Category Archives: Climate Change

Updated Future Energy Trends – Oct. 2020

According to several recent articles, investments in energy have been level at about US $2 trillion per year over the last two decades. However, forecasters believe it will rise soon to at least US $2.7 trillion because of the interest in getting reliable energy to the developing world and the interest in clean energy and the major infrastructure changes that would have to be implemented to achieve this.

Studies and recent efforts indicate that coal-fired utility-sized power plants are still relatively economical because the price of coal has declined a lot recently because so much is available as more is mined globally, yet more coal-fired plants are closing or converting to other fuels. However, the most economical way of developing energy, in terms of capital cost of building a utility plant, availability of the source and conversion of the source to electricity, and long-term O&M costs is wind power, particularly offshore wind, even ahead of solar technology.

Offshore wind technology is becoming more attractive to investors and governments. China and the European Union are moving to install more offshore wind plants. Offshore wind has the highest capacity of any energy technology, about 50% of the energy hitting a wind turbine is converted to electricity, comparable to a gas-fired plant and superior to solar PV panels.

If renewable technologies, such as wind and solar, become more prominent, utility executives understand that this will mean that more upfront investments will be needed for building power plants and the proper infrastructure. These projects tend to be higher cost upfront, but lower costs to maintain and the “fuel” is free. Finding investors for such outlays may be difficult. However, the long-term payoffs could be significant.

CCES has the experts to help you determine whether renewable energy is right for your facility or what your best options are for determining where your electricity and fuels are coming from. We can analyze and provide cost-effective options. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

Can Clean Technology Be Incentivized With Carbon Credits?

How does someone make money on any technology he/she invents? Well, one gets revenues and, hopefully, profits from selling the technology or get royalties and revenue from licensing agreements – a percentage of future sales. These are ways to make money from selling the technology. But if you really believe your technology will be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and will benefit the buyer financially that way, might there be other ways to profit? Some are considering contract provisions that will enable the owner of a patent to also make money on how the technology functions – how many tons of GHG emissions are reduced or how many credits (and revenue) the equipment can create. In other words, include in the contract a provision for future revenue based on potential future environmental benefits or revenue based on these benefits. Law firms are looking into these questions to potentially help their clients generate significant future revenue from the technology’s future value to the buyer. As a longer term benefit, if this principle becomes commonplace it may create significant new incentives for companies and individuals to develop innovations related to climate change – something that is desperately needed.

Can this work in real life in the US? There are issues, such as the fact that in the US there is no agreement for the price of GHGs. There is no national tax or trading program that might set a price or a baseline price. Who would set the price? In the US, one can set a price based on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or California’s AB 32, but these are regional and specific programs. Voluntary carbon markets exist but are not regulated and may breed fear of the carbon market and distrust. Also, how do we keep the price reactive to the times and markets, but relatively stable?

Therefore, we need a national policy to regulate the carbon market and provide a value for GHGs. This will not only allow companies to plan their GHG emission reductions, but also unlock innovation in the climate change industry. The results of the US Presidential election soon will tell whether we move toward these principles or stay in denial of the problem. Not only will an aggressive policy toward reduction in GHG emissions be better for the planet and for industry in most cases, but can unleash innovative and creative technologies to aid us even beyond carbon in the future.

CCES has the experts to help you assess your “carbon footprint” and energy usage and develop cost-effective strategies to reduce your GHG emissions and energy usage to maximize the financial benefits. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.

SEC Commissioner Lee Makes Case For Climate Disclosure

SEC Commissioner Allison Lee has been speaking up about climate change and the need to make communication of climate change and risk factors more transparent to shareholders. Commissioner Lee has written about the need for the SEC to do more to establish specific climate disclosure standards that investors, the consumers of this information, would eventually establish a balance between useful and superfluous information. This has been backed up by many letters and other comments from the investor public, hoping to expand climate disclosures.

However, Commissioner Lee was outvoted and new final rules do not address climate risk communication, ignoring overwhelming investor comment.  The SEC voted to maintain a principles-based disclosure system. Disclosures would be made about climate change only if the topic was material. Investors must trust that each company understands whether issues affect the climate and estimate how greatly. But given the large number of companies that continue to not disclose any information about climate change, can it be assumed that it has no issues on the subject? Commissioner Lee estimates that over 90% of U.S. companies are potentially exposed to material financial impact from climate change. Yet potential investors are not getting that information.

