Becoming more sustainable or “going green” has been shown to be economically beneficial in a number of ways (see my article on the 9 Purely Business Reasons to Go Green). One pitfall that holds back some companies is the upfront costs. Although a smart sustainability program will provide ROI over time, many companies are hard-pressed [...]

Over the last few months the USEPA has begun implementing rules to reduce GHG emissions. Not the traditional way by having affected facilities measure and reduce GHG emissions, but by encouraging operational changes to accomplish the same goal. Two rulings that can affect businesses are as follows: 1. Alternative refrigerants. This past December the USEPA [...]

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is revamping the LEED rating system this year. “LEED 2012″ will focus on improving the rating system’s clarity (providing more precise technical criteria) and making the system more user-friendly. Some may consider these competing notions, so it’s quite a lofty goal to meet. There will be revisions of prerequisites [...]

The USEPA posted on Feb. 24, 2012 minor changes to the Tailoring Rule, tailoring Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs to GHG emissions. The USEPA essentially announced that they would not change many of the parameters in the original draft rule, such as applicability thresholds and gradual scheduling. The USEPA [...]

The final standards for hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from electric generating units (EGUs), one of the last industries to be regulated by MACT, was just published in the Federal Register on February 16 and officially goes into effect on April 16, 2012. The rule (“Utility MACT”) had been long awaited; the USEPA began developing [...]

February 14, 2012 Occasionally, when I tell people at a professional or social event that I am a climate change engineer, I get scorn – from climate change skeptics. Perhaps you’ve met such people, too, when you identify yourself as working in the environmental or sustainability area. I divide such people into 2 groups: those [...]

February 7, 2012 The CCES Blog often contains tips to reduce your energy usage and therefore greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as cost effectively as possible. Here’s another such tip. Take a hard look at your mechanical equipment, mainly pumps. If they are more than a decade old, they may well be oversized for its function, [...]

January 31, 2012 Though some US municipalities are beginning to address it, climate change adaptation or how an entity will cope with the likely incremental increases in temperatures and precipitation (both greater rainfall and droughts) is not discussed much in board meetings or other strategic sessions. The trends are real and no longer something that [...]

Green building has had its ups and downs lately. Many professionals complain about the USGBC’s LEED standards, ranging from it’s too expensive and difficult to get certification to it does not truly result in sustainability. The number of projects in the LEED pipeline has reportedly stagnated lately. Some have talked about putting out new competing [...]

Changing one’s ways or implementing new initiatives is difficult. It’s inconvenient. This seems especially true in the U.S. in recent years. Thus, the reluctance to implement smarter, cleaner strategies. Businesses in other nations have demonstrated that clean approaches – in operations and also in business strategies – have been successful in meeting the challenges of [...]