Report finds lack of efficiency efforts in the office (Image: www.siliconvalleypower.com)

According to research by the United Kingdom (UK) sustainable business expert team Envirowise, individuals committed to cutting waste at home are not cognizant of conservation at work. The survey of more than 1,800 UK office workers found that a third took no action to reduce the amount of resources they use during the work day.

Envirowise is urging Britain’s bosses to disclose gas, electricity, water and recycling bills to employees in order to encourage them to take more responsibility for reducing company resource consumption and lessen their environmental impact.

Envirowise suggests several ways to minimize waste and reduce energy consumption in the workplace, including appointing a ‘champion’ to lead waste reduction initiatives, urging employees to switch off lights and computers at the end of the work day, installing self-closing taps to conserve water and reducing water usage through rainwater harvesting.

“With the credit crunch continuing to bite, cutting costs through better resource efficiency and minimizing waste have never been more important. Those businesses that make positive changes to reduce their environmental impact and reduce costs now will be better equipped to survive and thrive during the current downturn,” said Envirowise marketing director, Mary Leonard.

• Read background: “Sharing Utility Bills With Employees Encourages Waste Reduction,” (Environmental Leader, 11/7/08)
• Related: “Energy Efficiency on the Road: New Technology in Hotels Has Guests Aware of Energy Use, Changing Behavior” (Power Plug, 11/16/07)
• Find tips for saving energy around the office

IT systems currently account for about 2% of global GHG emissions (Photo: Flickr)

According to a new McKinsey & Company analysis, the energy required to power all of the world’s computers, data storage, and communications networks is expected to double by 2020. The rise in emissions is mainly due to greater Internet use in China and India, where coal-fired power plants generate most of the countries’ energy. China accounted for 23% of global emissions related to information technology (IT) last year. North America’s office technology caused a quarter of the world’s IT related emissions in 2002, but China is now the world leader in both overall greenhouse gas emissions and emissions from IT. Worldwide, IT systems’ emissions were equivalent to the annual CO₂ emissions from more than a half-billion automobiles.

China and the world’s emerging economies, including India, Brazil and Indonesia, are expected to increase their IT emissions 9% annually. According to the McKinsey study, the world’s 30.3 million servers and other IT systems now account for about 2% of global emissions, and by 2020, IT would be the cause of 1.54 gigatons (billion tons) of greenhouse gases, or 3% of global emissions. If these calculations are accurate, the carbon footprint of IT would be comparable to that from aviation.

According to McKinsey, however, various mitigation strategies could help to eliminate 7.8 metric gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually by 2020 - equivalent to 15% of global emissions today and five times more than McKinsey’s estimate for emissions from these technologies in 2020. Potential improvements include increased server consolidation, advanced data center cooling systems and software that cut servers’ energy use when demand is low. The McKinsey study also noted that “Smart controls” - sensors that monitor and help avoid unnecessary electricity usage - can help to curb emissions.

• Read background: “Office-Related Carbon Emissions Surge,” by Ben Block, Worldwatch.org (10/31/08)
• Related: “Google Plans Water-Based Data Centers” (Power Plug, 10/9/08)
• Related: “Percentage of Large Companies Planning to Modify Data Centers in Response to Rising Energy Costs” (e-Newswire, 9/17/08)

The Climate Group, together with Arup, has released their report, “The Business Guide to the Low Carbon Economy: California.” The report provides resources, tools, and step-by-step guidance to help businesses quickly and effectively save energy and develop a carbon-reduction strategy.

Download “The Business Guide to the Low Carbon Economy: California” (PDF, 2.2 MB)

(Photo:Flickr)

The Great Lakes of Canada and the U.S. boast growing interest in developing offshore wind farms on their waters. Smaller waves and the absence of corrosive saltwater make the Great Lakes an attractive alternative to ocean developments along the East Coast. Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario are the largest string of freshwater bodies in the world, and the area could support its own offshore industry of manufacturing plants for turbines, installation boats and thousands of windmill parts where traditional industries are dying.

Michigan State University recently released a report concluding that Michigan’s offshore potential is 20 times that of its onshore wind capacity. The University says winds over lakes Michigan, Superior and Huron could spin up to 99,000 turbines and generate as much as 322,000 MW.

Likewise, Cleveland has conducted a feasibility study related to a proposed farm with two to 20 turbines on Lake Erie. The emphasis there is on manufacturing jobs created by erecting such a farm. Ohio wants to supply forests of turbines throughout the lakes with parts and service.

In Toronto, Trillium Power Energy Corp. is planning a wind farm for Lake Ontario, with about 140 turbines able to generate 700 megawatts (MW) of electricity – enough to power 200,000 homes. A shortage of barges is a barrier to entry, so Trillium plans to build its own installation barge. John Kourtoff, Trillium’s president and CEO, said construction could begin in two years.

• Read more: “Freshwater wind farms are making waves,” (Earthportal.org, 11/7/ 08)
• Related: “Another Record Year for Wind Power in the U.S.,” (e-Newswire, 11/5/08)

The Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) is predicted to increase California’s gross state product by $76 billion and household incomes by $48 billion. (Source: University of California, Berkeley, via GreenBiz)

(Photo: Flickr)

The Sierra Club recently won a huge legal victory in the Bonanza coal plant permitting case (PDF, 701 KB) at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board. The ruling stated that because a previous Supreme Court ruling, Mass. v EPA, said carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, new coal-fired power plants must implement “Best Available Control Technology” (BACT) for CO₂. It appears that this decision will stop all new coal plant permitting for at least a year as President-elect Obama’s EPA decides what BACT means for CO₂. In the meantime, 30 permits for new coal-fired power plants in the seven states directly regulated by the EPA, plus projects on all Indian Reservations will immediately die because of this ruling. Other states that do their own permitting will have to start their permitting processes over from scratch.

