Environmental Protection Agency: Green Power Partnership - Coursework Example

Environmental Protection Agency: Green Power Partnership Introduction Environmental protection agency (EPA) isfederal agency in United States charged with the responsibility of protecting the environment and human health. EPA was created in 1970 by President Nixon in response to growing environmental pollution problem that was being experienced in US. The agency was given mandate to draft and enforce environmental regulations and laws enacted by the Congress. It was initially administered Clean Water Act (1970) and Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act (1972). By early 1990s, EPA was enforcing over ten acts related to environmental and health safety. Today, EPA is a fully fledged environmental regulating agency with ten regional offices, over twenty laboratories, over fifteen thousand employees and an annual budget of about $7 billion. It is headed by a director who ranks highly in federal governments structure. EPA does many environmental protection responsibilities that include enforcing environmental health standards, conducting environmental assessments, training, campaigns, education and research. The agency has powers to prescribe sanctions, fines and legal measures to entities violating environmental regulations and laws. It works with various agencies that include federal government, state government, county authorities, industries, tribes and other organizations to maintain high environmental and health standard as prescribed by executive orders, regulations and laws. So far, the agency has made huge progress and impact on US environmental protection drive. It is credited for banning the use of lead additive in gasoline and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that posed great health risks to human population (“Environmental Health and Safety Online”). Besides, the agency successfully negotiated with automobile manufacturers to install catalytic converters in cars. This initiative reduced unburned hydrocarbon emissions by 85% (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Since its inception, EPA has funded and facilitated various programs mostly targeting sectors that have great potential of reducing pollution such agriculture, transportation, technology and waste management. Some of the ongoing programs include Pesticide and Environmental Stewardship Program, Community Based Childhood Asthma Program, Indoor Air Quality for Schools, Combined Heat and Power Partnership and Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Green Power Partnership (GPP) program is used for research purpose in this paper. GPP program encourages businesses, industries and organizations to use green power in order to reduce environmental effects of purchasing electricity (“EPA Programs”). Green power comes from the sun, wind, biomass and geothermal steam. The agency trains and provides resources to these entities to utilize power from green sources. It also recognizes entities that extensively use green energy in their operation. Discussion of Findings The overall objective of GPP program is to contribute to the efforts of curbing climate change by reducing green house gas emissions associated with non renewable sources of energy. Climate change is not only a US problem but a top global 21st century challenge that is threatening the wellbeing of humanity. It is defined as the alteration in world’s climatic patterns mainly caused by high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the main green house gas that is responsible for global warming. In 2012, 82% of green house gas emissions in US were carbon dioxide produced by human activities. Its main sources include residential and commercial (9%), industries (14%), transportation (32%), electricity (38%) and other non fossil fuel combustion 6 percent (“Carbon Dioxide Emissions”). The amount of carbon dioxide in US atmosphere has increased by 5% between 1990 and 2010 owing to extensive use of fossil fuel to produce electricity and drive machines and automobiles. Climate change has great effects on the economy of US and livelihood of its citizens. The Green Partnership program is meant to mitigate these effects through collaboration with businesses and organizations. United States has experienced extreme weather occurrences such as floods and storms that are largely attributed to climate change. Extreme weather occurrences reduce water and food sources, disrupt communication channels, destroy infrastructure and contribute to increase illnesses. There is evidence that the precipitation patterns and temperature is changing. These changes might lead to increased incidences of diseases. Environmental protection agency predicts that elevated heat might alter the population of northern latitude residence who are not prepared to experience high temperatures. The excessive heat has more impacts on poor, children and older population because of their vulnerability to heat related diseases. United States is ranked second in energy consumption in the world after Republic China. According to Global Energy Statistics Yearbook 2013, the country consumed 2,152 million tons of oil equivalents. The energy consumption in China, India, Russia, Japan, Germany, Canada and France were 2,713, 774, 725,457,314, 256, and 251 million tons of oil equivalents respectively. The US leads all the countries in the world in the