New Technology designed to help building owners worldwide dramatically reduce their energy consumption and costs, improve tenant comfort and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is launched, while a new CSIRO report says wide-scale adoption of low-emission distributed energy could reduce the cost of transitioning to a low-carbon future by as much a A$130 billion by 2050.

BuildingIQ has New Technology to Help Cut Buildings’ Energy Use

 Technology developed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has the potential to help building owners worldwide dramatically reduce their energy consumption and costs, improve tenant comfort and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The BuildingIQ Energy Management System, now being commercialised worldwide under exclusive license by BuildingIQ Pty Ltd, uses sophisticated mathematical algorithms and other advances to actively and continuously optimise a building’s energy management control systems to achieve substantial reductions in energy usage.

As a result, BuildingIQ software promises to help cut a building’s operating expenses and improve its official National Australian Built Environment Rating System (“NABERS”) star rating. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced last week that starting next year all buildings over 2000m2 must publicly disclose their energy efficiency whenever they are sold or leased.

The technology is the result of over 15 man-years of work by scientists at CSIRO’s Energy Transformed Flagship in Newcastle.

BuildingIQ is backed by leading Sydney venture capital firm Exto Partners and founded by Michael Zimmerman, a former venture capitalist and technology executive.

BuildingIQ will be launched in Sydney this week with its first installation of the system in partnership with Investa Property Group, one of Australia’s largest owners of commercial real estate and a global leader in innovation and sustainability.

BuildingIQ CEO Michael Zimmerman said interest from building owners and property fund managers had been very strong.

“Owners want energy management initiatives with strong near-term ROI (return on investment) profile and limited capital requirements, so our solution is attractive. The potential to increase a building’s NABERS rating when there is such a heightened focus from investors, tenants and the Government on environmental initiatives is adding to the interest” Mr. Zimmerman said.

A trial of BuildingIQ last year at the CSIRO’s 4.5 star rated Newcastle Energy Centre achieved cost and energy savings of up to 30 per cent.

Investa’s General Manager of Sustainability, Safety & Environment Craig Roussac said he was excited about the potential for BuildingIQ to enhance occupant comfort while also delivering environmental benefits and cost savings.

“Investa is always looking for opportunities to collaborate on new technology that delivers value to our investors and tenants. BuildingIQ is unique in its potential to maintain or improve tenant comfort while improving energy efficiency. We are looking forward to seeing the results of this initiative” Mr. Roussac said.

The initial focus for BuildingIQ is heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which consume up to 60% of total energy in commercial buildings. In addition to the building management control system software, BuildingIQ has an add-on called ComfortIQ which allows tenants to provide real-time feedback on comfort levels to the building managers and the BuildingIQ system.

ComfortIQ also broadcasts information to tenants about energy prices and the amount of energy being consumed or saved in their building.

Commercial building energy use background

Commercial buildings are responsible for more than a third of global energy related greenhouse gas emissions and have been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as the largest and most cost effective sector for achieving greenhouse gas reductions.

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co has estimated industrial and building efficiency upgrades could cut US end-use energy demand 17 per cent below 2008 levels by 2020.

The US building sector consumes 40 per cent of the energy used in the country and is responsible for nearly 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. HVAC

In Australia, the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act requires larger energy users and greenhouse gas emitters to report to the Department of Climate Change.

A recent study by Professors at UC Berkeley and Maastricht University showed that green buildings in the US sold for 16% more and had effective rents that were 6% higher than others.

Source: www.thegreenpages.com.au and www.buildingiq.com

Wide-scale adoption of low-emission distributed energy could reduce the cost of transitioning to a low-carbon future by as much a $130 billion by 2050, according to a new report released today by CSIRO.

11 December 2009

The CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship report:Intelligent Grid: A value proposition for wide-scale distributed energy solutions in Australia, outlines the potential contribution distributed energy can make to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and how these benefits can be realised.

Distributed energy is a term used to describe technologies and systems which provide local generation of electrical power, energy efficiency and management of when and how energy is used (demand management).

For example, a distributed energy system could include a solar panel on a home for electricity generation, more efficient heating and cooling systems, or devices that can balance out energy demand and supply to reduce energy infrastructure costs.

The report is the culmination of the Flagship’s three year Intelligent Grid project which examined the social, technological, environmental and economic value of widespread distributed energy use in Australia.

