Download or read book Decision Making to Reduce Manufacturing Greenhouse Gas Emissions written by Corinne Reich-Weiser and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The manufacturing sector is a significant contributor to environmental damage and resource use, which has potential long-term implications if resources are overused and our air, water, and soil are altered irreversibly. To alleviate these impacts, the manufacturing research community has primarily focused on reducing the environmental impacts of specific manufacturing processes and systems within a factory; however there are opportunities for environmental impact reductions that emerge from a supply chain perspective. For example, researchers have recognized that by taking advantage of regional differences when locating facilities there is the opportunity to alleviate global water scarcity and reduce the human health effects of pollution. We add to this body of work by focusing on the opportunity to take advantage of regional variability to reduce supply chain GHG emissions. Through the development of targeted environmental return-on-investment (ROI) metrics and hybrid life-cycle assessment techniques, we enable the minimization of global greenhouse gas emissions through informed supply chain design. Founded on the premise that GHG emissions are a global problem that can benefit from global optimization, we focus on the tradeoffs between transportation emissions and electricity emissions. A three-pronged approach to management and reduction of GHG emissions in manufacturing is presented: (1) metric design for environmental decision-making (2) comprehensive, repeatable, and efficient life-cycle assessment using a hybrid approach (3) optimization of the system to take advantage of regional tradeoffs. This approach is demonstrated through a generic case study of automotive manufacturing and a case study of SolFocus Inc. concentrated solar photovoltaic panels. The case-studies show that 30-40% of GHG emissions in the supply chain are from electricity and transportation and can be reduced by up to 50% through changes in supplier location. Furthermore, regional variability in electricity emissions means that local manufacturing is not always optimal. Finally, the incorporation of ROI metrics for the SolFocus system presented the most rapid path to global reductions in GHG emissions. Installation of solar technology in Australia results in a savings of nearly 20 kg-CO2eq for every kg-CO2eq emitted during production; whereas the savings from installation in Spain, Northern California, or Arizona is 7-8 kg-CO2eq. This dissertation presents the following new contributions to the field (1) a method for global GHG reductions, separate from product re-design, through optimization of supply chain layout based on transportation and electricity GHG emissions tradeoffs; (2) development of effective and targeted ROI environmental metrics to guide decisions that promote the fastest route to reduce environmental impacts in manufacturing; (3) validation of the feasibility of using of iterative financial hybrid LCA to ensure a comprehensive LCA and guide regional input-output electricity estimates and tradeoffs in key areas; (4) demonstration and development of the greenhouse gas ROI metric, iterative hybrid LCA methodology, and supply chain layout decision-making for concentrator solar PV We note that these supply chain efforts must occur in conjunction with efforts on sustainable product design such as design for remanufacture, improved use-phase efficiencies, or utilization of new materials.
Download or read book The Greenhouse Gas Protocol written by and published by World Business Pub.. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard helps companies and other organizations to identify, calculate, and report GHG emissions. It is designed to set the standard for accurate, complete, consistent, relevant and transparent accounting and reporting of GHG emissions.
Download or read book Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases written by Mark Liebig and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global climate change is a natural process that currently appears to be strongly influenced by human activities, which increase atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG). Agriculture contributes about 20% of the world’s global radiation forcing from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and produces 50% of the methane and 70% of the nitrous oxide of the human-induced emission. Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases synthesizes the wealth of information generated from the GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) effort with contributors from a variety of backgrounds, and reports findings with important international applications. Frames responses to challenges associated with climate change within the geographical domain of the U.S., while providing a useful model for researchers in the many parts of the world that possess similar ecoregions Covers not only soil C dynamics but also nitrous oxide and methane flux, filling a void in the existing literature Educates scientists and technical service providers conducting greenhouse gas research, industry, and regulators in their agricultural research by addressing the issues of GHG emissions and ways to reduce these emissions Synthesizes the data from top experts in the world into clear recommendations and expectations for improvements in the agricultural management of global warming potential as an aggregate of GHG emissions
Download or read book The Development and Application of a Decision Making Strategy for Multinational Companies to Reduce Energy related Greenhouse Gas Emissions written by Ronald Edwin Meissen and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Cost of Climate Policy written by Mark Jaccard and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a major environmental challenge facing the world. We all want to reduce the risks of global warming, but how much will this cost? What will it mean on a personal, business, or community level? And what policy responses should we expect from our governments? The Cost of Climate Policy sheds light on these pressing issues. The authors look at the challenges of estimating the costs of greenhouse gas emission reduction to help readers understand how different definitions of costs and different assumptions about technological and economic evolution affect the estimates that are so hotly debated today. Using Canada as their focal point, the authors look specifically at the impact of emission reduction policies on energy prices, technology options, and lifestyle choices. The book concludes with concrete proposals for overcoming the constraints of environmental policy making and the high initial costs of action. Policy makers need to know as much as possible about the costs of taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As indispensable as this book will be to policy analysts, it is also an important primer for a wider range of readers interested in the economic implications of climate change.