According to Commissioner Lee, much of the private sector accepts climate change and is preparing for a future low-carbon economy given the large potential impact on business by climate change, such as the intensive fire and hurricane seasons. Since this is the future, potential investors need transparent information about businesses’ greenhouse gas emissions and how they are managing climate risks. This can only happen by mandatory public disclosure, which is currently not happening. A secondary benefit of greater public disclosure is this will be a wellspring of information that governments can use to manage their own nation-wide risks. The nation, including companies, must price climate risk accurately to drive investment toward a transition to green energy rather than up and down cycles timed around climate disasters.

CCES can help you determine your greenhouse gas emissions, both direct and indirect and determine cost-saving measures to reduce GHG emissions, which will have added benefits for you. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

 

New Science-Based Targets Initiative Framework for Financial Institutions

The collaborative efforts of environmental disclosure organization CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has developed a new system to determine appropriate carbon reduction targets for different entities. The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) emphasizes the role of engagement with underlying assets to encourage companies to reduce their emissions and ignite climate action in such a way that is beneficial to them as well as the planet.

Nearly 1,000 companies in 50 sectors from coal and gas to pharmaceuticals have pledged to align their carbon reduction plans with the Paris Climate Accords by adopting science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets (SBTs).

A target framework has just been developed for banks and other financial institutions. SBTI has launched its first science-based target framework and validation service for financial institutions. Many of them encourage financial institutions to use what they have the most of – money – to effect a decrease in GHG emissions by, for example, using their large stock offerings to put pressure on heavy GHG emitting companies to reduce emissions permanently.

This has been well received. Dozens of banks worldwide previously declared they would work with SBTI standards, when finalized, to give them a framework to meet climate targets. SBTI uses the power of financial institutions to redirect capital to companies contributing to the clean energy and low-carbon, and away from those companies that adversely contribute to climate change.

Banks and financial institutes must also reduce their own GHG emissions. To be validated as meeting SBTI, Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions of a financial institution must meet an average annual decline at least 2.5%.

CCES has the experts to help you determine your carbon footprint, your greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, direct and indirect and develop cost-effective strategies to reduce these emissions in the future. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or karell@CCESworld.com.

Energy Issues Affecting Data Centers

It is said that there currently are 200,000,000,000 internet of things (IoT) objects in the world today. Probably in a short time, we will think this number is quaint. Or perhaps technology will advance so much that more data can be stored on fewer objects and this number may drop. The amount of computing done in data centers more than quintupled between 2010 and 2018. Most of these devices need to perform computing and storage activities, meaning the need for IT data centers, whether relatively small ones in a company’s office or huge building-size data centers.
While in recent years, we have become dependent on the “cloud”, things are changing. Of course, data is not stored in a literal cloud. The “cloud” is one of a small number of huge data centers that stores yours and other’s data. A recent trend is edge data centers, smaller buildings and structures where computing and storage takes place located usually within only a few miles from where the data is generated.

According to https://energyinnovation.org/2020/03/17/how-much-energy-do-data-centers-really-use/, in 2014, US IT data center electricity usage was split nearly equally between server demand and the need for electricity to supply electricity to such centers and for cooling. As discussed above, physical data centers will only grow substantially in our complex times; thus the need for more electricity.

Electricity Usage

According to several sources, data centers use 1% of all of the world’s electricity consumption. This appears small but given the absence of data centers in many (poorer) parts of the world, this is significant. However, the rate of growth of electricity usage is slowing down due to energy efficiency. The good news is that servers and related equipment are being designed to use less electricity to compute or store data. And such equipment is available if one is replacing data servers or expanding.

Another problem is cooling. Many data centers have their own AC systems with thermostats set for low temperatures to prevent over-heating. In some cases, thermostats are set to keep temperatures of such rooms below 55⁰F. ASHRAE recommends that temperatures of rooms containing servers not be lower than 65°F. And, in fact, ENERGY STAR, the joint EPA/DOE program that evaluates energy usage of common equipment, has recommended servers that can be useful up until 95⁰F or greater. Certainly, one should be careful not to overheat your equipment. But one should look deeper into what that true temperature is. Another idea is not to necessarily cool a server room with an AC, but to use, instead, fans, which use less power, to force hot air away from servers and a stack of servers. Your IT professional should be able to recommend the right conditions for the long-term health of your IT Center.

Reliability

Many data centers feature back-up power systems in case their primary source of electricity is interrupted. Edge data centers, in particular, sometimes placed in urban and suburban areas, may be particularly vulnerable to sudden losses of power. An emergency engine generator to ensure that your data center continues to operate properly is good for the company, but does lead to more stringent emissions and noise requirements, such as particulate and other controls. Make sure the system you choose for backup power is right for your needs.