BACT for CO₂ is unlikely to mean carbon capture and storage yet, since it is not readily available, but it will probably mean some combination of co-generation, efficiency improvements, and fuel switching or co-firing with biomass.

The ruling seems to make investment in coal less desirable and it could bring to light issues like mountain top removal and cause the public to question the coal industry’s avid claims that it is a clean technology.

• Read background: “Huge Legal Ruling Blocks All U.S. Coal Development” (Cleanenergy.org, 11/13/08)
• Related: “Nevada Coal Power More Costly Than Renewable Power, Study Finds” (Power Plug, 1/16/08)

Power plants use as much water as crop irrigation in the U.S. (Photo: Flickr)

Currently around 50 power plants across the country are using treated wastewater for cooling, according to a study by Argonne National Laboratory. The quantity of water going into power plants is roughly the same as that being used to irrigate crops, and according to John Veil, the report’s author, while some of the water is returned to its original source after it is used in cooling, withdrawing such large quantities can still be a problem, especially in times of drought.

Examples of plants using wastewater include a natural gas plant near Austin, Texas, the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona and a few power plants in the Washington D.C. area.

Jim McDonald, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service, which operates the Palo Verde plant, believes Palo Verde is the only nuclear plant in the country to reuse treated wastewater, which it has done since opening in 1986. According to McDonald, the wastewater, which comes from Arizona’s biggest cities, is piped in and treated again at the plant.

Veil says that the question of cost is site-specific and is based on how much treatment the wastewater treatment plant already provides, how much additional treatment is required to meet the power plant’s needs, and how far the reclaimed water must be piped, since pumping water uses large amounts of electricity.

• Download the report: “Use of Reclaimed Water for Power Plant Cooling,” (PDF, 960 KB)
• Read background: “Treated Wastewater for Thirsty Power Plants” (New York Times, 11/4/08)

Sears recently launched their new home energy audit service, the Sears Blue Climate Crew, to help customers in Orange County and Los Angeles increase the safety, efficiency, and comfort of their homes. The comprehensive service includes a professional energy audit; estimated energy savings from any improvements; delivery, installation, and tune-ups of energy-saving products; and a post-installation test to measure the effectiveness of the improvements. The entire cost of the audit is credited towards qualifying home improvement purchases at Sears, and customers also receive a coupon book with discounts for purchasing new Sears Energy Star appliances.

During the audit, the Climate Crew works to assess the efficiency and performance of existing heating and cooling equipment and establishes whether it is cost effective to upgrade to a newer, more efficient system. The Crew identifies air leaks and determines the amount of energy consumed through lighting and other electronics to help homeowners pinpoint simple ways to save on their energy bills. The audit also includes safety checks for back-drafting, carbon monoxide and natural gas leaks, and other heating and cooling combustion safety issues. Homeowners can schedule an audit with the Sears Blue Climate Crew by calling (877) 587-1621 or by visiting the website.

• Learn more about Sears Blue Climate Crew home energy audit
• Learn more about home energy audits

New York City is currently one of the most light-polluted cities, according to the International Dark-Sky Association (Photo: Flickr)

Motion sensors, dimmers, lighting timers and more efficient lighting are New York City’s latest answer to rising energy costs and concerns about climate change. New York City is currently one of the country’s most light-polluted cities, according to the International Dark-Sky Association, but that may be changing soon. The New York State Assembly passed legislation in June requiring that new outdoor lighting have shields that reduce glare and waste. City Councilman Alan J. Gerson has introduced a variety of similar measures, and the first of the proposals could be taken up as early as this month.

The commercial and residential sectors have been taking action as well, with companies like Incisive Media and The Associated Press using strategies such as dividing floors into zones for overhead lighting so that not all of the space has to be lit or dark at a given time. Similarly, landlords have found that implementing more energy efficient technologies in their buildings is a selling point with tenants, especially those that pay their own electricity bills, and many tenants are installing more efficient lights themselves. Additionally, the cost of efficient lighting technology - motion sensors, timers, LEDs, halogens, and compact fluorescent bulbs - is falling, and in some cases, it now only takes two years to recoup the investment. Of particular help are rebates from state agencies and utilities aiming to reduce consumption in order to relieve stress on the electric grid and avoid construction of expensive power plants.

Other cities have been looking at the issue of waste in lighting as well. San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin recently proposed a law that would force businesses in the city’s downtown skyscrapers to turn off unnecessary lights at night.

• Read more: “Efficiency’s Mark: City Glitters a Little Less,” by Ken Belson, New York Times (11/2/08)
• Related: “San Francisco Supervisor Proposes Fines for Energy Waste in Downtown Skyscrapers” (e-Newswire, 4/2/08)
• Related: “Turn the Lights Out on Global Warming During Earth Hour 2008 This Saturday, March 29,” (e-Newswire, 3/27/08)