Archive

Archive for April, 2009

Carbon Mis-Calculations?

April 29th, 2009

Not all carbon calculators are created equal…in fact, if you provide the same starting information to 10 different calculators, you will likely get ten totally different answers that could vary by several orders of magnitude.  Does that mean that each of them is wrong?  Not necessarily… part of the issue with calculating carbon emissions today comes from what assumptions are made and what standards are used in the calculations.  There is no single “right” carbon calculation factor today.  And since there is a variety of conversion protocols to choose from – TRACI, WRI/WBCSD, Climate Registry etc – it is not currently possible to get a definitive carbon number.

So, what are you to do?  Gil Friend has collected many online calculators today here.  It is a very good list if you are looking for what is available today and also takes advantage of social media and asks you to rank the calculators you try.  I would recommend the free online calculators only to give you an idea of what your carbon footprint may be.  If you really are interested in developing a baseline and report on your carbon, you need to understand more the underlying methodology of the conversion factors and choose those that are more reflective of your regional location and/or product type.  And generally those are not free today.  Several good sources are in the links section of my site where you can find out more about these carbon calculators.

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EPEAT Imaging Standard Development – Subgroup Summary

April 7th, 2009

The EPEAT 1680.2 Imaging standard has established a variety of subgroups to begin work on criteria and definitions for this standard.  Below is my initial summary of these groups and any issues they have uncovered.  Mostly, there is a call for additional stakeholders so I would ask that if you can, please join the discussions in these subgroups.



Indoor Air Quality – Preliminary discussion on scope of products, definition questions. Committed to gather information from similar programs that have IAQ requirements for future use.



Environmentally Sensitive Materials – Covered issues of common criteria using 4.1 section with most items as common criteria. Need to coordinate closely with definitions and consumables committee. Using energy star standard for definition of Imaging Devices at this time.



Materials Selection – Reviewed current standard; working on keeping meetings to a minimum. No substantial findings/conclusions at this time, mostly logistical discussion



Design for End of Life – Has not met. Meets April 3 to discuss org issues and common criteria. Think need some more information on the end-of-life system to help set what design for end-of-life should cover. Suggesting a presentation to the group on what definitions need to be considered – in terms of imaging devices and types. Wide variety of products could be covered.



Energy Conservation – Reviewed 1680.1. All criteria should be common. Group will look at more. Questions about what energy conservation and what corporate performance would cover – Embodied Energy came up. Seeking more NGO representation for the group.



EOL Management – Reviewed 1680.1 4.6 criteria. Take back and Audit should be common with modifications; battery take back doesn’t apply to imaging. Main question is around consumables – what subgroup will address EOL management for consumables, this group or the consumables group?



Corporate Performance –  First meeting had limited attendance.   Focus is on increasing attendance before launching into many discussions however initial requests to gather any information on corporate performance issues in EUP as well as what new issues like climate change and LCA’s might need to be looked at and by which subgroups were discussed.



Packaging – Reviewed 1680.1 and the eco-label matrix. Considering long list of criteria from these. Need to refer back to definitions that have already been developed – recovered content, recyclability etc.



Consumables – Need to define what the scope of this WG is supposed to be. Some agreement that imaging equipment needs to use Green consumables but not really defining what a green consumables would be. Need to define what consumables come from each of the covered imaging products as defined in 1680.2.



Definitions – No NGO or purchasers represented.  Will review e-star definitions, any issues/concerns there. Also includes marking technologies. Asking for folks to join the SG.

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