Greenhouse Gas Estimation: Calculating Emissions and Energy Consumption

This report estimates the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from a corporation using the emissions and energy threshold calculator. It explains the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 and its thresholds. The report analyzes and discusses the results obtained and identifies areas for improvement. The corporation investigated has five facilities, and the emissions and energy threshold calculator has been used to calculate emissions, energy consumed, and energy produced by the facilities.

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GREENHOUSE GAS ESTIMATION
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Greenhouse Gas Estimation
1. Introduction
The purpose of this report is to estimate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from a
corporation using the emissions and energy threshold calculator – 2018 developed by the Clean
Energy Regulator. Greenhouse gas emissions are one of the major factors contributing to climate
change (Anderson, et al., 2016). These gases have huge negative impacts on human health,
environment, economy (Garcia-Sanchez & Prado-Lorenzo, 2012) and social aspects of human
life. They are causing extreme weather events, destabilizing natural ecosystems, declining air
and water quality, causing diseases and declining economies (Luber & Prudent, 2009). These
greenhouse gases include, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and fluorinated gases
(hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons, among others (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 2017), and they are produced from different uses of energy.
The purpose of estimating these greenhouse gas emissions is to determine if the corporation has
to register and report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007.
Many governments are developing programs and initiatives that will help reduce the
impacts of climate change. The Australian Government, through Clean Energy Regulator,
formulated the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 as an initiative to monitor
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from corporations. The purpose of the Act is to hold
corporations accountable for their activities that consume energy, produce energy and emit
greenhouse gases. Climate change is a major threat to the whole world and therefore every
country, corporation and individual should be responsible and accountable for their actions or
activities. This is a global problem and can only be solved through corporation of every person
from all parts of the world. The aim of the Act is to engage players in different industries so as to

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develop and implement initiatives that will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, improve
energy efficiency and encourage use of low emission technologies. The Act made it mandatory
for corporations in Australia to monitor their operations, keep relevant records, register and
report about greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy production at the
facilities they own or operate (Australian National Audit Office, 2012).
2. Threshold Calculator Estimations
The corporation in this study has a total of 5 facilities. These facilities are located in
different parts of Australia. The operations in each facility are different and therefore each
facility has unique energy requirements. However, the requirement by the corporation to register
and report under National Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reporting Act 2007 will be determined
by the total emissions, energy consumed and energy produced from the entire five facilities. This
means that emissions, energy consumed and energy produced for each facility will be calculated
separately after which they values obtained will be summed up. The greenhouse gas emissions,
energy consumed and energy produced reporting is based on full year operational control.
It is important to note that the greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumed and energy
produced considered in this study are those that are directly involved with the operations or
activities being undertaken at the facilities. For example if it is a factory, the greenhouse gas
emissions, energy consumed and energy produced to be considered will be those involved in the
actual production activities at the factory and other related activities such as transportation of raw
materials from different sources to the factory and also the delivery of finished goods to the
regional depots or final consumers.

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The summary of emissions, energy consumed and energy produced for each of the facilities and
their totals are provided in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Full year emissions, energy consumed and energy produced
Total Greenhouse
Gas Emissions (t
CO2-e)
Total Energy
Consumed (GJ)
Total Energy
Produced (GJ)
Facility 1 4,982 73,644 207
Facility 2 1,928 35,798 113
Facility 3 2,109 36,773 5,963
Facility 4 938 21,341 28,914
Facility 5 138 3157 8
Total 10,095 170,712 35,205
From the results in Table 1 above, facility 1 consumes the highest amount of energy and
also has the highest emissions. Facility 4 produces the highest amount of energy and its
emissions are less than those of facility 1, 2 and 3. On the other hand, facility 5 consumes the
least amount of energy, produces the least amount of energy and has the lowest emissions. But
from this data, it is not possible to conclude the reasons contributing to the varied amount of
emissions, energy consumed and energy produced. For instance, it cannot be concluded that
since facility 5 has the lowest emissions, consumes the lowest energy and produces the lowest
energy, it is the most efficient and environmentally friendly facility out of the five. This is
because the low emissions and energy consumed and produced may be due to the nature of
activities undertaken at the facility. In fact, it is not strange to find out that facility 5 may be the
most inefficient and environmentally unfriendly than the other four facilities. Nevertheless, that
is not the focus of this report.
According to the National Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reporting Act 2007, the
following are the thresholds that determine if a corporation is required to register and report or

