CArbon Footprints Everywhere...Can we Kill it!
Increasing global environmental awareness, along with increased regulatory and governmental pressures in many countries, as well as carbon limits or carbon trading markets, have provided large incentives to companies to reduce their carbon footprints. However, few solutions have been available to help companies evaluate environmental impact, along with cost, when designing their supply chain networks.
"The level of a supply chain’s carbon footprint reflects not only potential current and future liabilities in taxes and offset costs, but may reflect inherent inefficiencies in their operations," said David Simchi-Levi, professor at MIT and product strategy consultant to ILOG. “Moreover, the ability to quantify and reduce carbon dioxide may allow companies to earn credits that can be traded with less-efficient companies, as is evident from the 40 billion Euro world-wide market for carbon emission permits in 2007.”
For over a decade, LogicNet Plus has been offering advanced optimization technology to help users manage complex supply chains by allowing supply chain managers to do an analysis of the trade-offs between production, warehousing, transportation costs and service requirements, as well as the calculation of the optimal network configuration for different cost and service objectives.
Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report released [recently].
Some highlights:
Cities with the largest carbon footprints are mostly in the eastern half of the country from Indiana to western Pennsylvania—areas that rely heavily on coal for electricity production and natural gas for heating.
Lexington, Kentucky, had the biggest per capita carbon footprint: Each resident on average accounted for 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide in their energy usage. At the other end of the scale was Honolulu, at 1.5 tons per person.
It’s tempting to conclude that any carbon reduction policy should target the highest emitters. But that would be faulty logic—or at least bad economics. Efficient policy design requires policies target the least cost reductions. That may or may not be the biggest emitters. The easiest way to guarantee a policy is efficient? Establish a price for carbon and let it be traded—I’ll bet you could see that coming a mile away.
While it is a given that electronic communication is better for the planet than older ways of communicating, it is useful to try to determine the actual carbon emissions associated with the IT systems involved in producing it. What quantity of energy is used to fuel IT equipment? Are some systems more efficient than others? How does choice of software and hardware impact the carbon footprint of electronic communication.
Sun hopes to determine best practices that lower carbon emissions and enable companies to benchmark their practices to the best in the industry
Link to "10 Ways how to keep Footprints away from your Office":--http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/04/11/10-business-practices-that-reduce-your-footprint/
"The level of a supply chain’s carbon footprint reflects not only potential current and future liabilities in taxes and offset costs, but may reflect inherent inefficiencies in their operations," said David Simchi-Levi, professor at MIT and product strategy consultant to ILOG. “Moreover, the ability to quantify and reduce carbon dioxide may allow companies to earn credits that can be traded with less-efficient companies, as is evident from the 40 billion Euro world-wide market for carbon emission permits in 2007.”
For over a decade, LogicNet Plus has been offering advanced optimization technology to help users manage complex supply chains by allowing supply chain managers to do an analysis of the trade-offs between production, warehousing, transportation costs and service requirements, as well as the calculation of the optimal network configuration for different cost and service objectives.
Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report released [recently].
Some highlights:
Cities with the largest carbon footprints are mostly in the eastern half of the country from Indiana to western Pennsylvania—areas that rely heavily on coal for electricity production and natural gas for heating.
Lexington, Kentucky, had the biggest per capita carbon footprint: Each resident on average accounted for 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide in their energy usage. At the other end of the scale was Honolulu, at 1.5 tons per person.
It’s tempting to conclude that any carbon reduction policy should target the highest emitters. But that would be faulty logic—or at least bad economics. Efficient policy design requires policies target the least cost reductions. That may or may not be the biggest emitters. The easiest way to guarantee a policy is efficient? Establish a price for carbon and let it be traded—I’ll bet you could see that coming a mile away.
While it is a given that electronic communication is better for the planet than older ways of communicating, it is useful to try to determine the actual carbon emissions associated with the IT systems involved in producing it. What quantity of energy is used to fuel IT equipment? Are some systems more efficient than others? How does choice of software and hardware impact the carbon footprint of electronic communication.
Sun hopes to determine best practices that lower carbon emissions and enable companies to benchmark their practices to the best in the industry
Link to "10 Ways how to keep Footprints away from your Office":--http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/04/11/10-business-practices-that-reduce-your-footprint/
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