CCES has the experts to assess the energy usage of your IT or data centers, on or off- your physical location and recommend ways to save significant energy costs. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.

Clean Heat/Cooling Systems: Get Off Natural Gas

Just a few short years ago, natural gas was the way to go. We had to get off “dirty” oil or coal combustion to supply heat or power and switch to “clean” natural gas. After all, gas is cheaper, emits less greenhouse gases (GHGs) and toxic pollutants, is easier to maintain, and results in less wear and tear on equipment than oil or coal. Over the last decade many buildings made the switch to natural gas.

But, as it turned out, that led to problems. Despite plentiful natural gas due to fracking, some parts of the country developed shortages, particularly during cold winter periods. Also, while demand for natural gas grew, the infrastructure to bring gas to customers did not. As usual, infrastructure upgrades are not “sexy” and lag behind short-term growth.

Now, many utilities acknowledge that the necessary upgrades to gas infrastructure are too expensive and will take too long. For some, their coping strategy is to reduce natural gas demand – encourage buildings to get off gas and use other ways to heat.

Examples of other heating and cooling technologies include air source heat pumps (ASHPs), ground source heat pumps (GSHPs, or geothermal heat pumps), and solar hot water (SHW). These are proven technologies that have come down in price and are now incentivized in many places. They offer a number of benefits, including energy cost savings, increased comfort levels, and health benefits compared to gas combustion.

ASHPs provide efficient space heating and cooling to residential and commercial buildings, even in cold climates. An ASHP transfers heat from outside to inside a building, or vice versa, using a refrigerant involving a compressor and a condenser. Heat from outdoor air (even if cool) is absorbed by the refrigerant and released inside for heating. Similarly, heat from indoor air is transferred outdoors for cooling.

GSHPs also provide space heating and cooling, and, in some cases, using an indoor heat pump and a heat exchange ground loop buried underground to transfer heat between the ground and the building. Underground the temperature is normally constant around 51⁰F. That can be a source to cool indoor air in the summer or a source of warmth to bring to a building in the winter. Geology must be considered and space available to access the long piping needed to bring air back and forth from the building to an area below ground. The main energy use is electricity for fans, not a huge expenditure or greenhouse gas creator compared to gas combustion.

SHW collects thermal energy from the Sun to heat water for space heating, domestic hot water, and pool heating. Buildings that do not have sufficient roof space for a solar PV (electric) system may still have enough for SHW. Water is piped into an area below the SHW for heating. Solar air heating systems heat outside air drawn in. Temperature can be raised as much as 100⁰F before being ducted into the building’s HVAC system.

Historically, ASHPs and GSHPs have been quite expensive. Capital costs and O&M for such equipment have come down in recent years. In addition, many states and utilities offer robust monetary incentives to owners that install such systems, as they are trying to reduce their need to upgrade gas infrastructure and meet GHG reduction goals.

Given the challenges of gas and the gains in these technologies, it is worth it for a building owner to examine whether a “clean” technology is financially beneficial.

For those of you in Westchester County, NY considering clean heating & cooling technology, see https://sustainablewestchester.org/hscommercial/.

In Putnam County, NY, contact Bonnie@BrightEnergyServices.com to learn about the equipment and strong incentives.

CCES has the technical experts to help you determine whether you are a good candidate for a clean heating & cooling technology and whether it is financially beneficial to you in the short- and long-term to get rid of natural gas combustion and benefit from these systems. We can help you get the maximum incentives available. Contact us today at Karell@CCESworld.com or 914-584-6720.

How Lights Affect Your Health

This newsletter has had many articles about why your building should switch to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Electricity usage can be cut by 50 to 80% for the same amount of light depending on the original source of light. LEDs can be programmed to meet your needs (intensity, on-off/dimness, color temperature, etc.). And LED lights last much longer than fluorescent and incandescent lights, reducing the effort to replace bulbs or tubes in the ceiling, freeing up the maintenance crew for bigger projects and freeing up space and the number of backup lights in storage. However, with the growing concern about a healthy office environment, how can lights affect staff health and productivity?

There have been hundreds of studies done in the last 40 years showing links between long-term exposure to fluorescent lights and different negative health impacts. The basis of these problems is the quality of light that is emitted.

The theory is that humans have evolved based on light from the Sun. Artificial lights is a recent phenomenon, with the invention of electricity. Before that most light came from the Sun and our eyes and nervous system evolved to best use this source of light. However, with electricity and light bulbs people now have the ability to work at night and in spaces without windows. However, the light coming from an incandescent or fluorescent light is not the same light as that from the Sun.

