Leveraging Existing Data Streams Toward Climate-Driven Emissions Inventorying and Reporting

Abstract

Rising energy prices and imminent greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations are dual incentives to proactively manage resource-usage and emissions. The key to effective planning and optimization is a reliable, cost-effective approach to measuring, compiling, and evaluating potentially useful information streams. We have found that for corporations and industrial facilities, energy invoices are a valuable, often under-utilized resource for preparing the GHG inventories that are important for characterizing and disclosing climate-related liability and that will be required for compliance with forthcoming climate-driven reporting requirements. To make best use of energy invoices for GHG profiling, Pace has developed a programmable analytics tool that presents the inventories in adaptable, user-friendly outputs. The graphic output has proven highly useful in emissions analysis and reduction planning, and in apprising stakeholders about potential climate-related liabilities and management strategies therefore. An automated GHG analytics tool becomes most powerful when integrated with an energy management system that monitors and manages energy invoices, and that optimizes energy usage and spending. In this paper, we describe the development and functionality of the GHG analytics tool and its integration with an energy management system, as used to guide climate-related strategic planning for a multinational mining and metallurgy company.