CSIRO project leader Anthony Szatow said the results provided a strong economic and environmental case for wider use of distributed energy in the Australian energy market with enormous benefits for all electricity users in Australia.

“Our modelling results reveal that under emission reduction targets consistent with the Garnaut scenario of global stabilisation at 450ppm atmospheric CO2, the present value cost savings (discounted by seven per cent) associated with wide-scale distributed energy use could be as great as $130 billion by 2050,” Mr Szatow said.

“We also found that water used for electricity generation can be reduced by as much as 75 per cent through a combination of distributed energy technology and large-scale renewables.

“Distributed energy technologies are available now and these low-emission local energy options offer an immediate and cost effective response to climate change.”

The 592-page report identifies important factors that influence the use of distributed energy relevant to key energy stakeholders including; policy makers, regulators, distribution companies, energy retailers, energy consultants, communities, academics and consumers.

CSIRO initiated the National Research Flagships to provide science-based solutions in response to Australia’s major research challenges and opportunities. The 10 Flagships form multidisciplinary teams with industry and the research community to deliver impact and benefits for Australia.

Source: www.csiro.au

Pricing Carbon To Meet Targets 

Reinforcing that a carbon price, through a cap and trade process, appears to have had an impact, new data shows all of the EU-15 members, except Austria, are now on track to exceed their Kyoto obligations. Europe as a whole looks likely slash emissions more than 13% below 1990 levels by 2012, Bradford Plumer reports in The New Republic.

Bradford Plumer in The New Republic:

There’s a fairly basic question about climate policy that gets asked a lot: Can a cap-and-trade program actually cut carbon-dioxide emissions? Set aside the question of cost and the endless debate over whether a mythical carbon tax would be sleeker. Can a cap on carbon actually do what it’s supposed to do?

Right now, the best example of an up-and-running cap-and-trade system is in Europe. And, for years, the continent was seen as a hopeless failure at cutting emissions. But judging by the latest data, the evidence is fairly encouraging that a carbon cap can actually work.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, members of the EU-15 had agreed to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. To get there, the EU set up its Emissions Trading System, which first got underway in 2005. Initially, the program got ensnarled in all sorts of embarrassing mishaps: Regulators gave away way too many pollution permits (so that companies could easily comply with the cap without making any cuts) and utilities were allowed to hike up rates without having to reduce emissions.

The whole plan looked like a total flop. But, by 2007, the kinks were getting smoothed out, and, as a Lehman Brothers analysis concluded , the system “succeeded, and fairly quickly, in imposing a price on carbon.”

That carbon price appears to have had an impact. According to new data from the European Environment Agency (EEA), all of the EU-15 members except Austria are now on track to exceed their Kyoto obligations. In fact, the group as a whole will likely slash emissions more than 13 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. That’s not as ambitious as the 20 percent figure European leaders have been murmuring about, but it beats what Kyoto demanded. So how’d they do it? Here’s the breakdown:

* A 6.9 percent cut in greenhouse-gas emissions from existing policies to cap carbon and promote renewable power and efficiency.

* They’ll get an additional 1.6 percent cut by 2012 if energy policies that are currently planned (like ratcheting down the carbon cap) get carried out.

* A 1 percent cut from better forest management.

* A 1.4 percent cut by financing clean-energy projects in the developing world.

* Another 2.2 percent cut by purchasing excess credits from other Kyoto countries that are below the cap.

Some of this can probably get filed under “creative accounting.” A few EU-15 countries are making tangible strides in cutting emissions—namely France, Germany, Britain, Greece, and Sweden (true, Germany has been helped by East Germany’s post-Soviet industrial collapse, but its policies to promote renewable power, especially feed-in tariffs [4], have made a difference, too).

Yet some EU-15 members are serious laggards, especially Italy and Spain, and they’ll need to buy up excess credits from other Kyoto countries to meet their targets. This would likely be true in a U.S. cap-and-trade system, too—some states would make big cuts, utilities and businesses in others would have to buy up credits to meet the cap. That’s the logic of a trading system.

Overall, though, it’s an encouraging picture. Even if you exclude iffy measures like offsets for developing-world clean-energy projects and tree-planting, the EU-15, on the whole, is still expected to cut emissions 8.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 just through existing and planned energy measures—including the cap-and-trade system.

