Micro and Macro Carbon Audit - Term Paper Example

Introduction Global warming has emerged as one of the biggest issues with regards to environment. The major contributors to the global warming are the greenhouse gases mainly carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which tend to trap the radiating heat from the surface of the earth. This prevents the heat from escaping the surface of the earth and keeps the surface of the earth warm. These gases are released by both humans as well as natural sources. The United States of America remains the largest contributor of greenhouse gases. The USA has released over 6045 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide between 1995 and 2005. The United Kingdom has good reserves of energy. It has coal, oil and natural gas deposits but most of the energy stocks are showing quick depletion. Moreover emission norms such as the Kyoto protocol have led to constraints as far as new generation units are concerned. Some of the nuclear power plants are also closing down or nearing their decline. The global community has also taken a strong line as far as carbon emissions are concerned. UK has decided to adopt to a carbon rationing system in which the government would allot carbon units as rations to each and every individual. It has started the concept of Domestic Trad-able quotas (DTQ). The major contributor towards the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide which is emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal and petroleum. Carbon dioxide is also emitted as an output of various industrial processes. Combustion from vehicles also leads to large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. The present levels of carbon dioxide is approximately 380 ppm which is about 100 ppm greater than the levels that were present during the beginning of the industrial revolution. The rise in the levels of carbon dioxide has led to a temperature rise of about 1 degree Fahrenheit from the mid 1970's. The rise in the level of greenhouse gases mainly carbon dioxide has led to melting of polar ice caps. This has further resulted in increase in sea levels which have threatened to engulf low lying coastal areas around the globe. In addition to the man-made processes natural processes also contribute towards increasing the levels of greenhouse gases. (Douglass, 2008). Carbon footprint is used for describing the amount of greenhouse gases that are released as a by product of various human and industrial activity. In order to reduce the global warming there have been several international agreements addressing the issue. The Kyoto Protocol is such an agreement amongst various nations towards reducing the levels of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These days organizations are trying to evolve various Eco friendly ways to reduce the levels of greenhouse emissions. Figure 1. Carbon Dioxide emissions from UK. Source- Environmental Change Institute. UK Carbon Audit Carbon audit is defined as a technique that is employed for determining the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted over a period due to the burning of various fossil fuels. (Carbonme, n.d.) A carbon audit regime which is defined as a way of accounting of the greenhouse gases. This type of regime is present in the UK. This technique is aimed towards giving a broad view of the greenhouse gas emissions from enclosed as well as free spaces. (British Council n.d.) The primary features of carbon rationing system are as follows, 1. Equal amount of rations for each and every individual. 2. Rations should be trad able 3. Reductions in the amounts of annual rations must be described in advance 4. Household energy and personal transport must also be included 5. Carbon rationing should be a mandatory and not a voluntary measure Carbon rationing is based on the principles of 'convergence and contraction'. Convergence and contraction is based on two major principles namely, 1. Progressive reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emission. 2. Justice and fairness in global governance. The first step would involve fixing the maximum level of carbon dioxide in nature. Based on the level of carbon dioxide control measures can be adopted in an attempt to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This would be a part of the contraction exercise. This part would lead the global convergence part. In spite of the opportunities offered by the carbon rationing system there are some shortcomings in this process namely, The feature of this system of putting individuals in charge of responding to the changes in climate. The inequality in giving people equal rights towards carbon trading and carbon emissions which gives the richer people an advantage. Carbon taxation is argued by many people as a better option than carbon rationing. The administration and project costs exhibit a great challenge. The probability of getting support for this system is very low. Domestic Trad able Quotas Domestic trad able quotas is an instrument which has been designed to help nations reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emission which arise as a result of the use of energy. This scheme is based on the assumption that for regulating and stabilizing the greenhouse gas emissions on a very large scale sustainable efforts on the part of nations are required. Moreover it also assumes that the restrictions would be achieved by fixing targets on nations which would form the emissions reduction target. This scheme is formed to help nations meet their emission norms target. These should be implemented on a national basis. The nations which would implement the DTQ's would have to determine the maximum amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted per year. This budget would