climate change
We Hate Carbon Offsets, But We Bought ‘Em Anyways
On 27, Mar 2020 | In PEI Blog | By Adrienne
Executive Summary
Leaders around the world are looking increasingly to carbon offsets as a solution to the global climate crisis. Under this scheme, businesses and individuals can pay to fund carbon reduction projects, such as reforestation, to balance the impact of their own GHG-emitting operations. The idea that you can buy carbon credits while continuing to engage in polluting behaviors does not sit well with many scientists, activists, and others — including us. Unfortunately, we are still a long way off from creating a carbon neutral future, with even the most progressive states in the country targeting carbon neutrality no sooner than 2045, and the largest polluters in the world still lagging behind.
At Point Energy Innovations, we are at the forefront of developing a carbon neutral future, studying the benefits of all-electric new construction for the UC Office of the President, and designing numerous all-electric renewable powered projects throughout California. Our work in this area inspired us to turn our analysis inward to quantify our company’s emissions, and determine what more we could do about it. Our analysis showed that our company’s annual emissions are just 74 metric tons CO₂e. Put in perspective, this is roughly one third of the carbon that is saved annually by just one of our high-performance building projects.
Though offsets are a controversial solution, until we develop enough carbon-free energy resources to power the global economy, they are the only option for those that have already taken steps to reduce their impact by other means. Being a sustainability-focused firm, we have already implemented many practices and programs that lower our impact. 100% of our employees commute via public transit, our low-energy office uses one third of the energy of a typical office in San Francisco (let us know if you want to come by for a visit), and we offer a repair benefit to encourage reuse rather than disposal, to name a few. Because of this, we researched verified carbon offset projects as a way to go completely carbon neutral.
Our team elected to purchase offsets that support three projects that are directly focused on alleviating energy poverty via increased access to renewables. The projects provide solutions at all scales, from providing families with solar cookstoves to helping farmers capture biogas all the way up to building a 100 MW wind farm. These projects are also unique examples of effective community engagement, in which the needs of the local population are prioritized in creating an effective carbon mitigation solution.
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Earth Day at the Brower Center
On 02, Apr 2015 | In PEI Blog | By Larry
Looking for a great way to celebrate Earth Day? Our friends at the LEED Platinum Brower Center (see below for a description of the innovative systems we installed in this great building) are hosting a wonderful event with fun for the entire family. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, April 18, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Free, $10 Suggested Donation
RSVP
Join the David Brower Center for its first-ever Earth Day celebration, a fun-filled afternoon of community learning opportunities, hands-on workshops, family art activities, live music, and delicious organic food–all focused on protecting and honoring the planet we call home. Earth Day attendees will have the chance to engage in critical conversations during the Climate Change Solutions Right Under Our Feet speaker panels; turn their ideals into action with the Ecology Center’s creative reuse and fix-it workshops; learn how to tune a bike with Waterside Workshops; view Earth-inspired live art making projects by local artists; experience a carbon-neutral power demonstration by All Power Labs; check out short films highlighting how healthy soil can impact climate change; and show their creative side by contributing to the Streets Alive! Strawberry Creek chalk project and making their own Earth Day flags.
Presented by the David Brower Center in partnership with Earth Island Institute, Nutiva, and Ecology Center
Berkeley, CA
43,500 sf Mixed Use Residential, Office and Retail
This mixed use project in Berkeley, CA includes 96 apartments, public education space, a restaurant, underground parking, and 50,000 square feet of office and educational space for environmental non-profits. Peter Rumsey designed the HVAC system for both the office complex and the affordable housing, designed to create a thriving downtown community for Berkeley’s working, low-income families. Designing to strict budget constraints, Peter’s approach included affordable, low-energy radiant heating at the apartment building perimeter. Moreover, wherever possible, Peter used the local climate to optimize energy efficiency, for instance, pre-cooling the office building’s floor slabs at night using the cooling tower. A 68 kW PV array provides 35% of the building’s energy use.