And the EEA isn’t factoring in the effects of the economic slump. (The recession will no doubt drive emissions down even further, although that can’t really count as a victory for climate policy.)

That said, one thing that’s not so clear from the EEA analysis is the extent to which the cuts are coming from businesses and households inside Europe, and to what extent it’s from manufacturers moving their operations overseas.

The evidence here is mixed: In June, a survey by GHK found that  Europe’s carbon cap was forcing many companies to improve their energy efficiency—finding new ways to make cement, say. But, on the other hand, the Stockholm Environment Institute has estimated that Britain’s CO2 emissions have actually grown 20 percent between 1992 and 2004 when you factor in the growth of imports from China.

It’s a good reminder that a cap-and-trade may be effective domestically, but no single country can stop global warming all by itself.

Source: www.tnr.com

Cementing Lower Emissions on Water & Land

Emitting only water vapour, a new passenger boat powered by hydrogen fuel cells made its debut cruise on Amsterdam’s centuries-old canals, while a new report looking at the cement industry – responsible for 5% of global emissions – says it’s possible to cut emissions 18% by 2050.

Catherine Hornby for Reuters World Environment News (10 December 2009):

AMSTERDAM – Emitting only water vapour and gliding silently through Amsterdam’s centuries-old canals, a canal boat — a popular tourist attraction — powered by fuel cells made its debut cruise on Wednesday.

The “Nemo H2,” which can carry about 87 people, is the first of its kind designed specifically to run on a fuel cell engine, in which hydrogen and oxygen are mixed to create electricity and water, without producing air-polluting gases.

“That’s important in a city like Amsterdam with over 125 canal trips per day,” said project manager Alexander Overdiep.

A boat trip around Amsterdam’s concentric semi-circles of canals is a popular tourist pastime in the Dutch capital.

From spring, visitors will have the option of a ‘CO2 Zero Canal Cruise’, for an extra 50 (euro) cents, which will go toward further research into carbon-reducing technology, said Freek Vermeulen, managing director of Lovers boat company.

The new boat cost more than double to build than a canal boat running on a diesel engine, and needs to visit a hydrogen dispensing station for a refill once a day, while normal boats only need a fuel top-up once a week.

But developers of the 3 million euro project, which was partly government funded, said costs would decline as more boats followed this test phase, and if more advanced hydrogen distribution infrastructure emerged.

Source: www.planetark.org

By ClimateBiz Staff (4 December 2009):

Geneva, Switzerland — A new report looking at the technologies and methods for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the cement industry says it’s possible to cut emissions 18 percent by 2050, but only with the help of carbon capture and storage.

“Cement Technology Roadmap 2009,” published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Energy Agency, lists what the cement industry, which accounts for around 5 percent of human-related CO2 emissions, needs to do to cuts its emissions, and explains what public and financial support will be needed to make that happen.

After an overview of cement production and a list of low-carbon or carbon-negative cements, many of which we recently covered, the report gives a detailed look at what efforts need to be pushed forward to lower cement’s impact: efficiency technologies for new and retrofit kilns, using alternative fuels (natural gas, biofuels, solid waste, discarded tires) instead of coal to heat kilns, substituting materials within cement and utilizing carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The roadmap also notes the limits of each effort; research and development needs and goals; the potential impacts on energy, CO2, cement production and investment needs; and what groups (industry, suppliers, government, universities, research institutes) will need to play what roles to make each effort possible.

While the efforts listed are already being used by some in the cement industry, the roadmap explains they all need to be applied more broadly and aggressively, providing a detailed list of public and financial support needed to advance them.

Some of the limits for CCS are the current high cost of capturing carbon, the need for a political framework to limit carbon leakage and the need to make the public more knowledgeable about CCS.

The roadmap is the first report of its kind on the cement industry and was developed over a year of work by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Cement Sustainability Initiative and the International Energy Agency after ministers at the G8 Summit in June 2008 requested a series of roadmaps that advance innovative energy technologies.

Source: www.greenbiz.com

Greenfest & One Degree Get Global Gong

On the eve of Australia’s Walk Against Warming and with Copenhagen’s Climate Change Summit underway, Brisbane’s Greenfest and News Limited’s One Degree Campaign have been recognised internationally by the United Nations Environment Programme in its special report “The Case for Climate Neutrality”.