be reduced each year on a progressive basis till the target for the emission reduction target is achieved. The carbon budget is broken into carbon units with one carbon unit representing one kilogram of carbon dioxide. A certain amount of these units would be allotted by the government for free to all the adult citizens of the country. This would form the entitlement. The remaining units would be allotted to the organizations and firms via an auction which would be regulated by the government. Fuels and electricity are allotted a carbon rating which is based on the amount of greenhouse gases which are emitted by the fuels after combustion. The citizens would surrender their carbon units when they purchase fuels that would emit greenhouse gases. For a proper accounting these units are passed to the supply chain and are given back to the government when it reaches the primary producer. A computer based account would hold and manage the database for all the citizens and organizations. Each and every transaction would be controlled electronically. (Anderson,K. Starkey,R, 2004). In order to achieve a 90% control in personal carbon emission by the year 2030, a minimum of 10% reduction in carbon emission is required every year. The main emphasis of reduction would;d be the top four sectors namely air travel, cars, household heating, and electricity. The scheme proposed by the government seeks to reward people who manage to run their livelihood within the prescribed ration limits. The scheme also proposes to penalize the individuals who tend to exceed their prescribed limits. The scheme proposes that each individual would have a quota of 5000 kg in 2005, 4500 kg in 2006 and 4050 kg in 2007 to reach the target for carbon reduction. (Ross, A. 2006). Sources of carbon dioxide emission in homes Households use many items that emit greenhouse gases. Almost all the household appliances run on electricity which are sources of greenhouse gases. There are also sources like cars which are known to emit huge volumes of greenhouse gases. Figure 2. Annual greenhouse gas emissions per person in UK, 2001. Source- ECEEE, 2005 Summer Study. The figure above indicate the annual greenhouse emissions in UK on the basis of age. The figure shows that the under 30 age group has the highest contribution towards greenhouse effect. Carbon Emission at home In order to determine the amount of carbon dioxide emission at home certain parameters have been assumed which are as follows, A family is supposed to be composed of three members of which two are adults and one is a child. It has been assumed that the family has a medium sized car. The total carbon dioxide emission for a household in UK is as follows, Table 1. Table showing the sources of carbon dioxide emissions at home. The table above shows the amount of electricity consumed by a household in UK. The total amount of carbon dioxide produced has been derived by multiplying the total electricity used with the carbon factor. The total amount of carbon dioxide generated has been found to be 53.23 kg/week and 2767 kg/ year. The carbon rationalization has fixed the amount of carbon dioxide per person in terms of carbon units. Each individual has been allotted 60 carbon units (denoted as CU) and each carbon unit is equivalent to about one hundred kilograms of carbon dioxide. Hence, the total volume of carbon dioxide emission per person is fixed at 6000 kilo grams per month. Recommendations In order to reduce the amounts of carbon dioxide emitted by a household following steps may be adopted namely, 1. A home energy audit can be conducted. 2. Families should enhance the use of renewable sources of energy. 3. They should install devices like programmable thermostats. 4. Families should try to save water and electricity. They should switch off electronic devices when they are not in use. They can also ensure that the pots and utensils are covered during cooking so that heat loss is minimized. 5. Families should also undertake and use recyclable materials. They should not waste food and should enhance vegetarian eating habits which are known to emit less carbon dioxide. Macro Audit Carbon footprints serve to make a useful proposal for reducing the amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The levels of carbon dioxide have reached alarming levels which have become a huge cause of concern to the nations and the global community at large. Bennet and Newborough in 2001 made a serious effort to reduce the emission at the individual level. The carbon dioxide emission in the city level is more complicated as it includes commercial and industrial set ups which are known to emit greater volumes of carbon dioxide than the residential places. The number and area also make the process a lot more difficult than managing carbon emission at the household level. Households use a small variety of fuels whereas cities are known to use a large variety of fuels. Figure 3. City-Wide emission sources breakdown Source- Bennet and Newborough, 2001. The data for carbon emission are available from the UK government which has developed a means of reducing the level of greenhouse gases. The data is collected locally and then compiled to make national figures. The most recent information that is available is of year 2005. The data is available for both commercial and residential sources. The figure above breaks the city into domestic, commercial and industrial and the municipal sectors. The table below shows the total carbon dioxide emitted in the city of Edinburgh. Table 2 Carbon emission estimates for the city of Edinburgh. Source- BERR. Table 3. Table showing the electricity supplied to Edinburgh city from different sources. Source- Green Peace According to a study conducted by the organization Greenpeace the total number of