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not. The corporation is required to register and report if its facilities exceed any of these
thresholds:
1. Consumes or produces over 50 TJ (terajoules) of energy or emits 125 kt (kilotonnes) of
greenhouse gases for the reporting year starting July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2009.
2. Consumes or produces over 350 TJ of energy or emits 87.5 kt of greenhouse gases for the
reporting year starting July 1, 2009 and ending June 30, 2010.
3. Consumes or produces over 200 TJ of energy or emits 50 kt of greenhouse gases for the
reporting year starting July 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2011, and any other subsequent
year (Federal Register of Legislation, 2017).
This being 2018, the third threshold applies in this case It therefore means that the
corporation has the obligation to register and report under the National Greenhouse and Energy
Reporting Act 2007 if all its facilities consume or produce over 200 TJ of energy or emits 50 kt
of greenhouse gases.
3. Analysis ad Discussion
From the results given in Table 1 above, the corporation’s total annual emissions are 10,095
tCO2-e, which is below the threshold of 50,000 tCO2-e; the corporation’s total annual energy
consumed is 170,712 GJ, which is below the threshold of 200,000 GJ; and the corporation’s total
annual energy produced is 35,205 GJ, which is below the threshold of 200,000 GJ. This means
that none of the thresholds is met and therefore the corporation is not obligated to register and
report under the National Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reporting Act 2007.
But having said that, it does not mean that the corporation should not be concerned about the
emissions, energy consumed and energy produced by its facilities. This information should drive

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more research about the operations of these facilities so as to identify less-efficient areas and
develop strategies of improving them. There is no facility that can be 100% efficient but constant
evaluation of their operations and improvement makes them better at all times.
One of the immediate actions that the corporation should take is to perform a comprehensive
analysis on energy consumption by its five facilities. The total energy consumed by the facilities
is 170,712 GJ, which is short of the 200,000 GJ threshold by 29,288 GJ only. The corporation
should identify areas where most energy is consumed and develop strategies of reducing energy
consumption. These strategies may include: use of alternative energy sources such as renewable
energy or other forms of environmentally friendly energy, improving energy efficiency of its
systems, using computerized systems to monitor and control energy consumption.
Violating the National Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reporting Act 2007 results in civil
penalties. If a corporation meets any of the greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumed and
energy produced thresholds but fails to register report and report to the Clean Energy Regulator,
it will be fined a maximum of $220,000 and an additional $11,000 each day that it continues to
violate the Act (Cornwall Stodart, 2015). Corporations are also required to keep records of their
greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumed and energy produced by their facilities. Failure to
keep records attracts a penalty of $110,000.There is definitely no corporation that would wish to
pay these penalties hence the best way is to adhere to the rules stipulated in the Act.
The levels of greenhouse gas emissions have been rising over the past years, posing a great
threat to the current and future generations (Kijewska & Bluszcz, 2016). When these gases are
emitted, they get trapped into the atmosphere thus causing the high temperatures being
experienced all over the world (Department of the Environment and Energy, (n.d.)). For
example, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have increased by over 40% from the start of

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Industrial Revolution, rising from approximately 280 ppm (parts per million) in 1800s to about
400 ppm today (Lallanila, 2018). These are alarming statistics that should make every person
concerned about greenhouse gas emissions. Another worrying fact is that the largest percentage
of greenhouse gas emissions are contributed by human activities (MacCarthy, et al., 2018). The
increasing human population, energy-inefficient industrial processes, environmentally unfriendly
farming practices and changing lifestyles are some of the major factors contributing to climate
change. Some of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions include: rising sea level, less snow and
ice, more flowing and drought, and increased extreme weather events, among others (British
Geological Survey, 2017). The topic of global warming and other climate change events is no
longer new. It requires the efforts of every person on earth to reverse or mitigate global warming.
Governments should also enact policies that are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The greenhouse and energy monitoring system by the Clean Energy Regulator is just one of the
initiatives by the Australian government to promote the fight against global warming and climate
change.
4. Conclusion
Climate change is a global problem that must be fought by everybody. Australian
government, through the statutory agency Clean Energy Regulator, formulated the National
Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 to compel corporations to monitor, keep records and
control greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy production of the activities
undertaken at their facilities. All this is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The
corporation investigated in this report has five facilities. The emissions and energy threshold
calculator – 2018 has been used to calculate emissions, energy consumed and energy produced
by the facilities. Results obtained showed that the total annual emissions from the five facilities

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is 10,095 tCO2-e, total annual energy consumed is 170,712 GJ and total annual energy produced
is 35,205 GJ, which are below the thresholds of 50 tCO2-e, 200 GJ and 200 GJ respectively. This
means that none of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 thresholds is met
hence the corporation does not have to register or report to the Clean Energy Regulator.
Nevertheless, there is need for the corporation to evaluate the energy consumption, energy
production and emissions of its facilities so as to identify the most appropriate measures to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and integrate low emissions
technologies.
References

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pioneering work of Arrhenius and Callendar to today's Earth System Models. Endeavour, 40(3), pp. 178-
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