5.2 ENERGY STAR® Buildings AND Green Lights energy BUILDINGS SOME BE EARTH SANG YOUR MONEY Green an ENERGY STAR program ENERGY STAR® Buildings and Green Lights are voluntary partnerships with the private Overcoming Market Barriers to Energy Efficiency Energy use in homes and businesses accounts for 35% of all U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and 38% of nitrogen oxides. Commercial and industrial buildings, in turn, account for more than 15% of all U.S. energy consumption. Yet businesses often lack objective information on the benefits of energy-efficient strategies or are dissuaded by high up-front costs (despite the long-term savings they afford). ENERGY STAR® Buildings and Green Lights seek to overcome these market barriers and provide consumers and businesses with the information they need to invest in longterm energy cost savings. Once thought of as an uncontrollable overhead expense, energy has, in fact, become an area for high-return investment - estimated at 20-30% for whole-building upgrades. Under Green Lights, EPA provides technical information and support and public recognition to participants who agree to install energy-efficient lighting. The ENERGY STAR® Buildings program expands upon Green Lights by encouraging individual building owners, developers, and others to undertake more comprehensive building upgrades. This program leads a building owner through a five-stage strategy to capitalize on system interactions that maximize energy savings at minimum cost. Commercial and Federal buildings that are in the top 25% in energy efficiency qualify for the 'ENERGY STAR® Buildings' label. Wide and Growing Participation To date, ENERGY STAR® Buildings and Green Lights have established partnerships with more than 2,800 organizations that are now helping eliminate 13 billion kilowatt-hours of annual energy waste and saving themselves more than $1 billion on their annual energy bills. Among the buildings interested in the ENERGY STARR Label for buildings are the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, and Chicago's Sears Tower. Success Stories Notable ENERGY STAR® Buildings and Green Lights success stories include: San Diego County, as part of its approach to Green Lights and ENERGY STAR Buildings strategy. identified the buildings with the highest energy consumption among its 5,200,000 square feet of county space. The county selected the highest-use buildings as a starting point and have already completed all five stages in one complex of nine buildings. Successfully implemented Green Lights lighting upgrades alone saves the county more than 10 million kilowatt-hours per year. As a result of the total completed upgrades in 4.9 million square feet of building space, the county is saving over $1 million annually. By completing the upgrades for the total 5.2 million square feet that have been committed to the program, the county will double their cost savings. The Davenport Community School District. With the help of technical information from EPA, the Davenport, lowa, school system was able not only to improve the lighting in its buildings, but also to prevent the annual release of 2,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 25,000 pounds of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and save more than $240,000 in annual energy costs. According to Dr. Brad Allison, superintendent of the school district, "Green Lights is a government program that really works. Now (the money we are saving in energy costs] can be used instead for textbooks and other needs." million. How It Works 5.3 CLIMATE WISE Climate Wise is a government-industry voluntary partnership sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that helps businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase productivity, and save money. The program gives technical assistance to more than 475 individual manufacturing companies (representing 12% of U.S. industrial energy use) that have entered into partnership agreements and submitted comprehensive action plans that identify specific steps they will undertake between the time they enter into the compact and 2000. EPA estimates that in 1999, Climate Wise partners prevented emissions equal to 2.7 MMTCE and saved $379 million on their energy bills. By 2000, EPA estimates that Climate Wise partners will reduce emissions by more than 4.8 MMTCE and cut energy costs by more than $600 As part of their Climate Wise commitment, partner companies develop comprehensive Action Plans that describe and quantify cost-effective energy efficiency, pollution prevention goals, and specific implementation measures. Companies then must report results annually while striving for continuous improvement. In return, participants receive help in identifying actions that both save energy and reduce costs: Climate Wise Action Plan Software helps companies identify, track, and quantify project benefits. Peer exchange seminars and workshops allow companies to share managerial and technical expertise. Technical documents, such as Wise Rules and the Case Study Compendium, help partners estimate energy, cost, and carbon dioxide savings from a wide number of projects and sector-specific savings opportunities. Public recognition for achievements gives companies and individual employees the motivation to continuously improve operations. Wide and Growing Participation Climate Wise's reach is not limited to large companies - in fact, nearly 50% of Climate Wise partners have fewer than 500 employees. The program also supports 30 State and Local Government Ally partners that are bringing state and local technical assistance resources together with those of the Federal government to help