Summer Banks
SaraJClimate Change Innovators
June 6th 2007 04:42
I don’t know what you lot are thinking, but I am struggling to keep up with everything going on at the moment! As I am working in this area, I am worried that I am going to start to talk about minor technical points in far too much detail (I’m a lawyer – its bound to happen), so I would be really keen to get some suggestions from anyone regularly reading the blog on things they might like to hear about. Otherwise, you are at risk of being bored: You’ve been warned.
Climate Change seems to be an area constantly escalating in the media and in politics. A lot of what we hear is negative too, so today for a changeI am going to try focus on some positive.
Since my last post I’ve been over to Western Australia for a couple of seminars in Perth (yes, I offset my fights), and I’ve met some interesting people working in the field.
The thing that seems to be happening now is a movement from will it happen, to how will it happen. The emphasis is now on “what can me / my business do to minimise the effects of Climate Change?”. We hear a lot about the risks, but today I wanted to talk opportunities. Both the opportunity for each off us to offset some of our effects, and also I guess the opportunities these companies have chosen to be entrepeneurial in this area.
One of the more interesting speakers I have heard recently was the Managing Director of a Company called CO2 Australia Limited. The company is in the business of “carbon sequestration”: basically the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. There are many technology based ways that companies are looking at sequestration for example there are a few pilot examples with coal where the carbon is taken out and pumped back underground for long term storage. Its fascinating stuff. However, CO2 Australia intrigues me as it goes about sequestering Carbon in the most simplest of ways: by turning back to nature and planting trees. Now – until I heard Mr Grant speak, I was a bit dubious about planting in a country with sweet f* all water, and issues with fire… but I must say, I retract earlier comments (referring to my comments on Malcolm Turnbulls address). In my defence, not all trees would be suitable for such a project, but CO2 Australia uses Eucalypt Mallees – a tree which has evolved in Australia, can survive drought and will re-sprout after fire because of the way it has evolved. Although it would be nice to think they have done it for the good of humanity – us humans aren’t that altruistic, so of course it does it for return! The demand for the trees comes from companies who wish to offset their emissions. The company will pay money to CO2 Australia to plant trees to offset Carbon emissions. But also, in return for the Carbon it sequesters, CO2 Australia receives credits which it can sell as it is accredited under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS) and also under the Federal Governments voluntary scheme Greenhouse Friendly. A credit is recieved for each unit of Carbon it sequesters. Pretty entrepreneurial I think.
Another company receiving Credits under the NSW GGAS scheme is “easy being green”. Easy being green will come to your house and install energy saving lightbulbs for free. In return for the energy you save – they get the credit under the GGAS scheme which covers the costs of the bulbs and installation, and you get to feel like you are doing something to help the earth. As mentioned on their website – apx 8 – 12 bulbs will save 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Nice.
And speaking of light bulbs, there are now companies offering these services on an international scale. One of the companies I have come across recently is Cleaner Climate. They are currently involved in a CDM project (clean development mechanism – refer to the second blog on Kyoto) in South Africa. In one of the areas concerned near Durban, the company proposes to install 8 million light bulbs. The best thing about this project in my view is that they train locals to replace the bulbs – so not only is the energy a factor, the project will also deliver knowledge and understanding to the community. It’s a very socially responsible project. Of course they too gain credits for the projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
That’s enough for today, but hopefully this gives you ideas of what you or your company can do to minimise your impacts!
Climate Change seems to be an area constantly escalating in the media and in politics. A lot of what we hear is negative too, so today for a changeI am going to try focus on some positive.
Since my last post I’ve been over to Western Australia for a couple of seminars in Perth (yes, I offset my fights), and I’ve met some interesting people working in the field.
The thing that seems to be happening now is a movement from will it happen, to how will it happen. The emphasis is now on “what can me / my business do to minimise the effects of Climate Change?”. We hear a lot about the risks, but today I wanted to talk opportunities. Both the opportunity for each off us to offset some of our effects, and also I guess the opportunities these companies have chosen to be entrepeneurial in this area.
One of the more interesting speakers I have heard recently was the Managing Director of a Company called CO2 Australia Limited. The company is in the business of “carbon sequestration”: basically the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. There are many technology based ways that companies are looking at sequestration for example there are a few pilot examples with coal where the carbon is taken out and pumped back underground for long term storage. Its fascinating stuff. However, CO2 Australia intrigues me as it goes about sequestering Carbon in the most simplest of ways: by turning back to nature and planting trees. Now – until I heard Mr Grant speak, I was a bit dubious about planting in a country with sweet f* all water, and issues with fire… but I must say, I retract earlier comments (referring to my comments on Malcolm Turnbulls address). In my defence, not all trees would be suitable for such a project, but CO2 Australia uses Eucalypt Mallees – a tree which has evolved in Australia, can survive drought and will re-sprout after fire because of the way it has evolved. Although it would be nice to think they have done it for the good of humanity – us humans aren’t that altruistic, so of course it does it for return! The demand for the trees comes from companies who wish to offset their emissions. The company will pay money to CO2 Australia to plant trees to offset Carbon emissions. But also, in return for the Carbon it sequesters, CO2 Australia receives credits which it can sell as it is accredited under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS) and also under the Federal Governments voluntary scheme Greenhouse Friendly. A credit is recieved for each unit of Carbon it sequesters. Pretty entrepreneurial I think.
Another company receiving Credits under the NSW GGAS scheme is “easy being green”. Easy being green will come to your house and install energy saving lightbulbs for free. In return for the energy you save – they get the credit under the GGAS scheme which covers the costs of the bulbs and installation, and you get to feel like you are doing something to help the earth. As mentioned on their website – apx 8 – 12 bulbs will save 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Nice.
And speaking of light bulbs, there are now companies offering these services on an international scale. One of the companies I have come across recently is Cleaner Climate. They are currently involved in a CDM project (clean development mechanism – refer to the second blog on Kyoto) in South Africa. In one of the areas concerned near Durban, the company proposes to install 8 million light bulbs. The best thing about this project in my view is that they train locals to replace the bulbs – so not only is the energy a factor, the project will also deliver knowledge and understanding to the community. It’s a very socially responsible project. Of course they too gain credits for the projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
That’s enough for today, but hopefully this gives you ideas of what you or your company can do to minimise your impacts!
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