The main difference is that the Sun exposes us to the full spectrum of visible light (all wavelengths) and many wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. Incandescents give off nearly the full visible spectrum, but not as much as sunlight. Fluorescents give off a limited spectrum. Of course, another difference is timing. Except for clouds (and even then some radiation reaches us), we are exposed to the Sun’s rays only during certain hours daily, which vary during the year. Artificial lights can be turned on at any time.

Many bodily functions depend on day-night cycles called circadian rhythms, developed by the daily rise and fall of the Sun. If one gets insufficient exposure to sunlight or gets exposed to lights at other times, one’s circadian rhythm may be affected which will alter a one’s hormones and body chemistry. Therefore, theoretically, getting less sunlight and more artificial lights can cause migraines, eye strain, sleep issues, depression, suppressed immune system, menstrual cycle disruption, anxiety, obesity, etc.

Besides the spectrum of wavelengths and length of time of exposure, another issue, specific with fluorescent lights is flickering. While such lights appear to be emitting light constantly, that is not true. Fluorescent lights are controlled by a ballast that pulses electricity. Therefore, light flickers. While it may not be detectible, our brains sub-consciously perceive the flicker, which departs from sunlight, contributing to migraines, anxiety, and other conditions.

How do LED lights do in regards to these factors? Fairly well. LED lights can be designed to emit the spectrum of wavelengths that one wants, including the full spectrum. Some manufacturers market LED bulbs that supposedly mimic sunlight’s spectrum. LED lights may flicker, but that is not due to the nature of the bulb (unlike a fluorescent), but due to the ballast feeding power.

A few years ago, the French equivalent to the US FDA issued a warning that intense light from LED bulbs can cause eye damage. However, that has not been corroborated in other studies. Currently, no country regulates LED lights vis-à-vis exposure.

In conclusion, it is best to light your office using sunlight, as much as possible, to mimic its rhythm to correspond to staff’s circadian rhythm. But if that is impossible, it is best to convert from incandescent and fluorescent lights to LEDs to get the full spectrum and minimize flickering.

CCES has the experts to help your facility to design and install the right lights to save you significant electricity costs and to help optimize your staff’s health and productivity and realize the savings and advantages to your business. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

Reports Say COVID-19 Will Dampen Long-Term Energy Demand

The economic and behavioral impacts of COVID-19 will significantly reduce global long-term energy demand, according to several recent reports. The pandemic has already caused a decline in greenhouse gas emissions; 2019 may go down as the year of peak emissions. However, its impact on reaching climate change goals will likely be small.

One report estimated that the current pandemic will reduce the amount of energy required to be used by humanity to be 8% lower by 2050. In addition to this, long-term behavioral changes in people’s travel, commuting, and work habits will likely cause a net decrease in energy usage. In general, these changes may lead to reduced gasoline and jet fuel demand in the transportation sector and reduced fossil fuel demand in the iron/steel industries (excess of commercial building space resulting in less construction).

Together with improvements in energy efficiency and the recent significant decline in coal use, several forecasts predict that global GHG emissions probably peaked in 2019, but may be flat or decline insignificantly 2050. Perhaps more important, we may not be able to prevent the rise in the average global temperature to be maintained below the 2°C rise goal from now. The pandemic may slow the time it takes to raise temperatures another 2°C, but predictions are that we will meet and exceed it around 2050.

CCES has the experts to help you to determine your entity’s energy use and GHG emissions. We can recommend and project manage the technologies and strategies to help you reduce your energy usage and GHG emissions to save significant costs and meet company sustainability goals. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

Reducing Energy Usage of Data Centers

One study estimated that in 2018 global data centers consumed around 200 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy, about 1% of the world’s electricity consumption. This percentage has stayed flat for nearly a decade. While this appears to be a low figure, it still makes data centers a large consumer of energy. Certainly for individual businesses, data centers can contribute a considerable percentage of their electric costs.

Here are several trends concerning energy usage by data centers worldwide.

Improve energy efficiency. Given its growing need and use, any way an operator can use data centers more efficiently will save significant costs and equipment wear and tear. One such focus is IT infrastructure. Converged infrastructure (CI) is building blocks of functionalities physically combined in a turnkey product, including software for more efficient computing and storage and networking functionalities. This makes the data center more compact and functionally efficient, reducing electricity needs. In addition, ENERGY STAR recommends server brands that use less electricity than conventional ones. Simple upgrades like placement of equipment and sharing of information can improve electric efficiency, too.

