Study of Carbon Footprint in Organizations

Author(s):  
Kapil Mendiratta ◽  
Subhadeep Bhattacharyya ◽  
Grandhi Venkata Abhinav

With the ever increasing intrusion of humans in the environment, it is imperative that individuals and organizations as a unit contribute to an ecologically sustainable environment. With the awareness about carbon emissions and their long term effects increasing; more and more companies are investing in achieving greener ways of production This chapter aims to study how socially/ environmentally conscious today's corporations are, and what courses of action are being taken towards a greener and carbon neutral society in terms of saving basic equivalents of resources such as paper, water, electricity etc. In this chapter we have conducted a survey to analyze the major sources of carbon emission in corporate offices and discuss how corporations can be engaged in contributing to a greener environment.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Seyedabadi ◽  
Mohsen Karrabi ◽  
Jafar Nabati

Abstract In recent years, green roofs have become the subject of increasing interest because of their good aesthetic qualities, energy conservation, and ability to reduce thermal island effect and absorb greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). Given the typically significant carbon emission of construction activities, adding any extra component to a structure increases the amount of carbon to be released during the execution stage. This also applies to green roofs, which require more materials and more extensive construction activities than traditional roofs. However, plants of green roofs absorb substantial amounts of CO2 during their lifetime, thus leaving both short- and long-term positive impacts on the building’s carbon footprint. This study investigated the short- and long-term effects of green roofs on carbon footprint, as compared to conventional roofs. For this investigation, the CO2 uptake of eight plant species with suitable drought- and cold-resistant properties was measured by Infrared Gas Analysis (IRGA) and the effect of green roof on the building’s carbon footprint was analyzed using the software Design Builder. The results showed that building a green roof instead of a traditional roof increases the carbon emission of the construction process by 4.6 kilograms per square meter of roof area. Investigations showed that, under high light intensities (1500–2000 µmol/m2.s), Sedum acre L has the best performance in compensating the extra carbon emission imposed on the construction process (in 264 days only). Under low light intensities (1000–1500 µmol/m2.s), Frankenia laevis showed the best increase in the amount of carbon uptake (2.27 kg/m2.year).


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0248743
Author(s):  
Md Mazharul Islam ◽  
Majed Alharthi ◽  
Md Wahid Murad

Objective While macroeconomic and environmental events affect the overall economic performance of nations, there has not been much research on the effects of important macroeconomic and environmental variables and how these can influence progress. Saudi Arabia’s economy relies heavily on its vast reserves of petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, and copper, but its economic growth trajectory has been uneven since the 1990s. This study examines the effects of carbon emissions, rainfall, temperature, inflation, population, and unemployment on economic growth in Saudi Arabia. Methods Annual time series dataset covering the period 1990–2019 has been extracted from the World Bank and General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection, Saudi Arabia. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration has served to investigate the long-run relationships among the variables. Several time-series diagnostic tests have been conducted on the long-term ARDL model to check its robustness. Results Saudi Arabia can still achieve higher economic growth without effectively addressing its unemployment problem as both the variables are found to be highly significantly but positively cointegrated in the long-run ARDL model. While the variable of carbon emissions demonstrated a negative effect on the nation’s economic growth, the variables of rainfall and temperate were to some extent cointegrated into the nation’s economic growth in negative and positive ways, respectively. Like most other nations the short-run effects of inflation and population on economic growth do vary, but their long-term effects on the same are found to be positive. Conclusions Saudi Arabia can achieve both higher economic growth and lower carbon emissions simultaneously even without effectively addressing the unemployment problem. The nation should utilize modern scientific technologies to annual rainfall losses and to reduce annual temperature in some parts of the country in order to achieve higher economic growth.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Gu ◽  
Yufeng Zhou ◽  
Tingting Mei ◽  
Guomo Zhou ◽  
Lin Xu