consumption of oil products at739, China (427), Japan (198), India (163), Russia (132), Germany (98) and Canada (97). The country is also the top consumer of natural gas at 721, Russia (473), Iran (154), China (141), Japan (135) and Canada (104). China leads countries of the world in consumption of coal at 3,371, US (808), India (767), Germany (248), Russia (196) and South Africa (186). Despite global campaigns to reduce the use of non renewable energy, United States is still heavily reliant on non green sources of energy. According to Energy Information, 82.6% of energy consumed in US in 2011 came from non renewable sources. Nuclear and renewable sources accounted for 8.3% and 9.1% of total energy consumed in that year respectively. Non renewable sources included petroleum (35.3%), natural gases (24.8%) and coal (19.7%). The leading sector in terms of energy consumption was electric power (39.3%) followed by transportation (27.0%). The industrial and residential and commercial sectors consumed (39.3%). In terms of production of crude oil, the United States was ranked in the third position by Global Energy Statistical Yearbook 2013 with 388 million tons after Saudi Arabia (554) and Russia (515). Other significant producers include China (208), Iran (182) and Canada (181). The country was the leading producer of oil products at 820 million tons, China (439), Russia (260), India (232), Japan (170) and South Korea (131). On natural gas production, United States was the top with 883 billion cubic meters, Russia (659), Iran (158), Canada (154), Norway (120) and China (105). However, the country does not fare well in renewable energy production. It was ranked seventh among G20 members in 2012 renewable energy report (Patience, 2012). The high ranked members are Germany and Italy. The United States net energy production by source indicates that the country has not given the green energy the focus needed to reduce green house gases emission. In 2012, huge percentage 37.4% of energy generated came from coal that is considered the most non environmental friendly sources (Energy Information Administration). Energy was also generated from natural gas (30.3%), nuclear (19.0%), wind (3.5%), solar (0.1%), coke (0.2%), hydro (6.7%), geothermal (1.4%), other gas (0.3%), oil (0.3%) and biomass (1.4%). From 2002 to 2011 the quantities of energy generated from coal and oil reduced from 51% to 34.7% and 3.1% to 0.3% respectively. On the other hand energy generated from natural gas and hydro increased from 17.1% to 30.3% and 5.6% to 6.7% respectively. It is important to note that Environmental Protection Agency through Green Power Partnership is making very important contribution to reduction of carbon dioxide emission. Nonetheless, it is also worth stating that United States is among the top emitter of carbon dioxide in the word. According to EPA, China was the leading emitter in 2008 accounting for 23% of the total emissions. United States was ranked second 19%. Other top emitters included European Union-27 (13%), Russia (6%), India (6%), Japan (4%) and Canada (2%). In 2008, US emitted 5,844,582 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The top five state emitters in 2008 were Texas (622,300), California (392,300), Pennsylvania (265,100), Ohio (262,300), and Illinois (241,700). The least states emitters included Maine (18,800), New Hampshire (18,900), Hawaii (19,700), Montana (36,000) and Connecticut (38,100). The Green Power Partnership recognizes largest users of green power through leadership awards. According to Environmental Protection Agency, its partners use about 24 billion kilowatts hours of green energy per year. Companies and entities that have fully adopted green power includes Intel Corporation (3.1 billion kilowatts hours), Kohl’s Department stores (1.5), Whole Food Market (0.8), Staples (0.64), District of Columbia (0.53), Unilever (0.51). Top local government users of green power according to EPA are City of Houston (0.623), District of Columbia (0.534), City of Austin (0.296), (City of Dallas (0.283) and City of Philadelphia (0.139). University of Pennsylvania tops the College and University category of green power users with 0.200 billon kilowatts hours. Others include University of Oklahoma (0.154), Ohio State University (0.134), Carnegie Mellon University (0.116) and Georgetown University (0.114). EPA projects a 3.7% rise in the use of renewable energy in US by the end of 2014. Hydropower and wind power are projected to increase by 3.6% and 8.9% respectively. These predications indicate that the Green Power Partnership program and other green initiatives are bearing good results. The agency intends to expand the list of partners and to encourage them to meet their green power energy targets. So far a good number of partners have achieved and even surpassed their goals. They include State Street Corporation, New York Security Exchange, the World Bank Group, Frontier National Products, Nokia, Lenovo, Pine Crest School and Dalton School. Partners who have very low green power percentage use include Wall mart Stores (3%), Sprint (6%), Free Scale Semiconductor (3%), and Samsung Electronic Corporations (6%). All companies and organization in US are eligible to become partners in Green Power Partnership program except green power marketers and providers. They include public owned companies, private companies, state and federal government agencies, local