Laureates Al Gore and Wangari Maathai, as well as Carter Roberts, the president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund, publicly stated their support for such programming with respect to developing U.S. climate legislation. Mr. Roberts' comments, which essentially reverse the positions of green organizations attending the Conference of Parties in Kyoto in 1997, were supported by senior representatives of a broad range of environmental and humanitarian organizations, as well as the Union of Concerned Scientists, and ERA representatives who were invited to participate.
Mr. Gore's comments were echoed by a "call to action", recognizing that "emissions from deforestation are doing more to deepen the climate crisis than all of the world's cars, trucks, planes, and ships combined."
ERA is currently investigating and developing potential REDD opportunities with governments and other landowners in Canada, South America, Africa, and Hawaii. At the same time, ERA's EcoNeutral® carbon offset programming and marketing will continue to address current and anticipated demands in the voluntary markets.
ON BEHALF OF ERA CARBON OFFSETS LTD.:
Robert Falls, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
ERA Ecosystem Restoration Associates Inc.
ERA is a Canadian based pioneer in forest-based carbon offset programs and project development. Through these initiatives, ERA produces significant, measurable carbon sequestration benefits that are validated and verified to world standard and sold to purchasers interested in offsetting their greenhouse gas footprints as a means of mitigating the effects of climate change. ERA is producing EcoNeutral® offsets from the company's "Community Ecosystem Restoration Program" in the Lower Fraser Valley, near Vancouver, British Columbia. The project began in February of 2006 with the signing of an Agreement between ERA and the District of Maple Ridge. To date, ERA has generated over 500,000 tonnes of validated and verified EcoNeutral® carbon offsets from the ecosystem restoration project to supply the voluntary carbon offset market. ERA clients include; Rolling Stone Magazine, Shell Canada Ltd, and The Globe Foundation.
"This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements."
"The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."
In addition, and in response to the quickly evolving international carbon marketplace, ERA is developing a unique product that bundles forest-conservation based offsets, or "REDDs", with the restoration-based carbon offsets. REDDs refer to "reduced emissions from deforestation and land degradation". This "hybrid" product is unique to the carbon marketplace and indicates very favourable economics, given the ongoing annual income stream from REDD offset sales, which are augmented annually with reforestation offset revenues that grow each year.
REDD projects and carbon products represent a growing focus for carbon brokers, funds, and re-sellers, as international environmental and humanitarian organizations demonstrate growing support for forest conservation-based carbon offsets.
This market development was clearly demonstrated at an "Avoided Deforestation Partners" event held at the Yale Club in New York city on September 22, 2008, where Nobel Laureates Al Gore and Wangari Maathai, as well as Carter Roberts, the president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund, publicly stated their support for such programming with respect to developing U.S. climate legislation. Mr. Roberts' comments, which essentially reverse the positions of green organizations attending the Conference of Parties in Kyoto in 1997, were supported by senior representatives of a broad range of environmental and humanitarian organizations, as well as the Union of Concerned Scientists, and ERA representatives who were invited to participate.
Mr. Gore's comments were echoed by a "call to action", recognizing that "emissions from deforestation are doing more to deepen the climate crisis than all of the world's cars, trucks, planes, and ships combined."
ERA is currently investigating and developing potential REDD opportunities with governments and other landowners in Canada, South America, Africa, and Hawaii. At the same time, ERA's EcoNeutral® carbon offset programming and marketing will continue to address current and anticipated demands in the voluntary markets.
ON BEHALF OF ERA CARBON OFFSETS LTD.:
Robert Falls, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
ERA Ecosystem Restoration Associates Inc.
ERA is a Canadian based pioneer in forest-based carbon offset programs and project development. Through these initiatives, ERA produces significant, measurable carbon sequestration benefits that are validated and verified to world standard and sold to purchasers interested in offsetting their greenhouse gas footprints as a means of mitigating the effects of climate change. ERA is producing EcoNeutral® offsets from the company's "Community Ecosystem Restoration Program" in the Lower Fraser Valley, near Vancouver, British Columbia. The project began in February of 2006 with the signing of an Agreement between ERA and the District of Maple Ridge. To date, ERA has generated over 500,000 tonnes of validated and verified EcoNeutral® carbon offsets from the ecosystem restoration project to supply the voluntary carbon offset market. ERA clients include; Rolling Stone Magazine, Shell Canada Ltd, and The Globe Foundation.
"This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements."
"The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."
Friday, October 3, 2008
Singapore's first zero-energy building to be ready in 2009
SINGAPORE : Singapore will construct its first zero-energy building (ZEB) at Braddell Road to promote green technology.
S$10 million will be spent to retrofit an existing facility to incorporate some of the latest energy-efficient inventions.
It's being hailed as the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) flagship R&D project under its Green Building Masterplan.
The building is able to generate as much electricity as it consumes through renewable energy. This works out to a net energy consumption of zero over a typical year.
The BCA said the 3,000-sq metre building is expected to be 60 percent more energy efficient than conventional buildings.
BCA added that most of the zero-energy buildings in the world are built from scratch, but the one to be constructed at the BCA Academy will be the first in the region to be retrofitted from an existing building built in 1994. The number of solar panels to be installed around the facility will also be the largest in Southeast Asia.