The Beginner’s Mind
On 08, Jan 2015 | In PEI Blog | By Peter
By Peter Rumsey
Citizens from 162 countries around the world participated in the People’s Climate March on September 21, 2014 marking it the largest demonstration on climate change in history.
Photo: Heather Craig, Survival Media Agency (Creative Commons)
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
– Zen Master Shunryo Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
Some were taken by surprise when 300,000 or more people in New York City, and thousands more across the country and around the world, came out for the People’s Climate March on September 21, 2014 for the largest demonstration on climate change in history.
People of all ages participated, but young people did much of the organizing and came out in droves. They sent a clear and strong message to President Obama and world leaders meeting at the United Nations climate summit: They want bold actions on climate change. At the same time, on campuses across the country, students are demanding their universities divest from fossil fuels and move immediately to renewables. Not 10 percent renewables. Not 20 percent renewables.
They want 100 percent renewables. When kids learn about climate change and see solar on their school rooftop, they know it’s possible to generate our power with solar, and they ask, “Why doesn’t everyone have solar? Why aren’t all the cars electric?” You don’t see kids in middle school working on their science projects saying, “We want the world to use 10 percent renewable energy.”
Young people often think in absolutes. And the rest of us, too often, think in terms of barriers. But, young people want us to set the highest goals we can for renewables because they care about climate change. They also have a little bit of what the Zen masters call “the beginner’s mind,” in which all things are possible and barriers and complications are quickly dismissed.
This “beginner’s mind” can be very useful. There is something fundamentally important about looking at what needs to happen, without focusing on how hard it will be to get there.
The J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, California, was designed with a goal to be the first net zero energy laboratory.
Photo: J. Craig Venter Institute
J. Craig Venter set a goal to create the first Net Zero Energy laboratory. He didn’t say, “Let’s achieve a high percentage of our energy use through renewables and efficiency.” He said, “Let’s not use any fossil fuel at all. Zero.” And, despite the incredibly intense energy needs of a scientific research lab of this caliber, J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego has become the world’s first Net Zero Energy Lab.
Reaching for an aspirational goal also takes a willingness to fail. Silicon Valley startups often set audacious goals against all odds. The iPhone wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for someone who was willing to totally throw out the existing definition of a phone. Google simply didn’t listen to the voices that said, “You can’t create a browser that makes money.” Startups in Silicon Valley launch because people have a dream, an aspiration, and they believe in it completely. Many do fail, but many succeed. They don’t focus on the barriers; they may actually see obstacles as opportunities.
When the climate policy, AB 32, to limit greenhouse gas emissions went before California’s legislature in 2006, big business opposed it, citing all the economic barriers to achieving it. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, supported AB 32. Silicon Valley knew it would require a whole new set of businesses in order to create a low carbon economy, and entrepreneurs saw it as a business opportunity. Indeed, California’s economy, and the clean tech economy in particular, is stronger than ever.
We thought transitioning to renewables would be full of barriers and difficulties, but once we started to commit to it we created a path, through policy and then through business and economies of scale, where solar is easy. It’s not even an extra cost to add solar now because of financing opportunities. California’s utilities now generate almost 23 percent of their electricity from renewables. And we managed to get to this level of renewables before PVs even took off. We are expected to generate 25 percent of our electricity through renewables in 2016 and 33 percent by 2020.
So when student organizers say they want 100 percent renewables, it may not be as audacious as it first sounds. Venter did it, many other buildings are doing it, and now whole communities, cities and islands are doing it. Lancaster, CA, for example has committed to take the entire city to net zero energy use by 2020, becoming one of the first cities powered by 100 percent renewables.
When you are young and audacious, you are sometimes willing to do crazy stuff. This craziness is often the foundation for success. No matter our age, there are times we can find it useful to return to the beginner’s mind. Often, as in the case of renewable energy, barriers evaporate once you begin to pursue a clear and ambitious goal.