Energy efficiency of IT systems is often measured by power usage effectiveness (PUE), the ratio of total energy used by a data center to that used by computing equipment. PUE has improved from 2.5 in 2007 to 1.67 in 2019, indicating reduced energy contribution from non-IT areas, such as cooling and lighting in energy consumption. Modern data servers are available that can function well at temperatures up to about 100⁰F, reducing cooling needs. Less energy intensive alternatives to air conditioning, such as using cool ambient air or chilled water from a nearby source can work to cool a center.

Increase in on-site energy generation. Data centers need a reliable grid as their source of electricity. But large centers put stress on the existing local grid infrastructure potentially causing instability, and outpacing grid infrastructure capability. Therefore, more data center operators are using on-site power generation from natural gas generators and fuel cells, known distributed energy resources (DER) or microgrid.

On-site power generation may work as a supplement or back up to the grid or be totally independent. Either way, the operator can plan operations based on needs over time. This goes hand in hand with energy efficiency which can minimize on-site power needs.

Focus on Climate Change Goals. Many companies are focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, reducing energy usage for functions, such as data centers. As a large user of electricity, data center sources of electricity vary, but most are fossil-fuel based.

Therefore, as companies build larger data centers that are often their own facilities, they have the opportunity to directly use renewable energy to power them. For example, Google is building 2 huge data center campuses, in Tennessee and in Alabama, getting about 72% of their power from devoted solar farms, producing as much as 300 MW of power. While ideally all electricity for such a campus should come from solar, data centers need ready electricity 24/7 which is currently not available from solar farms whose output is intermittent based on the sun. Google is looking into energy storage options to be able to use more renewable power. Some facilities alternatively purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) for renewable sources far away.

CCES has the experts to help you evaluate and implement strategies to reduce energy usage of data centers, as well as other functions of your facility. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

What the COVID-19 Pandemic Teaches Us About Climate Change

The world is fighting hard to minimize the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on news reports, some nations have carried out policies that have achieved moderate success, while, in other cases, there has been failure. The crisis can provide us insights for ways to act for the next big global crisis we face: climate change.

The “good” news of the COVID-19 pandemic is that global actions can be implemented quickly when faced with a crisis. Except for a couple of outliers, just about every nation in the world did act, although some were painfully slow. Many nations deserve credit for actions, imperfect as some are, given that there is no “playbook” for handling this crisis. We are learning about the coronavirus “on the fly” and thus, prescriptive remedies (do this and the virus will disappear) do not exist. It is human nature to be careful and not embark on a strategy unless one is sure of success. That is not the case here. Nations implemented extreme lockdown measures, at the risk of upsetting their populations and causing economic hardship, to slow down the virus’s spread, without a guarantee of success (how compliant would people be? would it actually slow the spread?).

Another bit of “good” news coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the efforts to combat the spread of the virus, such as the lockdown and closing of many businesses has resulted in noticeably cleaner air, as much data now confirms and pictures demonstrate. For those who worry we can never reduce greenhouse gas emissions, here is proof that it can be done. Now, how can we keep reducing levels even more as businesses re-open and people begin to move toward “normal”? Can some of these changes (telecommuting, home school, reduced auto/plane travel) become permanent?

However, the COVID-19 pandemic teaches us hard lessons in case of a future crisis or for dealing with climate change. Ultimately, the world was poorly prepared, despite warning signs, such as other pandemics (SARS, MERS, Ebola) causing huge numbers of deaths in recent decades. If we had planned for this pandemic using the lessons of past ones, COVID-19 would not have been avoided, but probably would have been less deadly. We now see early warning signs of climate change-caused effects on Earth. We should plan and invest smartly to lessen future climate change worst-case scenarios.

Another lessen is that national borders do not hinder the spread of the coronavirus. Thus, coordinated national and international planning and communication are critical. Even the many robust local responses to COVID-19 may be for naught if other places are more lax in containing the virus hastening its spread. We learned cooperation is critical for distribution of equipment (ventilators) and PPE. Thus, we must make an effort to coordinate a global response to climate change. Reducing global GHG emissions and coping with its worst physical impacts will similarly require concerted global action.

Finally, what will our economic recovery be like? It is an opportunity not just to bring economic activity to life, but, with a concern for climate change, we can recover smartly by favoring energy efficiency and clean energy which would also address the next crisis, climate change. It is a simple fact that for most businesses recovery will be slow. With high unemployment, few people have the money to buy what they have to offer. Thus, revenue recovery will be slow. That’s all the more reason that companies need to cut their expenses, and reducing energy costs is a very good, long-lasting way to do so and put yourself in a more competitive situation. CCES has the experts to suggest proven, company-specific strategies to significantly reduce energy costs and manage their implementation for your benefit. To minimize the inconvenience to reduce your expenses. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.