Australia has received some very positive recognition from United Nations Environment Programme Director, Achim Steiner and stands to now showcase Australian renewable energy ingenuity on the world’s stage.

In the UNEP presentation of “The Case For Climate Neutrality”, Greenfest, a grassroots festival in Brisbane which attracted 60 000 people to environment causes earlier this year,  was recognised alongside Live Earth, as examples of positive cultural change helping to accelerate preferences towards a cooler planet.   

Greenfest Founder Colman Ridge said:

 “Greenfest is an action for cooler planet culture and next year we will launch the world’s first solar stage hosting the world’s biggest acts without plugging into the national coal powered grid.  This will allow us to showcase Australian renewable energy ingenuity to the world on the world’s coolest stage. 

Further to the recognition of cultural innovation down unde, Mr Steiner has invited Mr Ridge to become a founding participant in the new United Nations Music & Environment Initiative saying “the initiative aims to leverage the power of music to address some of the most pressing environmental problems facing the planet.   Festivals and other music events are in a unique position to influence the decisions and opinions of their audiences, inspire them to take a positive action for the environment.”  

On Saturday 12 December the Greenfest team worked with Queensland Conservation Council to organise the successful Walk Against Warming show.

Guest of honour at the Brisbane event was the Regional Director of UNEP for Asia and the Pacific, Dr Yong-Woo Park.

Source: www.greenfest.com.au

From the UNEP publication “The Case for Climate Neutrality”:

The ability to inspire audiences to make long-term changes is at the heart of the rapidly growing Greenfest event in Brisbane, Australia. Originally inspired by the Live Earth concerts of 2007, it is a three-day festival of music and a showcase for practical measures for greater sustainability— in the latest event in June 2009 it attracted 60,000 people.

According to Greenfest’s founder Colman Ridge, “The purpose of Greenfest is to promote a ‘Cooler Planet Culture’. Carbon neutrality is expected of us. Our ability to network our 200 plus exhibitors and a broader network to help each other and others reduce their footprint has become a year-round opportunity for us to assist acceleration of the lower carbon economy.”

Ridge’s advice to other events considering climate neutrality is to avoid building up the production levels to beyond what audiences really want, making up for it afterwards by buying more offsets. “Walk the talk by having the best staging and sound, but keep high energy consumption lighting and effects down to a minimum, and work with innovations to curb the rest; such as LED lighting. Your music festival is an opportunity to demonstrate the change in audience expectations and preferences: bring simple quality and content to life and you will have an outstanding success.”

On the offsets themselves, Greenfest chose an initiative run by the Queensland state government called Ecofund, which aims to regenerate habitats bordering national parks, expanding wilderness areas and creating biodiversity corridors. For Colman Ridge, this link with broader environmental objectives is what Greenfest’s audiences want to see from the offsets they are helping to support.

“Winning the race against climate change will be a hollow victory if we arrive without rich biodiversity and real wilderness on Earth. Let’s not lose sight of conservation priorities for biodiversity in pursuit of carbon neutrality—let’s leverage the race against climate change to fund conservation. This approach will be respected and preferred by your customers, and you can point to specific and meaningful outcomes from your care for a carbon neutral Earth,” says Ridge.

The communications and marketing sector has unique opportunities not just to reduce the footprint of their own businesses, but to use their communication skills to influence many others—clients, employees and the public—to reduce theirs. As the environmental campaigner Sir Jonathan Porritt once put it, the sector has a large climate brainprint.

In 2007, one of Australia’s biggest media groups, News Limited, followed its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in pledging to become climate neutral by 2010.

To help achieve that goal, News Limited launched a programme called One Degree, an initiative to reduce greenhouse gases across the business, and to raise awareness of climate change among the company’s staff and the broader community.

At the heart of the One Degree programme is a tough target for reducing its own emissions—by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2010. This involves preventing 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere—the equivalent of taking 7,500 cars permanently off the road.

News Limited has looked at its operations across Australia from top to bottom, and come up with more than 90 projects to reduce emissions. In some cases, looking at the inefficiencies of a single process can produce a “big hit”. For example, at its Mile End print centre in Adelaide, News Limited found it could prevent more than 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions by reducing leakage of compressed and humidified air.

