The Carbon Challenge
Oregon Carbon Challenge
During the 74th Oregon Legislative Assembly - 2007 Regular Session, Governor Ted Kulongoski signed into law House Bill 3543 containing goals to reduce greenhouse gasses by 10% below 1990 levels by the year 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050. This goal is aggressive and according to scientists, meets the minimum standards necessary to avoid concentrations of CO2 that will create climate change impacts that would create significant environmental and economic damages. Complicating this goal for Oregon is the anticipated new population migrations that would add over 2,000,000 new Oregon residents and the carbon footprint that they will add to the state.
According to our research, the current goal of just under 50 million metric tons was last achieved as a statewide total on or about 1988. At that time, the per capita CO2 emissions were approximately 18.7 tons per person. This per capita rate has remained relatively stable over time and has increased along with population (in 2005 the per capita rate was 19.26 tons per person). Vehicle miles traveled during the same time period has increased slightly more than the rate of the population increase but some of the additional miles have been offset by improvements in efficiency (even though fleet wide efficiency has actually dropped due to the trends for heavier vehicles with more powerful engines). In spite of new technologies created over time, our "business as usual" habits are outpacing any technologies to make us more efficient. In order to change that trend, we will need to cause dramatic changes in behavior and create new technologies to lower our per capita CO2 emissions. These changes will need to occur in both the way we live and the way we work.
Changing the decisions we make at work and at home will be accelerated by "green" information technology products and consulting companies that can provide new measurement tools and services to identify the carbon emissions in our work and everyday lives. Tools that can identify and communicate incremental options to lower carbon emissions are equally important to reach our goals. We have seen over time that information naturally drives better decisions and conversely, better buying decisions will spur new technology development and create major changes in the industrial and commercial markets as companies react to their customers choices and compete to maintain their customers. This change in the industrial and commercial markets has the potential to encourage the changes to lower our statewide and per capita CO2 emissions.
The State of Oregon is currently pursuing improvements in four major carbon producing sectors1; Energy production, Transportation, Waste Generation and Methane Sequestration and Energy Efficiency.
Energy production strategies will focus on the development of renewable power and zero emissions power generation. The state is focused on its goal to create 25% carbon free power sources by 2025. This goal is considered aggressive and we are already seeing some growing pains to the power grid based on the wind power generation strategies that are leading the way toward that goal.
Transportation strategies include a continued investment in light rail and other mass-transit options, expectations of an increasingly efficient fleet mix and pilot programs to prepare for the plug-in electric car fleet of the future. Carpool programs are increasingly available to help in this effort. Due to the expected rapid increase in population, none of these technologies is ready to absorb the additional capacity necessary or ultimately to reduce the overall carbon emissions related to transportation.
The State continues to support energy efficiency strategies through the Architecture 2030 plan, Energy Trust rebate programs, Business Energy Tax Credit programs and recent investments in local, solar power manufacturing business. While all of these programs should be lauded for their progress, none of these is currently operating at a scale that can significantly change the per capita CO2 emissions much less offset the increase in carbon related to expected increased population.
Unfortunately, new regulations can create the most predictable changes since they are law and can be enforced but this solution is encumbered by those who are currently entrenched in heavy emissions businesses and will go to considerable efforts and spend large sums of money to eliminate, weaken and or slow efforts to regulate those industries. Utility companies are not anxious to remove customers from the grid or give up influence over state sponsored, but utility funded, efficiency programs.
We believe that the answer is to engage the entire market in the task by providing tools to better understand the carbon component in the choices that we make. Adding calorie content to food products caused people to specifically consider their caloric intake and ultimately that consideration has improved the diet choices and health for most Americans (did you notice that right on the heels of the documentary Super Size Me, McDonalds introduced a new line of healthy salads and added milk and apple slice options for their kids meals?). Another great success story is the Energy Guide sticker that you find on electric appliances. The sticker provides the important information about the product and how its efficiency compares with the other buying choices available. With that information, customers are buying more efficient models and manufactures are phasing out less efficient models and focusing on providing choices for the more efficient end of the spectrum.
The information drives the decision; the decision drives the market and so on.
The EcoMethod was developed for the construction industry because of Birtcher's extensive experience in real estate development and because the construction process is a big producer of carbon. Because all construction projects are custom and are located in unique locations, they need a special system to manage those emissions. The technology behind our system that measures carbon and communicates better choices is one that can be adapted to many other businesses with similar results. In fact, The EcoMethod adds significant capabilities to The 2030 Challenge from Architecture 2030 and The Living Building Challenge from the Cascadia Region Green Building Council. The EcoMethod is a new technology that can leverage the current efforts and accelerate industries' reaction to the emerging needs of a carbon sensitive world.
1 The list is deliberately narrowed down to the largest four categories of emissions; this is not a comprehensive list of efforts by the state.