Carbon Neutral Action

Transcription

1 Carbon Neutral Action 18 May, 2011 ENERGY MANAGER: BRIAN KINGSLEY FACILITIES DEPARTMENT

2 WHY? BILL GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION TARGETS ACT What the Government and Public Sector Organizations (PSO s) have to do to meet the provincial targets set in the bill which are to reduce carbon emissions 33% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 In short the bill requires that a PSO must: Pursue actions to minimize GHG emissions (energy management) Determine remaining GHG emissions for each year (using SMARTTool) Purchase offsets to net those emissions to zero (from Pacific Carbon Trust) Report on what we have & are doing to minimize (Carbon Neutral Action Report) First: Understand the Science..

3 CARBON CYCLE

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5 WHAT ARE THESE GASES AND WHERE DO THEY COME FROM? Common Gases are: Water Vapor - from evaporation Ozone naturally occurring Carbon Dioxide part of the natural carbon cycle between air, land and water Methane anaerobic decomposition of organic matter & combustion of fossil fuels Nitrous Oxide combustion of fossil fuels Chloroflurocarbons man made for the primary use as a refrigerant

6 WHAT EFFECT DOES EACH GAS HAVE? Each GHG traps the sun s energy in varying amounts. The unit of measure is the Global Warming Potential expressed in metric tones of CO2 equivalent (mtco2e) on gases humans can control GHG GWP (mtco2e) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 1 Methane (CH4) 12 Nitrous Oxide (N2O) 114 Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC 23) past use 270 Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC 134a) present use 14 Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) 3,200 Carbon Dioxide as the base = 1

7 WHAT IS CARBON FOOTPRINT? The amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by any given entity burning a fossil fuel. The common unit of measure is Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

8 WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL? It is to take out of the atmosphere as much GHG s as we put in Or To have zero carbon emissions Comment since both options are, and always will be, virtually impossible with our present infrastructure of buildings and operations we look at NET zero carbon emissions which is: Reduce carbon emissions as much as we can Purchase Carbon Offsets for what we cannot (our Carbon Footprint) WHAT THEN IS A CARBON OFFSET?

9 CARBON OFFSET IS A reduction in GHG emissions that organizations can use to counter their own emissions or simply put.. A commodity that can be purchased to cancel the remaining GHG s we produce after all possible reduction PURCHASE OFFSETS FROM? Purchase from other organizations that sequester (store) GHG s extracted from the atmosphere. Sequestration - (the storage of carbon dioxide in a solid material through biological or physical processes) PSO s can choose to make purchases through the Pacific Carbon Trust For information on the PCT go to:

10 SD68 CARBON OFFSET COSTS The first year for offset purchasing was 2010 SD68 s Carbon Footprint was calculated at 3, tco2e At 25/mtCO2e (year 2010 rate) The amount of SD68 s purchase last year was $100,254 (HST & rebate incl) Future Rates $30 - $35/mtCO2e by 2012? (not yet confirmed)

11 HOW ARE OUR CARBON OFFSETS CALCULATED PSO s required to purchase and use software called SMARTTool which was developed by Shared Services BC at the district s cost of $0.86/student/year SMARTTool is used to determine SD68 s: Total amount of Carbon Offsets to be purchased Total Carbon Tax Rebate (more on this later) The fuels we are required to report: Buildings (Electricity/Natural Gas/Heating Oil/Propane) Fleet Buses & Vehicles (Reg. Gas/Diesel & B5 Diesel/Propane) Paper (All sizes) CFC s (All types) (Offsets for bus fuel are presently exempt)

12 Report on our GHG reduction activities Annually by using the Carbon Neutral Action Report (CNAR) supplied by the ministry Highlights all the actions SD68 have and are doing to reduce our carbon footprint Reports are finalized and published June of the following year Year 2009 was the first year for reporting (available online) Year 2010 report submitted (available online in June 2011) On the Climate Action Secretariat website

13 CARBON TAX (at the pump) Carbon Tax applies to the purchase or use of fossil fuels within the province Tax amount is different for each fuel as it is based on the amount of carbon in each fuel Introduced in 2008 initially set at $10/mtCO2e Currently at $20/mtCO2e and $30/mtCO2e by 2012 PSO s get full refund at end of each year Rates and Use of the tax can be found at Ministry of Finance website:

14 Questions???