Enviance Blog

GHG and the Crystal Ball: The EPA’s (not so clear) Path Forward for Regulating GHG Emissions

It’s hard to believe that the EPA first proposed its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Mandatory Reporting Rule (MRR) over two and a half years ago with the hope that it would gather enough information to better understand the breadth and scope of GHG emissions.

Within just a few months of the initial proposal, so many things changed that the agency finalized its Endangerment Finding in December of 2009 and began creating new regulations—including vehicle standards to address GHG emissions from transportation sources. In addition, the EPA created guidelines around Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and the Title V Gas Tailoring Rule for new major sources, and new source performance standards.

With all the new GHG regulations, many organizations are trying to understand how these laws will affect their business costs as well as their day-to-day operations, and are increasingly finding themselves trying to anticipate what sort of guidelines may be forthcoming.

To dive deeper into this topic, we are hosting a live webinar next week entitled “GHG and the Crystal Ball: The EPA’s (not so clear) Path Forward for Regulating GHG Emissions”.  John McManus, vice president of Environmental Services at American Electric Power (AEP), and Greg Gasperecz, vice president of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) at Enviance, will take a closer look at the impacts of GHG regulations on U.S. companies, and discuss:

• Background of the EPA’s GHG regulations
• Key takeaways from the last two years under the current Federal Administration
• Considerations on the path the EPA might take in regulating GHG emissions in the future

Join us!

Time: 11:00am PT/ 2:00 p.m. ET
Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Twitter Rashtag: #EPApredicts

Register Here!

Environmental Compliance: Where Data Preservation is King

We just released a whitepaper titled “Keeping What’s Yours: Environmental Data Preservation in Enviance,” which explores the value of preserving environmental data in a single enterprise-wide software system.

Maintaining quality data is the number one goal of any Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) department, but it’s not the only objective; preserving that all-important data is vital to running a successful environment compliance program.

So, why is this such a challenging problem for organizations?

Typically, EHS teams aren’t equipped with the right tools. Many organizations opt for spreadsheets and stand-alone or homegrown databases to monitor their environmental compliance. This exposes them to manual data entry errors, like duplicate data, which in turn results in bad data. It also greatly decreases the chance of preserving key environmental data, while dramatically increasing the cost to maintain that data. Conversely, businesses that opt for a single, enterprise-wide relational database can retain data for a longer time, at a more cost-efficient rate.

Using a single environmental management system, with a clear and transparent view of data companywide, can extend the half-life of environmental data from 2 to 3 years to 4 to 5 or longer; preserving it and substantially decreasing effort and compliance costs in the long run. Lost, unused or misused information is costly to recreate. The situation is further compounded by employee turnover—staffing changes can occur as often as every 2 to 3 years and, all too often, institutional knowledge walks out the door with personnel. Simply put, an in-house environmental system cannot be people dependent. The immediate savings provided by a home-grown or standalone database run by select employees are eliminated when you consider the potential for errors, and unnecessary reliance on a few individuals who control the data and are familiar with its operation.

When you weigh all the facts, it becomes clear that the immediate savings afforded by manual-entry databases are offset by a myriad of potential issues: lost data, manual data entry errors, personnel turnover and more. A preserved and well-maintained level of documentation supporting proof of compliance is the expectation of all organizations facing environmental regulations—and an enterprise-wide system with access available across the board is the only logical way to achieve that goal. If data preservation is king, spreadsheets are for the pawns.

Read the white paper, here.

 

 

3 Questions with... Elizabeth Flammini, Zuvo Water

Today we kick off our “3 Questions” series, where we ask industry experts about their organization’s environmental programs, perspectives on environmental policy, and how they reduce their own environmental footprint.

This week we spoke with Elizabeth Flammini, director of marketing at Zuvo Water, to get her outlook on the environmental landscape. Elizabeth has been working in the environmental and sustainability field for 10 years, in an environmental engineering and marketing capacity focused on water, wastewater and groundwater.  She holds a BS and MS in Civil Engineering and an MBA from Duke University, and is a professional engineer in the State of California.

Q: Are we doing enough to encourage the use of renewable energy through subsides and incentives? If not, what more can be done?