Bamboo forest is characterized by large carbon sequestration capability and it plays an important role in mitigating climate change and global carbon cycling. Previous studies have mostly focused on carbon cycling and carbon stocks in bamboo forest ecosystems, whereas the carbon footprints of bamboo products have not received attention. China is the largest exporting country of bamboo flooring in the world. Estimating the carbon footprint of bamboo flooring is of essential importance for the involved enterprises and consumers to evaluate their own carbon footprints. In this study, we investigated the production processes of bamboo scrimber flooring for outdoor use, a typical bamboo flooring in China. Based on business-to-business (B2B) evaluation method, we assessed CO2 emission and carbon transfer ratio in each step of the production process, including transporting bamboo culms and producing and packing the products. We found that to produce 1 m3 of bamboo scrimber flooring, direct carbon emissions from fossil fuels during transporting raw materials/semi-finished products, from power consumptions during production, and indirect emissions from applying additives were 30.94 kg CO2 eq, 143.37 kg CO2 eq, and 78.34 kg CO2 eq, respectively. After subtracting the 267.54 kg CO2 eq carbon stocks in the product from the 252.65 kg CO2 eq carbon emissions derived within the defined boundary, we found that the carbon footprint of 1 m3 bamboo scrimber flooring was −14.89 kg CO2 eq. Our results indicated that the bamboo scrimber flooring is a negative carbon-emission product. Finally, we discussed factors that influence the carbon footprint of the bamboo flooring and gave suggestions on carbon emission reduction during production processes. This study provided a scientific basis for estimating carbon stocks and carbon footprints of bamboo products and further expanded knowledge on carbon cycling and lifespan of carbon in the bamboo forest ecosystem.


2012 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 524-527
Author(s):  
He Nian ◽  
Xiao Min Wang ◽  
Xiao Juan Shi

Based on the energy conservation, calculate the carbon footprint of single wall corrugated boards. By calculating the heat balance of each unit in the corrugated board production line, the steam quantity of each unit was calculated and translated into direct carbon emissions; indirect carbon emission was calculated by the electric carbon emission factor. Evaluates to: producing quantitative 140/110/170(g/m2) single wall board for 100m2, the direct and indirect emission of CO2 is 25.4kg and 9.4kg.


2020 ◽  
pp. 713-727
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Wang, Xin Zhang

The study on the relationship between investment in environmental governance, carbon emission and economic growth is helpful for the relevant government departments to coordinate the influence among them when formulating the policies of reducing emission and conserving energy, so as to take the comparative advantages of various factors and promote the benign interaction between economic development and environmental governance. In this paper, the data of Per capita GDP, per capita investment in environmental governance and per capita CARBON dioxide emissions in China from 2000 to 2019 are selected as the research basis, and variables are studied by means of Granger causality and impulse response function. As shown in the results, there is a single Granger relationship between investment in environmental governance and carbon emissions, that is, the increase of investment in environmental governance leads to the reduction of carbon emissions. The influence of economic growth on environmental governance investment is small, but in the long term, it can restrain the growth of carbon emissions. Investment in environmental governance can promote economic growth and stimulate a reduction in the emissions in the short term; Economic growth was hindered by the emissions in the long term and fail to stimulate increased investment in environmental governance. Based on these findings, this paper proposes policy Suggestions for optimizing the structure of environmental governance investment, improving the carbon emission monitoring and response mechanism, and strengthening the technological level of energy conservation and emission reduction.


2020 ◽  

<p>The long-term forecasting of the energy demand is an important issue of an area’s sustainable development, especially for mega cities such as Beijing. Beijing is changing its energy supply strategy to depend on energy imports from other provinces due to the city’s long-term low carbon sustainable development plan. Beijing has promised that it will reach the peak value of energy consumption by 2050 and the peak value of the carbon emissions by 2030. To understand whether this can be achieved, this study built an energy demand simulation model using the LEAP with different development scenarios. The results show that, the peak value of Beijing’s energy demand is between 108.25 and 131.74 Mtce during the period of 2044 to 2048, while the peak value of carbon emissions is between 134 and 139.38 million tons in 2025. We also find that adjusting the industry structure and improving the tertiary industry’s energy usage efficiency can be efficient ways to reduce energy consumption. These approaches not only reduce the negative influence of the economic development, but also achieve the energy saving and carbon emission reducing requirements. This study provides an interpretation of the implications for the future energy and climate policies of Beijing.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
Anukram Sharma ◽  
Khem N Poudyal ◽  
Nawraj Bhattarai

Study of carbon footprint is an emerging field which provides statistical analysis about the contribution of an activity on global climate change. Every human activity in daily life is achieved at the expense of those substances which directly or indirectly contribute to global warming. In this era of global communication, humans are habitual to know about the ongoing changes in the world. Newspapers are one of the reliable sources for getting updated about the global information. Paper-based newspapers come at the cost of greenhouse gas emissions. So, this article based upon an analysis of carbon footprint of Nepal’s national daily newspaper provides evaluation of each of the following: carbon emission during the manufacturing of raw materials, carbon emission from fuel consumption during transportation of raw materials, carbon emissions during the printing of newspaper and carbon emission from the fuel consumption during the transportation of printed newspaper. During the study period of 2019 A.D., the result shows that the total carbon emission of Gorkhapatra newspaper was found to be 2308.5 kg CO2e per ton. The upshot of this study provides not only thorough information about carbon emissions but also builds a foundation for calculation of carbon emissions from paper used in various sectors.


