Carbon River

New article by Prof. Suh: Replacing Gasoline with Corn Ethanol Results in Significant Environmental Problem-Shifting

Dan Girdler — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:07:15 +0000

Previous studies on the life-cycle environmental impacts of corn ethanol and gasoline focused almost exclusively on energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and largely overlooked the influence of regional differences in agricultural practices. This study compares the environmental impact of gasoline and E85 taking into consideration 12 different environmental impacts and regional differences among 19 corn-growing states. Results show that E85 does not outperform gasoline when a wide spectrum of impacts is considered. If the impacts are aggregated using weights developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), overall, E85 generates approximately 6% to 108% (23% on average) greater impact compared with gasoline, depending on where corn is produced, primarily because corn production induces significant eutrophication impacts and requires intensive irrigation. If GHG emissions from the indirect land use changes are considered, the differences increase to between 16% and 118% (33% on average). Our study indicates that replacing gasoline with corn ethanol may only result in shifting the net environmental impacts primarily toward increased eutrophication and greater water scarcity. These results suggest that the environmental criteria used in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) be re-evaluated to include additional categories of environmental impact beyond GHG emissions.

View entire article: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es203641p

Direct + Indirect RAF GHG Footprint

Dan Girdler — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:47:18 +0000

“CarbonRiver has been able to demonstrate via the use of its hybrid measurement approach that the RAF cadets can easily account for, and subsequently manage the complete carbon footprint of a highly distributed organisation — and we have already seen how measuring carbon in this way pays off in regard to wider areas of business cost and management”.
– Greg Blezard, RAF Cadets Board

The initial pilot project for the RAF cadets was designed to prove that a hybrid approach (based on CEDA and utilising the CarbonEngine) could deliver the measurement and analysis of the complete (scope 1,2 and 3) GHG footprint of the highly distributed 1000 squadron RAF Cadet organisation.

The RAF Cadet’s de-centralised economic management meant that the Cadet Board had no way to understand or manage emissions or strategically affect efficiency.

CarbonRiver demonstrated that a simple, bespoke tool can be utilised and uploaded by Squadrons which will enable the Cadet Board to not only gain a clear and comprehensive view of the carbon impact of squadron’s individually and as a whole. However, further to this, by virtue of capturing the data necessary for the Hybrid analysis, CarbonRiver also demonstrated a bespoke management dashboard for energy, fuel, flight, equipment, commuting, clothing, and other “off-budget” materials and activities tracking across the 1000 squadrons - demonstrating how measuring carbon pays off in wider areas of business cost and management.

Highly efficient GHG Product footprinting for Aggregate Industries

Dan Girdler — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:49:30 +0000

“Carbon River have demonstrated a breadth of carbon footprinting capability that has helped us to better understand the sensitivities or certain parameters in the manufacturing process” Shamir Ghumra; Head of Sustainability at Aggregate Industries

CarbonRiver applied their GHG protocol-aligned, rapid and innovative GHG footprinting approach — based on CEDA data and utilising the CarbonEngine tool — to deliver fully scoped product GHG footprinting to Aggregate Industries in a fraction of the time required by traditional approaches. CarbonRiver are delighted to have been able to deliver this value and insight to Aggregate Industries, and are currently in discussion for broader works for Aggregate Industries.

New WRI Value Chain (Scope 3) + Product Protocols Published — endorsing CarbonRiver’s Hybrid Approach

Dan Girdler — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:36:26 +0000

On October 4th the WRI + WBCSD launched the new Value Chain (Scope 3) + Product GHG Protocols, both of which endorse the role of Hybrid EIO techniques — the very approach facilitated by CarbonRiver’s internationally market-leading data, expertise and toolset.

The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard allows companies to assess their entire value chain emissions impact and identify the most effective ways to reduce emissions. Often, the majority of total corporate emissions come from scope 3 sources, which means many companies have been missing out on significant opportunities for improvement.

Visit the WRI site

Working 9 to 5 on Climate Change: An Office Guide

Dan Girdler — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:01:54 +0000

Comprehensive Environmental Data Archive (CEDA)

Dan Girdler — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:59:37 +0000

Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment

Dan Girdler — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:52:45 +0000

The structure of life-cycle environmental impact of the U.S. economy Using a multi-regional hybrid framework

Dan Girdler — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:41:41 +0000

Sangwon awarded not 1 — but 2 international prizes!

Dan Girdler — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:28:17 +0000

We’re delighted and proud to announce CarbonRiver’s Sangwon Suh has been awarded BOTH the Wassily Leontief Memorial Prize (for a paper analysing numerous environmental impacts across Scope 1,2 AND 3 for the ENTIRE U.S.A), AND the Sir Richard Stone prize by The International Association for Input-Output Analysis (IIOA). The latter is for author(s) of the best paper published in the last two years in Economic Systems Research — the official journal of the IIOA.

This work further establishes CarbonRiver’s pioneering position, and the fact that both City and Nationwide environmental impact analysis and reporting is both feasible and credible — Delivering powerful insight. Driving previously impossible, quantifiable reduction interventions.

CarbonRiver’s Prof. Suh opens the European Commission’s ‘Green Week’

Dan Girdler — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:38:57 +0000

CarbonRiver’s Chief Scientist, prof. Sangwon Suh opens the European Commissions’s Green Week Conference 2011 ‘Resource efficiency — Using less, living better’ together with Jackie McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency, in the opening session chaired by Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. GreenWeek

The 11th edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy, took place from 24 to 27 May 2011 in Brussels and around Europe. This year’s theme is “Resource Efficiency — Using less, living better”.

Over some 40 sessions, the conference addressed the problem of resource depletion and scarcity, and the challenges and opportunities presented by constraints on resources. The conference also showcased public and private strategies that are promoting a shift towards lower carbon use and a more efficient use of resources.

Green Week offers a unique opportunity for debate and exchanges of experience and best practice. Over the past decade,

The conference has established itself as an unmissable event for anyone involved with protecting Europe’s environment, attracting 1000’s of participants from government, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, academia and the media.