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Getting Ahead of the Emission Reporting Curve
To comply with the U.S. EPA mandatory GHG reporting rule and any other regulations, you can take a proactive approach to address regulatory and economic imperatives without disrupting your business.
By Rich Hovan, Manager, Environmental Solutions, Rockwell Software
With the proliferation of corporate responsibility and sustainability reports, and commitments to programs such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, it is becoming more common — and expected — for companies to report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions voluntarily. Many consumers, business partners and employees expect well-run businesses to monitor, calculate and report GHG emissions to generate savings and provide economic and environmental benefits.
The United Nations' Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December energized global discussion around the topic. While the agreement generated from the Conference to cap temperature rise and reduce emissions is nonbinding, legislation eventually could require significant adjustments from manufacturers to reduce GHG emissions through any number of forms.
Rockwell Automation technology can help optimize manufacturing processes and help you prepare for future legislation. This can help you maintain operations that produce the most efficient means for site operation with maximized product output and minimized GHG output.
Consider how a portfolio of integrated solutions — including process optimization, facility optimization, process control, and environmental monitoring, reporting and management — can put you ahead of the emissions monitoring and reporting curve, instead of constantly striving to catch up to government-driven mandates.
How Are You Affected?
When Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2007 authorizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to "develop and publish a rule to require mandatory reporting of GHG emissions above an appropriate threshold in all sectors of the U.S. economy," the EPA interpreted that language to use its Clean Air Act (CAA) authority to develop a mandatory reporting rule.
Facilities and suppliers began collecting data on January 1, 2010 for the first emissions reports due March 31, 2011. While the EPA is allowing some flexibility for the method of data collection during the first calendar quarter of 2010, soon after, producers must comply with quarterly reporting requirements and submit annual GHG emission reports.(For more specifics about how reporting requirements might affect your company and industry, read "What the Mandatory GHG Reporting Rule Means to Manufacturers.")
Prepackaged Solution Helps Reduce Costs, Investment
While you might have some monitoring and reporting capabilities, how can you achieve greater accuracy at a lower cost? One alternative to costly hardware-based Continuous Emissions Monitors (CEM) is the Rockwell Software® Pavilion8 Software CEM® predictive emissions monitoring system.
Meeting EPA specifications for predictive emissions monitoring, provides accurate measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and other emissions with the accuracy you need at a more affordable price tag than traditional CEMs.
The patented Pavilion8 Software CEM is a model-based monitoring system that reflects the relationship between process operations and ambient conditions to emissions with a sensor validation system to ensure the accuracy of predicted emissions data. This software is designed to meet the EPA’s predictive emissions monitoring requirements on boilers, furnaces, reciprocating engines, turbines and other emissions sources.
It has been certified and is in continuous operation monitoring nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), CO2, oxygen gas (O2) and other emissions at more than 200 sources in the United States.
Working in Real Time
It doesn’t matter what emissions monitoring methods you’re using right now — achieving greater accuracy in real time is a real challenge. Often, people think the only answer is to look to the past — analyze data when it’s already too late to make changes.
However, what if you could look to the future? What if you could see trends as they happen, and modify your production to reduce emissions before they exceed their limits? The solution is hybrid-modeling technology, such as Pavilion8 Real-time Emissions Manager, that provides real-time emissions predictions from a wide range of sources and fuel.
In addition, a key regulatory requirement for most predictive emissions monitoring systems is 95% uptime. With a sensor validation system (SVS) that can determine if an input sensor fails, and use information from the remaining sensors to reconstruct the value of the failed sensor, Pavilion8 Software CEM can help achieve greater than 99% uptime to determine accurate emissions.
Proactive Approach
Whatever your view of the Copenhagen Conference, one thing is clear: local, state, national and international governments are moving forward with efforts to reduce emissions and develop a GHG strategy.
A proactive approach is important and can help you maintain control of your destiny despite a changing regulatory perspective as it helps address regulatory and economic imperatives without disrupting your business. No matter what legislation is enacted as a result of the Copenhagen Conference and others like it, this is a wise path to take.
For more information about Pavilion Technologies, a Rockwell Automation Company, visit www.pavtech.com.
Rich Hovan, Manager, Environmental Solutions, Rockwell Software
About Rich Hovan
Rich Hovan has more than 34 years of international experience in the combustion, safety, environmental instrumentation and air-pollution control equipment field. He has served on the U.S. EPA’s technical review boards for Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM), Open Market Trading Rule (OMTR) and Medical Waste Incinerators (MWI). He participated in the Opacity Performance Specification rewrite, and has developed the first Conditional Performance Specification (CPS) for the EPA. He currently serves as manager of Environmental Solutions at Pavilion Technologies, a Rockwell Automation company.
Hovan is an active member of the Institute of Clean Air Companies (ICAC); Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA); Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); ASTM International Steel Manufacturer’s Association; and American Society of Hospital Engineers.