companies identify and implement cost-saving energy efficiency projects. Building on its U.S. domestic success, EPA recently has teamed with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to extend Climate Wise to local municipalities and companies abroad that seek energy savings and emissions reductions. Targeted countries and regions include Brazil, Central America, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Success Stories The success of Climate Wise is based on its unique ability to attract a diverse range of companies from various industrial sectors and to encourage the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation into their corporate culture and philosophy. Climate Wise success stories include: • British Petroleum, which has implemented energy efficiency projects at 10 company business units that are reducing annual emissions equal to 200,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. In 1996 alone, the company improved the energy efficiency of its worldwide refining operations by 1.2%, saving more than $8 million. (Apart from its participation in Climate Wise, British Petroleum announced in September that it planned to reduce its worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 10% below 1990 levels by 2010.] ⚫ General Motors, which has implemented a wide array of actions, including annual energy project competitions, more than 800 conservation projects, more than 370 energy partnership projects, and Implementation of fuel-switching for 5 steam generating powerhouses. These actions have resulted in emissions reductions of 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. 5.4 METHANE PROGRAMS PA COAL BED METHANE OUTREACH PROGRAM The United States government administers a variety of industry-government voluntary partnerships that are significantly reducing U.S. methane emissions from a variety of sources. Three of the programs (the Landfill Methane Outreach Program, the Coalbed Methane Outreach Program, and Natural GasSTAR) are administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the two agriculturebased programs (AgSTAR and the Ruminant Livestock Efficiency Program) are joint efforts of the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In each case, the programs encourage the profitable collection and use of methane, as opposed to its release to the atmosphere. EPA estimates that in 1998, participants in the programs reduced methane emissions by an amount equal to 4.9 MMTCE equivalent to the emissions from more than 5 million automobiles. By 2010, these programs are expected to avoid methane emissions of 14.3 MMTCE. Overcoming Barriers In general, there are 3 main types of barriers to reducing methane emissions: 1. Typically methane is a byproduct emission and is not viewed as a resource in its own right. Many companies, farmers, municipalities, etc. lack objective technical and economic information on methane recovery options. 2. Reducing methane emissions frequently involves investing in methane recovery technologies, which may be unfamiliar to companies or require partnerships with outside entities. 3. Many companies confront institutional or regulatory barriers as they try to develop projects. The United States government's methane reduction programs seek to overcome these barriers by promoting the use of available methane technologies, taking account of the unique needs and challenges of each industry. How It Works The Landfill Methane Outreach Program provides technical information and support to the many players in landfill projects, including state agencies, energy companies, communities, and industry. The landfill program has assisted more than 80 planned and operational projects through such activities as providing decision support software, identifying potential partners, and addressing specific technical or regulatory issues. The Coalbed Methane Outreach Program works with coal mines and project developers to identify attractive opportunities and identify the necessary participants to develop projects. EPA profiles promising projects, develops technical and cost evaluation models, and undertakes a variety of studies for coal mines on specific project implementation issues. As a result of the program, methane recovery by the coal industry has more than doubled since 1993. Through Natural GasSTAR, EPA works with more than 70 gas production, transmission, and distribution companies which commit to evaluate the applicability of several 'best management practices' in their systems. EPA provides partners with detailed technical and economic information on how to reduce emissions, as well as recognition for their efforts. The program has identified more than 50 previously unrecognized ways of economically reducing methane emissions, which are now being widely adopted by industry. AgSTAR is a joint EPA/USDA program that assists livestock producers with recovering methane from their animal waste management systems. Through provision of technical information and design and engineering assistance, AgSTAR helps producers optimize their waste management systems and recoup some of their investments through energy recovery. Over 500 farms are currently AgSTAR partners and are evaluating the potential to install methane recovery systems. The Ruminant Livestock Efficiency Program is a joint effort of EPA and USDA that aims to increase livestock production efficiency by improving the conversion of animal feed into useful products like beef or milk, resulting in increased profitability for producers and less methane per unit of product. The program has identified a number of simple livestock management techniques that can improve productivity and is now focused