The solar cells called photovoltaic cells on the roof and facade of the building will convert light into enough electricity in a day to power 32 five-room flats. This will be used to power artificial lights, office equipment and air-conditioning.
The solar panels which constitute about 15% of the building cost will be funded by the Economic Development Board (EDB).
Because 60 percent of utility bills usually goes into air-conditioning, the BCA is working with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to develop ventilation strategies to lower energy consumption.
A new local invention - a Single Coil Twin Fan ventilation system - will help regulate the flow of fresh and recycled air, according to demand, throughout the building. Fresh air, which requires more energy to chill compared to recycled air, will only be channelled to rooms that are occupied.
Another innovation that will be tried is the Personalised Ventilation system.
Sensors will detect the presence of users and it will direct fresh air to their breathing zones. Recycled air will be used for ambient cooling.
For rooms that are not air-conditioned, solar chimneys will be built to draw warm air from within. The convection of air will pull cooler air from ducts and will improve natural ventilation by 11 times the rate of air replacement.
All in, these technologies will help to cut operating cost.
"There are two main components. One is the savings from energy efficiency gains and we are expecting a savings of $48,000 per annum. As for the energy from the solar panels, at current tariffs, we are talking about $36,000 per year," said Ang Kian Seng, Deputy Director, Research & Innovation Department, BCA
BCA expects to put up the various projects for open tender in the first quarter of next year.
Experts said the cost of constructing a zero-energy building will be 10 percent more than a typical office building. And it could take up to 12 years to recover the additional cost.
Associate Professor Lee Siew Eang from the Department of Building at NUS said: "It's always a risk for the developer to look into the use of very new technology which are energy efficient. We need to have a facility like this where we can test bed such technology.
"Once the risks and problems are resolved and demonstrated to be working over a period of time, developers would be happy and much more likely to undertake such kind of venture."
Construction of the energy-efficient building is expected to be completed in 2009.
Apart from hardware, BCA also wants to ramp up efforts in industry training.
It has already started courses for Green Mark Managers and Professionals and will roll out a new three-year diploma programme in Mechanical Engineering that's geared towards Green Building Technology next July.
Also to be introduced is the National Building Qualification - a new certificate level framework which allows working adults to upgrade their skills. - CNA /ls
S$10 million will be spent to retrofit an existing facility to incorporate some of the latest energy-efficient inventions.
It's being hailed as the Building and Construction Authority's (BCA) flagship R&D project under its Green Building Masterplan.
The building is able to generate as much electricity as it consumes through renewable energy. This works out to a net energy consumption of zero over a typical year.
The BCA said the 3,000-sq metre building is expected to be 60 percent more energy efficient than conventional buildings.
BCA added that most of the zero-energy buildings in the world are built from scratch, but the one to be constructed at the BCA Academy will be the first in the region to be retrofitted from an existing building built in 1994. The number of solar panels to be installed around the facility will also be the largest in Southeast Asia.
The solar cells called photovoltaic cells on the roof and facade of the building will convert light into enough electricity in a day to power 32 five-room flats. This will be used to power artificial lights, office equipment and air-conditioning.
The solar panels which constitute about 15% of the building cost will be funded by the Economic Development Board (EDB).
Because 60 percent of utility bills usually goes into air-conditioning, the BCA is working with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to develop ventilation strategies to lower energy consumption.
A new local invention - a Single Coil Twin Fan ventilation system - will help regulate the flow of fresh and recycled air, according to demand, throughout the building. Fresh air, which requires more energy to chill compared to recycled air, will only be channelled to rooms that are occupied.
Another innovation that will be tried is the Personalised Ventilation system.
Sensors will detect the presence of users and it will direct fresh air to their breathing zones. Recycled air will be used for ambient cooling.
For rooms that are not air-conditioned, solar chimneys will be built to draw warm air from within. The convection of air will pull cooler air from ducts and will improve natural ventilation by 11 times the rate of air replacement.
All in, these technologies will help to cut operating cost.
"There are two main components. One is the savings from energy efficiency gains and we are expecting a savings of $48,000 per annum. As for the energy from the solar panels, at current tariffs, we are talking about $36,000 per year," said Ang Kian Seng, Deputy Director, Research & Innovation Department, BCA
BCA expects to put up the various projects for open tender in the first quarter of next year.
Experts said the cost of constructing a zero-energy building will be 10 percent more than a typical office building. And it could take up to 12 years to recover the additional cost.
Associate Professor Lee Siew Eang from the Department of Building at NUS said: "It's always a risk for the developer to look into the use of very new technology which are energy efficient. We need to have a facility like this where we can test bed such technology.
"Once the risks and problems are resolved and demonstrated to be working over a period of time, developers would be happy and much more likely to undertake such kind of venture."
Construction of the energy-efficient building is expected to be completed in 2009.
Apart from hardware, BCA also wants to ramp up efforts in industry training.
It has already started courses for Green Mark Managers and Professionals and will roll out a new three-year diploma programme in Mechanical Engineering that's geared towards Green Building Technology next July.
Also to be introduced is the National Building Qualification - a new certificate level framework which allows working adults to upgrade their skills. - CNA /ls
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