Download or read book Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-12-07 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global climate change is one of America's most significant long-term policy challenges. Human activity-especially the use of fossil fuels, industrial processes, livestock production, waste disposal, and land use change-is affecting global average temperatures, snow and ice cover, sea-level, ocean acidity, growing seasons and precipitation patterns, ecosystems, and human health. Climate-related decisions are being carried out by almost every agency of the federal government, as well as many state and local government leaders and agencies, businesses and individual citizens. Decision makers must contend with the availability and quality of information, the efficacy of proposed solutions, the unanticipated consequences resulting from decisions, the challenge of implementing chosen actions, and must consider how to sustain the action over time and respond to new information. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change, a volume in the America's Climate Choices series, describes and assesses different activities, products, strategies, and tools for informing decision makers about climate change and helping them plan and execute effective, integrated responses. It discusses who is making decisions (on the local, state, and national levels), who should be providing information to make decisions, and how that information should be provided. It covers all levels of decision making, including international, state, and individual decision making. While most existing research has focused on the physical aspect of climate change, Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change employs theory and case study to describe the efforts undertaken so far, and to guide the development of future decision-making resources. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change offers much-needed guidance to those creating public policy and assists in implementing that policy. The information presented in this book will be invaluable to the research community, especially social scientists studying climate change; practitioners of decision-making assistance, including advocacy organizations, non-profits, and government agencies; and college-level teachers and students.
Download or read book Incorporating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Into the Collaborative Decision Making Process written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Emissions Trading written by Ralf Antes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emissions trading challenges the management of companies in an entirely new manner. Most importantly it shifts the mode of governance of environmental policy from hierarchy to market. The contributions in this book discuss the theoretical implications of different institutional designs of emissions trading schemes. They review schemes implemented in the US and Europe, and evaluate the range of investment decisions and corporate strategies resulting from the new policy framework.
Download or read book The New Corporate Climate Leadership written by Edward Cameron and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-05 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the role of the private sector in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and inclusive world. In the lead up to and since the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, more than 6,000 companies from 120 countries representing more than $36.5 trillion in revenue have made climate commitments. Examining this trend, The New Corporate Climate Leadership provides a clear synthesis of the relationship between the real economy and climate change and offers a state-of-the-art assessment of corporate initiatives that focus on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the management of climate risk through enhanced resilience. It debates the relative merits of incremental and sequenced ambition versus radical systems change – including a critique of the prevailing capitalist approach to climate change – and provides an actionable guide to skills development for change-makers in the shift toward a low-carbon world. Drawing on perspectives from leading thinkers inside the private sector, across government, and within civil society to truly interrogate the scale, scope, and speed of progress, this book provides a clear vision for what the next generation of corporate climate leadership should look like. Optimistic in tone, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of climate change and sustainable business.