on educating livestock producers in these techniques through USDA's field extension services. Wide and Growing Participation All of the methane recovery programs have secured wide participation from key industry groups. To date, there are more than 80 landfills, almost 20 coal mines, 70 natural gas companies, and over 500 livestock producers participating in the programs. In addition, key companies, states, and trade associations are working together with the U.S. government to promote methane recovery. As a result, the U.S. should be able to maintain relatively flat methane emissions through 2000 and is projecting declining methane emissions in the future. Success Stories In 1994, the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (Districts) started the country's only operating facility that converts landfill gas to a clean alternative vehicle fuel. At the Clean Fuels Facility in Whittier, California, landfill gas is compressed to produce enough fuel per day to run a 11- vehicle fleet ranging from passenger vans to large-on-road tractors. The Clean Fuels project not only benefits the environment, it also has improved the public's perception of landfills. "People love the concept of today's trash trucks being fueled by yesterday's trash," states John Cosulich of the Districts. This project has truly set the stage for the development of new, innovative landfill gas recovery projects. Lucent Technologies, a leader in telecommunications, is benefiting as an end-user from one of the Landfill Methane Outreach Program's Gas-to-Energy projects. Lucent, in collaboration with Network Energy of Lake County, Inc., is fueling boiler operations with landfill gas instead of fossil fuels, saving Lucent $100,000 a year on fuel bills. The project is reducing greenhouse gas emissions equal to more than 103,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking more than 23,000 cars off the road each year. Since 1990, Chevron USA Production Company, an integrated energy company that produces, transports, and refines petroleum products, has actively implemented several cost-effective methane reduction technologies and practices with the help of the Natural GasSTAR Program. By taking actions such as the replacement or retrofit of high-bleed pneumatic devices, the installation of flash tank separators on glycol dehydrators, and the use of vapor recover units on oil tank batteries, the company has prevented methane emissions of 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. 57-713 99-8 5.5 PFC EMISSION REDUCTION PARTNERSHIP The PFC Emission Reduction Partnership for the Semiconductor Industry is a voluntary agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the semiconductor industry. The Partnership aims to reduce emissions of atmospherically long-lived perfluorocompounds (PFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from semiconductor manufacturing. Companies joining the Partnership have agreed to work to reduce their emissions by considering the viability of pollution prevention techniques such as process optimization, source reduction, recovery/recycling, substitute chemicals, and abatement. SEMICONDUCTOR Semiconductor Manufacturing and PFC Emissions Of all greenhouse gases, PFCs and several HFCs are the most potent because of their extreme stability in the atmosphere and strong absorption of radiation. PFCs commonly have atmospheric lifetimes on the order of thousands of years; therefore, continuing emissions of these gases will contribute to an existing atmospheric burden. The semiconductor industry produces tens to thousands of integrated circuits on wafers of silicon less than 12 inches in diameter. Specialized processes and chemicals are required; one process is etching, where materials such as nitride, polysilicon and oxide are removed from the wafer using PFCs in a plasma system. A second use of PFCs in plasma is for the cleaning of chemical vapor deposition equipment. In both applications, PFCs and by-products are emitted. Sometimes new PFCs and HFCs are created by plasma disruption of the original gas. PFC and HFC emissions from semiconductor manufacturing are expected to grow with increasing production and complexity in product design. How It Works The PFC Emission Reduction Partnership for the Semiconductor Industry is the result of a cooperative effort between EPA and industry to develop a viable alternative to traditional apprcaches. The partnership is based on the commitment of proactive companies to reduce their emissions of PFCs. Partners are provided flexibility in reduction strategies. Partners specify the method of reduction. EPA is relying on the resourcefulness and creativity of the industry to identify the reduction opportunities that best suit its operations and provide maximum protection for the environment. EPA is working to support its Partners' efforts in a number of ways. EPA publicly recognizes active companies for their environmental leadership. EPA is estimating the hazards of several potential chemical substitutes. Also, EPA is promoting the practice of PFC emissions reductions worldwide. Several companies have already identified source reduction opportunities. By careful examination of certain processes, these companies have been able to reduce gas usage and, consequently, emissions. Demonstrating Success Each Partner agrees to track two emission values annually. First, a company's emissions will be recorded. Second, a normalized rate of PFC usage will be developed and tracked. The normalized rate will reflect reductions in the use of the gas for each unit of product over time. This will prove especially valuable for demonstrating progress over the course of the partnership. |