According to News Limited’s sustainability manager Dr Tony Wilkins, the efficiency gains identified so far have resulted in an annual saving of about 1.5 million Australian dollars. “Climate neutrality should not be seen as a difficult goal, but as a milestone on the longer path to tackling climate change,” Wilkins argues. To complement the One Degree programme, News Limited launched a competition amongst its staff called “How eco would you go?”, offering a Toyota Prius hybrid car to the winner.

The competition aimed to encourage staff to think about ways in which their actions impact climate change, and to make small changes in their day-to-day behaviour both at home and in the workplace to reduce their own footprints.

To enter the competition, staff pledged to undertake 14 days of action to reduce carbon emissions and to inspire others in original and sustainable ways. They could pledge to take action at home, at work and/or in the community. But the actions had to have some positive impact on climate change and had to be something that could be sustained to make a long-term difference.

The competition drew more than 300 pledges from News Limited’s staff, ranging from riding a bicycle to work, to starting a community vegetable garden and sharing laundry loads with flatmates.

“We had people looking at all aspects of their lives—from home, with the family or flatmates, to at work and in the community,” says News Limited’s Chief Executive John Hartigan. “Each person’s circumstance was different, but almost without exception they found that cutting their carbon footprint also saved money, encouraged their personal fitness and, in many cases, gave them back precious time.”

The winner of the competition, printer Carl Winter from Perth, made changes in every aspect of his life. He planted vegetable gardens, installed rainwater tanks, turned off the heat, switched to energy efficient lighting, started composting and making bread, ditched the dishwasher and installed a wind turbine to provide power. The family cut back on their car use and shopped in bulk to save time, travel and packaging.

Source: www.unep.org

Scrooge or Super Green Me for Christmas?

It’s possible to be eco-minded at Christmas without being a scrooge or a killjoy. Ken Hickson says we need to be ready to adapt our behaviour, but we can still enjoy the luxuries of life. We just need to be much more energy-efficient in doing it.Michael Green writes about being eco-smart this silly season in The Sunday Age.

By Michael Green in The Sunday Age (Melbourne)

Have a great tree without the green guilt, writes Michael Green

CHRISTMAS trees may not be the most pressing household sustainability issue, but for many little (and not so little) people, festive decorations are a serious business. So what’s the best option when you’re choosing a tree?

On the plus side for artificial trees, they can be packed up and reused. But their longevity is also a weakness, especially if they’re thrown out before their time is really up. The plastic cannot be recycled, and so, once discarded, they remain in landfill for thousands of years. Also, they are manufactured overseas, transported long distances and arrive decked in layers of packaging.

According to organic gardening expert Lyn Bagnall, plantation trees are a better option. “I love the smell of the pine   it’s part of the Christmas atmosphere,” she says.

There are a number of Christmas tree farms a short distance from Melbourne and a cut tree can be put to good use after the big day has passed. “The pine needles can be recycled in your garden and the wood can be mulched,” she says. If you can’t do it at home, ask your local council how to dispose of green waste. Alternatively, many tree farms will take back used trees.

It’s best to choose trees from plantations that don’t use chemicals, but even where they do, Ms Bagnall is pragmatic. “It’s no worse than buying commercially grown flowers,” she says.

Provided you don’t mind having a small tree, and lugging it indoors every year, growing your own tree in a pot might be the best option of all. “If you buy a potted tree, listen to what the nurseryman says about how to care for it,” Ms Bagnall says. “That way you’ll have it for a good many years. If you’re prepared to look after it, then it’s a lovely alternative.”

Ken Hickson, author of The ABC of Carbon, keeps a Christmas tree in a pot on his balcony. “We decorate it and bring it inside for festive season,” he says. As well, his family reuses their decorations and they make sure they don’t leave the Christmas tree lights flashing around the clock.

Mr Hickson is adamant that it’s possible to be eco-minded at Christmas without being a scrooge or a killjoy. “With climate change, we need to be ready to adapt our behaviour, but we can still enjoy the luxuries of life,” he says. “We just need to be much more energy-efficient in doing it.”

During the silly season, that means giving preference to organic and locally grown produce and being aware of food miles. It need not be more expensive, he argues, especially if you think carefully about how to avoid wastage.

That’s a message that goes for gifts, as well as for food. “By being sensible about the presents we give, we can eliminate a lot of unnecessary plastic packaging and boxes,” Mr Hickson says. Rather than clamouring for more material goods, consider eco-friendly gift ideas, such as donations to charities or planting trees.