U.S. Takes Major Step Towards Carbon Reporting
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The US Environmental Protection Agency has found that harmful chemicals, emitted as greenhouse gases by certain industries, play a major role in climate change. Thus a carbon reporting plan has been put forward by the EPA, and this serves as a major step towards the regulation and reduction of greenhouse gases.
A company that emits more than 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases in a year must comply with the US government’s carbon reporting proposals. This impacts the automobile, fossil fuel, steel and chemical industries mainly. Facilities, manufacturing plants and warehouses that feature heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems or refrigeration and air conditioning systems, using refrigerant gas are covered.
A large amount of pollutants are emitted by certain industries, leading to the depletion of the ozone layer, an increase in global warming and adverse climate change. Many of the emissions are caused by man-made chemicals, featured in a number of processes and systems. As these emissions have taken such a toll on our environment, carbon reporting has been implemented for positive change.
The EPA needs to determine the volume of a number of different chemicals, discharged into the atmosphere every year. The carbon reporting proposal covers carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases such as methane, perfluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. This initiative is taking place in a number of foreign countries.
The United States Congress, complementing the carbon reporting plan, has improved funding to establish a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry by June of 2009. This is additional to the Climate Registry for calculating carbon released into the atmosphere. The majority of states in the US already participate in the Climate Registry.
Carbon reporting involves a complex multidimensional process, calling for daily accountability for greenhouse gas production throughout a company. Greenhouse gas emissions must be projected and subsequently identified as caused by a leak or faulty system operation.
The EPA estimates that 13,000 facilities would fall under the carbon reporting proposal. These enterprises account for up to 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. For facilities with refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) systems or heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in use, the reporting requirement is best handled with a refrigeration management program. The program handles the tedious process of tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA expects the carbon reporting requirement to take effect in 2010. That would mean the first annual report would be required by 2011. To address these complex regulations, many industries are relying on refrigerant tracking software that automatically handles all the monitoring and reporting requirements. This ensures that the information is complete, accurate and submitted to the EPA on time.