Download or read book Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems written by Patricia Thornley and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2017-11-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greenhouse Gases Balance of Bioenergy Systems covers every stage of a bioenergy system, from establishment to energy delivery, presenting a comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of all the relevant issues and environmental risks. It also provides an understanding of how these can be practically managed to deliver sustainable greenhouse gas reductions. Its expert chapter authors present readers to the methods used to determine the greenhouse gas balance of bioenergy systems, the data required and the significance of the results obtained. It also provides in-depth discussion of key issues and uncertainties, such as soil, agriculture, forestry, fuel conversion and emissions formation. Finally, international case studies examine typical GHG reduction levels for different systems and highlight best practices for bioenergy GHG mitigation. For bringing together into one volume information from several different fields that was up until now scattered throughout many different sources, this book is ideal for researchers, graduate students and professionals coming into the bioenergy field, no matter their previous background. It will be particularly useful for bioenergy researchers seeking to calculate greenhouse gas balances for systems they are studying. I will also be an important resource for policy makers and energy analysts. Uses a multidisciplinary approach to synthesize the diverse information that is required to competently execute GHG balances for bioenergy systems Presents an in-depth understanding of the science underpinning key issues and uncertainty in GHG assessments of bioenergy systems Includes case studies that examine ways to maximize the GHG reductions delivered by different bioenergy systems
Download or read book Developing a Decision making Framework for Carbon written by Paige Wyler and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon emission reductions have been at the center of decision-making for companies across industries, particularly in automotive. As electric vehicles are introduced to the market, there is a large potential for reducing emissions associated with transportation. However, the process to build and use these vehicles is itself carbon intensive. This thesis explores mechanisms to enable effective decision-making to meet carbon reduction goals. Carbon accounting is a new concept for most original equipment manufacturers, and they lack a framework for weighing the importance of carbon alongside competing business objectives. Additionally, most mechanisms used in other industries require a high level of data availability and knowledge management that may not exist in a dynamic, fast-growing company launching its first products. In this thesis, we test carbon decision-making mechanisms in a high-growth business environment. A framework is developed for carbon decision-making, and the use of a carbon price is tested for specific business use cases by adding this cost to the objective function of a cost-optimized battery storage system. Using the results from these use cases, recommendations are made for applying carbon pricing to future decisions as knowledge management infrastructure evolves. This work provides a model for decision-making in a high-growth environment and creates clear conditions under which carbon pricing can effectively impact decisions.
Download or read book Climate Intervention written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-06-17 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The signals are everywhere that our planet is experiencing significant climate change. It is clear that we need to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from our atmosphere if we want to avoid greatly increased risk of damage from climate change. Aggressively pursuing a program of emissions abatement or mitigation will show results over a timescale of many decades. How do we actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make a bigger difference more quickly? As one of a two-book report, this volume of Climate Intervention discusses CDR, the carbon dioxide removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and sequestration of it in perpetuity. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration introduces possible CDR approaches and then discusses them in depth. Land management practices, such as low-till agriculture, reforestation and afforestation, ocean iron fertilization, and land-and-ocean-based accelerated weathering, could amplify the rates of processes that are already occurring as part of the natural carbon cycle. Other CDR approaches, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration, direct air capture and sequestration, and traditional carbon capture and sequestration, seek to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and dispose of it by pumping it underground at high pressure. This book looks at the pros and cons of these options and estimates possible rates of removal and total amounts that might be removed via these methods. With whatever portfolio of technologies the transition is achieved, eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from the global energy and transportation systems will pose an enormous technical, economic, and social challenge that will likely take decades of concerted effort to achieve. Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration will help to better understand the potential cost and performance of CDR strategies to inform debate and decision making as we work to stabilize and reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Download or read book Ethics Climate Change written by Calgary Institute for the Humanities and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 1993-08-19 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Faced with the prospect of global warming, the anticipated rapid rise in global air temperatures due to the release of gases into the atmosphere, we have two choices of how to respond: adaptation or avoidance. With adaptation we keep burning fossil fuels, let global temperatures rise and make whatever changes this requires: move people from environmentally damaged areas, build sea walls, etc. With avoidance we stop warming from occurring, either by reducing our use of fossil fuels or by using technology such as carbon dioxide recovery after combustion to block the warming effect. Yet each strategy has its drawbacks—adaptation may not be able to occur fast enough to accommodate the expected temperature increases, but avoidance would be prohibitively expensive. An ethically acceptable goal must involve some mixture of adaptation and avoidance. Written by a team of scientists, social scientists, humanists, legal and environmental scholars and corporate researchers, this book offers an ethical analysis of possible responses to the problem. Their analyses of the scientific and technological data and the ethical principles involved in determining whose interests should be considered point to a combination of adaptation and avoidance of greenhouse gas production. They offer assessments of personal, corporate, government and international responsibility and a series of recommendations to aid decision-makers in determining solutions and apportioning responsibility.