2022 ◽  
pp. 200-215
Author(s):  
Nurcan Kilinc-Ata

The presented study analyzes the asymmetry effect of research and development (R&D) expenditures, population growth, energy consumption, and economic growth on carbon emissions in the sample of Turkey for the period 1990-2020. Nonlinear ARDL is used to control the asymmetry of the variables. Linear ARDL is used to control the long-term and short-term relationships between the variables. The findings show that there is a symmetrical or linear relationship between the variables of R&D expenditures, population growth, energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions. The findings display that economic growth and R&D are effective in reducing carbon emissions, while energy consumption seems to increase carbon emissions. Interestingly, the population was found to be effective in reducing carbon emissions in the study. In order for Turkey to reach its 2050 target, it is necessary to give priority to environmental regulations and policies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6745
Author(s):  
Malka Nadeeshani ◽  
Thanuja Ramachandra ◽  
Sachie Gunatilake ◽  
Nisa Zainudeen

At present, the world is facing many hurdles due to the adverse effects of climate change and rapid urbanization. A lot of rural lands and villages are merged into cities by citizens, resulting in high carbon emission, especially in the built environment. Besides, the buildings and the construction sector are responsible for high levels of raw material consumption and around 40% of energy- and process-related emissions. Consequently, the interest in defining the carbon footprint of buildings and their components is on the rise. This study assesses the carbon footprint of a green roof in comparison to a conventional roof in a tropical climate with the aim of examining the potential carbon emission reduction by a green roof during its life cycle. A comparative case study analysis was carried out between an intensive green roof and a concrete flat roof located on two recently constructed commercial buildings in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka. Data were collected from interviews, project documents and past literature in addition to on-site data measurements and a comparison of life cycle carbon emissions of the two roof types was carried out. The results revealed that the operational phase has the highest contribution to the carbon footprint of both roof types. In the operational phase, the green roof was found to significantly reduce heat transfer by nearly 90% compared to the concrete flat roof and thereby contributed to an annual operational energy saving of 135.51 kWh/m2. The results further revealed that the life cycle carbon emissions of the intensive green roof are 84.71% lower compared to the conventional concrete flat roof. Hence, this study concludes that the use of green roofs is a suitable alternative for tropical cities for improving the green environment with substantial potential for carbon emission reduction throughout the life cycle of a building.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
abduxukur zayit ◽  
Kun Song ◽  
Antariksh Bhagwan Ghengare ◽  
Feng Gao

Abstract BackgroundA living University campus is like a model city; its energy and carbon auditing can also model how energy and carbon can be studied and analyzed in a city. China’s colleges and universities face grave problems, now and in the future - from declining quality of campus environments to deteriorating building performance, antiquated facilities, and inefficient energy and resources consumption. While research and discussion exists on improving existing university buildings’ energy performance and evaluation standards - much of that research focuses on energy savings, rather than on greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Calculation of campus carbon emissions is the first step for transforming and planning each existing university to carbon neutral campus. Some researchers of campus carbon emissions in China have made calculations, which, although as yet unpublished, create an initial framework for carbon-neutral campus plan targets. The present research gives an overview of universities’ drive towards sustainability in China and in other countries. The paper then details carbon footprint accounting steps, quantifying major carbon emission sources and carbon sequestration by vegetation inside the Tianjin University’s Weijin Road and Peiyangyuan Campuses. Results from China’s universities are compared with international results in the scientific literature. In this paper, based on this data, we suggest strategies and show preliminary target settings for how to transform Weijin Road into a carbon-neutral campus. ResultsAnnual carbon emissions for 2019 of the Weijin Road campus were 58,172.68 tonnes, (2.60 tonnes per person), and Peiyangyuan campus, 55,213.75 tonnes (2.46 tonnes per person). The largest sources of the two campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions were electricity and gas; Weijin Road campus; electricity = 61.42%, gas = 20.73%, and Peiyangyuan campus electricity = 69.32%, gas = 11.60%. Carbon sequestered in the two campuses by vegetation are 11,257.34 tonnes and 27,856.51 tonnes respectively. The renewable energy contribution to carbon reduction in Peiyangyuan campus is 50.85 tonnes.ConclusionPer person carbon emissions of Tianjin University’s two campuses are below the average for some US campuses, but are also greater than some in European countries. Research may investigate methods used by successful campuses towards becoming carbon neutral.


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