Comments on: Lowering the Cost of Carbon Footprinting http://greenresearch.com/2009/10/22/lowering-the-cost-of-carbon-footprinting/ Understanding energy, clean technology and sustainability Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:29:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: David Schatsky http://greenresearch.com/2009/10/22/lowering-the-cost-of-carbon-footprinting/#comment-192 David Schatsky Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:25:51 +0000 http://greenresearch.com/?p=288#comment-192 Phil, great point about the purpose of the number. I've seen organizations set up programs to gather and report on business metrics only to discover that the numbers they were gathering were not "actionable." Good measurement programs have implications. I will note, though, that if regulations on carbon emissions take hold, markets for carbon continue to develop and carbon prices rise, even knowing the number will have some value, as companies will need to be able to report it accurately for compliance and to participate in emissions trading programs. Phil, great point about the purpose of the number. I’ve seen organizations set up programs to gather and report on business metrics only to discover that the numbers they were gathering were not “actionable.” Good measurement programs have implications.

I will note, though, that if regulations on carbon emissions take hold, markets for carbon continue to develop and carbon prices rise, even knowing the number will have some value, as companies will need to be able to report it accurately for compliance and to participate in emissions trading programs.

]]> By: Phil Coy http://greenresearch.com/2009/10/22/lowering-the-cost-of-carbon-footprinting/#comment-189 Phil Coy Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:06:41 +0000 http://greenresearch.com/?p=288#comment-189 I completely agree that there's a lot of painstaking work involved to get data at the product and process level from which to calculate a carbon footprint. The majority of service providers seem oriented to take either a financial view ("Send us your classified financial transactions and we'll apply the factors.") or require a company to collect all the data themselves and summarize it first ("Send us your numbers and we'll apply the factors."). Frankly, the hard work is to get down to the process level which is where the fuel is combusted or the electricity is used. The detailed focus on process of lean manufacturing is an excellent complement to a green initiative. See EPA's "Lean and Environment" or "Lean and Energy" toolkits at www.epa.gov/lean Working from the process level to capture the details of energy use is the only way to change energy use - by changes at the source. Other methods may produce an overall carbon footprint but don't provide any insight into where and how to make reductions. The point of a carbon footprint isn't to get to a number but to change the number. Phil I completely agree that there’s a lot of painstaking work involved to get data at the product and process level from which to calculate a carbon footprint. The majority of service providers seem oriented to take either a financial view (“Send us your classified financial transactions and we’ll apply the factors.”) or require a company to collect all the data themselves and summarize it first (“Send us your numbers and we’ll apply the factors.”). Frankly, the hard work is to get down to the process level which is where the fuel is combusted or the electricity is used. The detailed focus on process of lean manufacturing is an excellent complement to a green initiative. See EPA’s “Lean and Environment” or “Lean and Energy” toolkits at http://www.epa.gov/lean

Working from the process level to capture the details of energy use is the only way to change energy use – by changes at the source. Other methods may produce an overall carbon footprint but don’t provide any insight into where and how to make reductions. The point of a carbon footprint isn’t to get to a number but to change the number.

Phil

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