dwellings are expected to rise up to the level of 231,882 by 2025. The total demand for electricity for all buildings in Edinburgh is expected to reach the figures of 1945 Gwh by 2025. The government of UK has an aim of achieving sustainable levels of carbon dioxide by the year 2030. In order to achieve this target the control of carbon dioxide emissions can be divided into four scenarios based on the demand and supply of energy. The four scenarios are as follows, 1. Centralized Low Nuclear 2. Centralized High Nuclear 3. Low DE 4. High DE Centralized Low nuclear scenario This scenario assumes that the scheduled closure of nuclear reactors in the country would continue as per the normal schedule and there would be no further construction of nuclear power plants in the country. The generating capacity that would be lost as a result of closure of the plants would be replaced by gas based power plants. Centralized High Nuclear This scenario assumes that new nuclear based power generating units would be constructed at the rate of one plant (1.6GW) by 2015 and two plants of 1.2 GW capacity after every five years till 2025. Low DE In this scenario it has been assumed that all the present nuclear facilities would continue to operate as per the centralized high nuclear scenario. There would be a mix of other sources and DE sources to meet the gap in demand and supply. High DE This scenario is more or less the same as that of the low DE scenario but with the addition of a larger percentage of DE sources towards power generation. This scenario would use a mix of gas and biomass based utilities apart form the DE sources. Analysis The above scenarios have been developed with the assumption that the renewable sources would contribute about 20% towards the total power generation capacity. The coal based units would further generate about 20% of electricity for catering to the city's power demands. The study by Greenpeace also concludes that the carbon dioxide levels in the city would fall in case of all the scenarios as stated above. The reason for this can be attributed to two reasons, Firstly the efficiency of the individual gas plants would increase due to the use of condensing boilers. It has been assumed that the old boilers would be replaced by the new ones by 2025. Secondly, the switch of fuel from coal to gas would continue further coupled with an increased use of renewable energy. (Green Peace UK, n.d.). Figure 4. Carbon Dioxide emissions from buildings in Edinburgh from 2005-2025. Source- Greenpeace. The study by Greenpeace also concludes that the use of decentralized energy pathway would lead to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emission. The DE scenarios would help towards reducing the emissions from the city. This would be accomplished by the use of biomass and gas fired CHP based systems have a greater efficiency than the CCGT based power stations. Conclusion The average resident in UK emitted about 5.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The reason for this can be attributed to the reasons like air travel, household heating, use of cars, consumption of electricity as well as other public transport. These items contribute almost fifty percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the country. The rest half is contributed by the commercial and the industrial houses. The government of UK has started the carbon rationing system which aims at fixing the minimum and maximum amount of carbon that can be emitted by a person. The method aims at reducing the overall carbon content in the atmosphere in an attempt to control the phenomenon of global warming. The citizens must try to reduce the carbon emissions by making greater use of renewable energy and reducing the wastage of energy in order to achieve the targeted levels of carbon emission of the country. The move of the government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the city via the use of a decentralized system would not only help the city towards achieving the desired levels of carbon dioxide emission levels but would also help the city towards achieving greater efficiency in energy production and distribution. References British Council. No date. Carbon audit at British Council France.[Online] Available at http://www.britishcouncil.org/france-science-climate-carbon-audit.htm. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Carbonify. No Date. Carbon dioxide emissions calculator.[Online] Available at http://www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htm. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Carbonme. No date. Carbon Audit.[Online] Available at http://www.carbonme.org/carbonmebus_audit.php. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Douglass, A. 2008. An audit of the carbon footprint of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University.[Online] Available at http://www.egr.msu.edu/me/files_me/other-pdfs/carbon_audit.pdf.[Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Greenpeace. 2006. Powering Edinburgh into the 21st Century.[Online] Available at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/powering-edinburgh-into-the-21st-century. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Home energy saver. No Date. Tips for green living. [Online] Available at http://hes.lbl.gov/. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Fawcett, T. 2005. Making the case for personal carbon rations.[Online] Available at http://www.eceee.org/conference_proceedings/eceee/2005c/Panel_7/7103fawcett/Paper/. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. Ross, A. 2006. West Midlands CCC Personal Carbon Rationing Scheme.[Online] Available at http://portal.campaigncc.org/WMCarbonRationing. [Accessed on October 20, 2009]. 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