Quantify CO2 Reductions and Reward Green Initiatives Says Expert

Doha, June 23 (QNA) - Carbon dioxide (CO2) not emitted into the atmosphere or saved through management initiatives and capital investments should be quantified by a system in order to reward implementers with tax relief and carbon credit trading, a Doha-based sustainability expert suggests. In an opinion article published in the June edition of Qatar Foundation's news magazine Telegraph, Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) Head of Sustainability Dr Alex Amato writes, "We need to give carbon-saving a value, in terms of tax breaks or carbon credit trading." The technology to build sustainably exists, but the challenge is how to place a real value on the CO2 emission reduction and motivate people to commit to the capital investment that is necessary to achieve this, he says. To promote this process in Qatar, the QGBC has constructed a carbon-negative experimental 'Passive House' and a conventional villa both of same size and comfort standards with the objective to anlayse their environmental footprint and compare energy usage. The experiment is a joint initiative between QGBC, Barwa Real Estate and Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa). "The conventional villa is likely to have a one-star rating of the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) which was developed in Qatar," says Amato. "The 'Passive House' built with sustainable materials and solar energy and water recycling technologies should achieve a much higher GSAS rating as well as transfer excess energy back into the electricity grid, a first for Qatar." Dr Amato's suggestion to give carbon-saving a value and reward those who implement sustainable development is significant since globally buildings contribute a major share of CO2 emissions Buildings Account for 39% of CO2 emissions in the United States, according to the US Green Building Council. The commercial and residential building sector accounts for 39% of CO2 emissions in the US per year, more than any other sector. US buildings alone are responsible for more CO2 emissions annually than those of any other country except China. Buildings consume 70% of the electricity load in the US and this sector consumed 40 quadrillion Btus of energy in 2005 at a cost of over $300 Billion. Energy use in the sector is projected to increase to 50 quadrillion Btus at a cost of $430 billion by the year 2025. Over the next 25 years, CO2 emissions from buildings are projected to grow faster than any other sector, with emissions from commercial buildings projected to grow the fastest - 1.8% a year through 2030, according to USGBC estimates. In its fourth edition 'Moving Towards a Climate Neutral United Nations', released last Friday, Greenhouse gas inventories were compiled for 63 UN entities. The UN report reveals that the UN's greenhouse gas emissions totalled 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2011- corresponding to the yearly energy-related emissions of 350,000 European households. Air travel still makes up 50% of per capita emissions (4 tonnes per capita) making this the biggest challenge for the UN in reducing its carbon footprint. Small wonder, the transport sector utilised 20% of the world energy sources. Global emissions of CO2, the main cause of global warming, increased by 3% in 2011, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011, says a 2012 European Commission report titled 'Trends in Global CO2 Emissions', published by its Joint Research Centre. "In 2011, China's average per capita CO2 emissions increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes CO2. Taking into account an uncertainty margin of 10%, this is similar to the per capita emissions in the European Union of 7.5 tonnes in 2011, the year in which the European Union saw a decrease in emissions of 3%. "China is now well within the 6 to 19 tonnes/person range spanned by the major industrialised countries. In comparison, in 2011, the US was still one of the largest emitters of CO2 with 17.3 tonnes in per capita emissions, after a steep decline mainly caused by the recession in 20082009, high oil prices compared to low fuel taxes and an increased share of natural gas. "With a decrease in 2008 and a 5% surge in 2010, the past decade saw an average annual increase of 2.7%. The top 5 emitters are China (share 29%), the US (16%), the European Union (EU27) (11%), India (6%) and the Russian Federation (5%), followed by Japan (4%)," says the EC report. The figures are frightening, but there is hope as there are abundant sources of renewable energy. For example, the annual available solar energy is 300 watts per square meter. Besides this, there are clean energy resources or those with minimal carbon emission such as wind, biomass, hydro, nuclear to develop a zero carbon economy. Dr Amato says, there are a "lot of new developments, but only a combination of all these will effectively reduce carbon pollution". (END)