governments, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. These entities participate in the program by purchasing renewable energy or installing the power plants within their premises. The partners submits energy usage data to EPA every year. Results and Analysis Energy production in US by Source in 2012 Source Quantity (million kilowatts hour) Coal 1,514,403 Oil 13,403 Natural gas 1,225,894 Other gas 11,898 Hydro 271,290 Nuclear 769,331 Other 13,887 Wind 140,822 Solar 4,3227 Biomass 57,622 Geothermal 15,562 Total 4,047,766 The above graph indicates that that coal, natural gases and nuclear were the dominant sources of energy in US in the year 2012. The three sources accounted for 86.7% of the total energy produced by the country. On the other hand, oil, other gas, solar and geothermal are the least exploited energy sources in US. Top GPP partners in terms of green energy use Partner Quantity (billion kilowatts hour ) Intel 3.1 Kohl’s Department Stores 1.5 Whole Food Market 0.8 Staples 0.64 District of Columbia 0.53 Unilever 0.51 EPA observed that about 83% of its partners have met their green energy use percentage. A good number of the partners have exceeded the 100% green power use. Intel leads all the partners in terms of green power use. The company’s green power use is twice that of Kohl’s Department Stores which its closest challenger. Carbon dioxide emission distribution by state in 2008 Emission (million cubic meter) Frequency Cumulative Frequency 100 and below 29 29 101-200 13 42 201-300 6 48 301-400 1 49 401-500 0 49 501-600 0 49 Above 601 1 50 The above histogram shows that the 2008 carbon emissions data by states lacks normality. The histogram is not bell shaped. Most states (96%) emit carbon of between 6 and 300 million cubic meters. Consequently, the data is left skewed. Top 5 state emitters of carbon dioxide State 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Texas 653.0 652.7 627.8 634.6 639.5 622.7 California 390.9 392.8 390.1 398.2 402.2 392.3 Pennsylvania 274.4 278.1 281.2 274.9 278.1 265.1 Ohio 269.0 264.2 271.1 264.0 269.5 262.3 Illinois 229.8 237.7 244.0 235.6 243.4 241.7 State Median Mean Standard Deviation Texas 637.05 638.38 12.59 California 392.55 394.42 4.75 Pennsylvania 276.50 275.47 5.58 Ohio 266.60 266.68 3.62 Illinois 239.70 238.70 5.46 Texas had the highest standard deviation in carbon dioxide emission between the year 2003 and 2008 while Ohio registered the least deviation from mean. The standard deviation may be interpreted as the efforts the states are making to reduce carbon dioxide deviations. From the top carbon emitters table, it can be deduced that the carbon dioxide emitted by Texas state show general decline. Top Energy Consumers in 2012 by Country Country Quantity (Millions tons oil equivalent) China 2,713 US 2,152 India 774 Russia 725 Japan 457 Germany 314 Top Energy producers in 2012 by Country Country Quantity (Millions tons oil equivalent) China 2,459 US 1,826 Russia 1,325 Saudi Arabia 650 India 548 Canada 417 Comparison energy consumption and production in US using z-scores Mean energy consumption of top six countries 1,189 Standard deviation 993.87 Z-score = (2,152-1,189) ÷ 993.87 0.969 Percentile 83.373 Mean energy production of top six countries 1,204 Standard deviation 816.48 Z-score = (1,826-1,204) ÷ 816.48 0.762 Percentile = 77.697 United States scored better in consumption than in production because 83.373% of the countries scored had lower energy consumption than US compared to 77.697% in energy production. Conclusion The Green Power Partnership program has enlisted over 100 partners who are making significant contributions towards reducing green house gas emission and environmental pollution. The initiative has tangible results and should be supported by many agencies, companies and organizations. There is needed to scale up renewable energy production in US from about 8% to above the global mean percentage of 16% . Besides, the program should also focus on improving the efficiency of green energy to reduce energy losses and consumption. References Carbon Dioxide Emissions. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (United States government agency). Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189191/Environmental-Protection-Agency-EPA EPA Programs. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/partners/programs/#global Global Emissions. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html Global Energy Statistical Yearbook 2013. (n.d.). World Energy Statistics. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://yearbook.enerdata.net/ Patience, H. (2012, June 21). Bright Times: Ranking the G20 Nations By Renewable Energy | TIME.com. Science Space Bright Times Ranking the G20 Nations By Renewable Energy Comments. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://science.time.com/2012/06/21/bright-times-ranking-the-g20-nations-by-renewable-energy/ Top Partner Rankings. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/index.htm U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis. (n.d.). Total Energy. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pecss_diagram.cfm What Has the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Accomplished in Its History?. (n.d.). What Has the EPA Accomplished?  Heres What the Environmental Protection Agency Claims to Have Done in its History.. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.ehso.com Read More