A: No. There is fear about making investments in renewable energy, because there isn't parity with non-renewable sources of energy. When there are incentives to create parity, there is fear they could go away. We should model the things that Germany, Spain and the Netherlands have done to grow the market and increase demand for renewable energy.

Q: What policies and legislation would you like to see passed to protect our environment?

A: I’d like to see policies and legislation that hold up the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act and amendments, and funding to support the EPA's work in evaluating contaminants of concern; I’m in favor of rule-making for enforcement of these important environmental regulations. I would also like to see policy developed related to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and its potential impacts on the environment and water supplies, in particular.

Q: What do you do to curb your own environmental footprint?

A: I walk when possible (to work, the grocery store and other errands), bundle up instead of turning on the heat (or, at least delay turning on the heat as long as possible). I minimize air travel, recycle and reuse water when possible (capturing water while waiting for it to get hot and using it to water plants). I also wait until the clothes dryer is full before running it, and unplug electronics that aren't frequently used and are mostly in standby mode. And last but not least, I avoid buying bottled water and other beverages that come in plastic bottles.

Follow Elizabeth on Twitter and Zuvo Water on Twitter and Facebook.

 

What does America Recycles Day mean to you?

 

As many of you know, tomorrow is America Recycles Day. Since 1997, November 15 has been the only nationally recognized day dedicated to finding fun and creative ways to promote recycling in the United States.

The official America Recycles Day website has aggregated a list of the events planned for tomorrow. Here’s just a quick snapshot of the cool activities going on:

• In Chicago, IL, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) will put on its fifth annual Trashy Fashion Show. The community-based project features outfits and accessories made from materials that would normally be thrown away or recycled. Over 30 designers will showcase their wearable art.
• In Oakland, CA, the Museum of Children’s Art will be hosting an event called “Re-Create”, which is a recycled art competition and exhibit open to student artists in grades K-12. Discarded materials will be used to create art that promotes reducing, recycling and reusing.
• And in San Diego, CA, SONY is accepting recyclable household consumer electronic items like televisions, computer monitors, stereos, computers, cell phones, etc. in an effort to collect 50,000 pounds of electronic waste.

What will YOU do this year to promote recycling in your community? If you’re looking for ideas, or a scheduled event you can take part in, visit this link and enter your zip code to find events near you.

To celebrate America Recycles Day, we visited a California College campus to ask local students their thoughts on recycling and its impact on the environment. Check out the video.

We hope you find the time to get involved in your community for this year’s America Recycles Day. Use the links provided above to find a way to contribute whether by supporting a local recycled art exhibit, pitching in on a beach cleanup, or recycling those old electronics gathering dust in the garage.

No matter what you choose, let us know how you plan to make a change in the comments below.

Happy Recycling!

NV Energy cuts GHG reporting prep time in half with Enviance

If you’ve ever seen the bright lights of Las Vegas, you may have wondered—between drinks—what a massive amount of electricity it must take to power the entire city.

Behind the scenes, NV Energy is working tirelessly to keep the city up and running, while keeping a close eye on the resulting environmental impact. NV Energy provides electricity to 2.4 million citizens throughout Nevada as well as a state tourist population exceeding 40 million annually. Among the many communities served are Las Vegas, Reno-Sparks, Henderson, Elko, and parts of California.

Recently, Christine Klimek, senior environmental scientist at NV Energy, shared some of the environmental compliance issues her company faces during the webinar “Integrating GHG and Air Compliance Management and Reporting” with Enviance.

With 10 facilities and over 2,000 vehicles, NV Energy is the largest utility in the state of Nevada in addition to being a retail energy provider for California. As such, it tracks greenhouse gases (GHG) for mandatory EPA reporting and the AB 32 rule, as well as for voluntary reasons.

NV Energy is faced with various challenges:  it not only pulls data from different sources throughout the state, but also collects many types of data. It covers a huge territory, with purchased power making up a lot of its portfolio, so it must also track those sources. For a full look at its GHG profile, it needs to collect the last 10 percent of emissions (CO2 makes up 90 percent of emissions); this encompasses environmental data on fleet vehicles, emergency units, building electricity units, etc.

With Enviance, NV Energy is better equipped to manage its environmental data; as a result, it has already cut the time spent on data collection in preparation for reporting by 50 percent.

Watch the webinar here.