Download or read book Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-01-07 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global climate change is one of America's most significant long-term policy challenges. Human activity-especially the use of fossil fuels, industrial processes, livestock production, waste disposal, and land use change-is affecting global average temperatures, snow and ice cover, sea-level, ocean acidity, growing seasons and precipitation patterns, ecosystems, and human health. Climate-related decisions are being carried out by almost every agency of the federal government, as well as many state and local government leaders and agencies, businesses and individual citizens. Decision makers must contend with the availability and quality of information, the efficacy of proposed solutions, the unanticipated consequences resulting from decisions, the challenge of implementing chosen actions, and must consider how to sustain the action over time and respond to new information. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change, a volume in the America's Climate Choices series, describes and assesses different activities, products, strategies, and tools for informing decision makers about climate change and helping them plan and execute effective, integrated responses. It discusses who is making decisions (on the local, state, and national levels), who should be providing information to make decisions, and how that information should be provided. It covers all levels of decision making, including international, state, and individual decision making. While most existing research has focused on the physical aspect of climate change, Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change employs theory and case study to describe the efforts undertaken so far, and to guide the development of future decision-making resources. Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change offers much-needed guidance to those creating public policy and assists in implementing that policy. The information presented in this book will be invaluable to the research community, especially social scientists studying climate change; practitioners of decision-making assistance, including advocacy organizations, non-profits, and government agencies; and college-level teachers and students.
Download or read book Emissions Trading written by Ralf Antes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-08-12 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emissions trading challenges the management of companies in an entirely new manner: Not only does it, like other market-based environmental policy instruments, allow for a bigger flexibility in management decisions concerning emission issues. More importantly, it shifts the mode of governance of environmental policy from hierarchy to market. But how is this change reflected in management processes, decisions and organizational structures? The contributions in this book discuss the theoretical implications of different institutional designs of emissions trading schemes, review schemes that have been implemented in the US and Europe, and evaluate the range of investment decisions and corporate strategies which have resulted from the new policy framework.
Download or read book Towards Net zero Carbon Initiatives A Life Cycle Assessment Perspective written by Hsien Hui Khoo and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As industrialized nations look into emerging new technologies focusing on renewable or efficient energy use — along with the move towards Sustainable Development Goals — challenges related to achieving low carbon economy projects have gained much attention. This book explores various initiatives and potential methods to achieve net-zero carbon targets and issues.Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will play an important role as an effective and comprehensive method to analyze potential greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts of a technology or system. LCA is a holistic and system-wide scientific method that can be used to quantify impact metrics chosen to evaluate any emerging Net-Zero Carbon technologies of interest, and reveal environmental trade-offs or further research opportunities that are required for balancing CO2 emissions. LCA perspectives of Net-Zero Carbon Technologies can also be used to outline decision-making strategies for a nation's shift towards low carbon economic development.
Download or read book Sustainable Supply Chains written by Tonya Boone and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-06-07 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sustainable enterprise is one that contributes to sustainable development by simultaneously delivering economic, social and environmental benefits or what has been termed "the triple bottom line." While pursuing profit, socially responsible companies should be sensitive to the environment and uphold the rights of all the firm's stakeholders. This edited volume explores leading-edge ideas — both by academics and forward-thinking companies — to (re)design and market products, source, manufacture, and eventually distribute and recover or dispose of them in an environmentally, ecologically, and socially responsible way. This edited volume is made up of fifteen chapters loosely grouped into clusters. After an introduction, chapter 2 shows the greenhouse emissions at various levels, from countries all the way to individual products. Chapters 3-7 each focus on an industrial sector and address issues specific to that industry, with chapter 7 presenting a case study on LEED certification of Miller Hall, home of the Mason School of Business where two of the authors (Tonya and Ram) work. Chapters 8-10 address product take back in the supply chain. Chapter 8 introduces e-waste and surveys what firms are doing to combat it. Chapter 9 provides an overview of existing take-back legislation and academic papers that have studied various research questions associated with them. Chapter 10 is a tutorial that addresses the problem of product disposition on a closed-loop supply chain: what should a firm do with a product return? Chapters 11-15 address measurement, monitoring, decision-making, and reporting regarding environmental issues in a firm. Chapter 11 provides an academic survey of eco-labeling and the consumer’s willingness to pay for them. Chapter 12 discusses how firms can measure the total carbon footprint in their supply chains and some of the strategies they can use to mitigate carbon emissions. Using the price of call options, chapter 13 illustrates how managers can quantify the savings attributed to sustainability-related investment. Chapter 14 develops a non-linear optimization model that addresses the complex trade-offs involved in making joint operational and environmental decisions. Finally, chapter 15 develops a Data Envelopment Analysis-based method for supplier evaluation incorporating environmental and business factors.
