Green Is Good!

Consultation on pre-1990 forest land allocation announced

The "Sustainable Forestry Bulletin" recently sent me this message that I want to reproduce for you all to read as it is a subject some of you will have an interest in.

 

New consultation on the pre-1990 forest land allocation

The Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan (Consultation Draft) has been released today for the allocation of New Zealand Units (NZUs) to owners of pre-1990 forest land.

The Consultation Draft supersedes the Draft Forestry Allocation Plan released in October 2008. All submissions received in response to the 2008 Draft Plan were carefully considered. Where supported by the Government, options put forward in previous submissions have been included in the current proposed changes.

A new allocation plan is required because of the changes to the forestry provisions of the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that are proposed in the Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill (see Issue 8 of this bulletin for further details).

Note that submissions to the Select Committee considering the Amendment Bill closed on 13 October 2009. Current legislation and regulations still apply until changes are passed into law by Parliament.

The pre-1990 forest land allocation policy

Under the ETS, emissions arising from the deforestation of more than 2 hectares of exotic pre 1990 forest land after 1 January 2008 are automatically included in the ETS unless the land has been exempted. To offset some of the impact of the rules of the ETS, New Zealand Units (NZUs) are to be allocated to eligible owners of pre-1990 exotic forest land.

Eligible landowners will need to decide in the first half of 2010 whether to either:

• apply for an allocation of NZUs; or
• if eligible, apply to have their land exempted from the NZ ETS (under the less-than-50 ha exemption, or the tree weed exemption).

The allocation of NZUs is 18, 39 or 60 units per hectare depending on when and how the landowner acquired the land. All eligible recipients will be transferred part of their entitlement (38%) in Commitment Period 1 (1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012); the balance will be transferred after 2012.

The forestry allocation has significant value. Landowners will not be obliged to apply for either an allocation of NZUs or one of the exemptions but it may be in their financial interests to do so. The Government expects most, if not all, eligible landowners will apply for either an allocation or an exemption.

This consultation

The Consultation Draft of the Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan that we are seeking feedback on follows the proposed policy and process requirements in the Amendment Bill. Specifically, we seek your feedback on:

• Which landowner should receive an allocation of units if forest land was recently sold?
• When does a shareholding change become an ownership change, and how to determine when ownership was transferred?
• What information should be provided with applications?
• What records must be kept and for how long?

These elements of the Allocation Plan will not be prescribed by the ETS legislation once it is amended.

The public can make submissions on the Consultation Draft until November 22, 2009. For a copy of the consultation draft or to make an online submission, visit www.maf.govt.nz/sustainable-forestry, call 0800 CLIMATE (254 628) or email: climatechange@maf.govt.nz.

MAF grants $4 million for new forests

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has granted $4 million to 42 recipients to plant new forests.

MAF Programmes Director Clive Lilley says the third round of the Afforestation Grant Scheme's (AGS) public tender round, which closed on 30 April, saw a total of $4,020,993 granted to projects around New Zealand for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 financial years

"The 42 projects will create 2688 hectares of new forest in 2009 and 2010 at an average price of $1789 per hectare in the high sequestration pool and $650 per hectare in the low sequestration pool.

"It will be allocated to projects in the Waikato, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu/Wanganui, Wellington, Nelson/Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago and Southland regions.

"MAF received 68 tenders in this last round, double the number received in the previous round, indicating very strong interest in the Scheme."

Mr Lilley said since the AGS got underway in June last year over $6.9 million has been allocated to projects totaling over 4,495 hectares.

All available funding has now been allocated for the 2010/11 financial year, which means there will be no tender round for this October.

The next tender round is planned to close on 30 March 2010. Mr Lilley said 16 eligible tenders that have not been able to be approved due to demand exceeding available funding have been held over and may be approved as further funding becomes available.

Next year’s round will be for projects starting in the 2011/12 financial year.

For further information on the AGS or to download an AGS Public Tender Form, see: http://www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange/forestry/initiatives/ags/

The Sustainability Forestry Bulletin

The "Sustainable Forestry Bulletin" is about keeping you and others with an interest in forestry informed. Please feel free to forward it on to others who might be interested.

To subscribe to the Bulletin, please email sustainableforestrybulletin@maf.govt.nz with ‘Subscribe: Sustainable Forestry Bulletin’ in the subject line and your contact details in the body of the email.

If you have any questions relating to anything in this Bulletin or other forestry matters, please email your enquiries to: climatechange@maf.govt.nz or ring 0800 CLIMATE (254 628).

Cost-Effective Intelligent Green Building in Singapore - Conference

We have been made aware of a conference in Singapore that may be of interest to readers.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

28-29 January 2010 Cost-Effective Intelligent Green Building Masterclass to be held at Singapore..

Building Green & Profitable, Build More With Less!

Architects, contractors and property owners around the world are constantly facing new challenges in building green. These include increasing demand for environmentally conscious construction, stringent regional building standards, as well as demand for greater convenience by end users. Building and construction in Asia are no exception. With forthcoming mandatory green building practices and in the midst of a fierce fight for survival, there is a higher tendency to compromise on efficient resources in pursuit of cost savings.

An “Intelligent Green Building” is defined as a building which is energy efficient and has little or no negative impact on the environment thanks to better design, and construction techniques including improved indoor environment quality, energy conservation and heat recovery technology, the reutilization of sustainable building materials, and installation.

'Green'-edge insights on: 

• Evaluation of regional and international green building rating systems
• Implementing technologies, techniques and materials to meet green standards
• Refurbishment of existing buildings for energy savings
• Nanotechnology applications for sustainable green construction, improving indoor air quality and safety
• Cost-benefit analysis of building green
• International case studies: Construction costs vs. green features

About The Trainer:

The trainer has over 18 years of experience devoted exclusively to enhancing the value of projects. He is the director of a leading design, research and advising firm focusing on next generation green building technologies. He is also an associate professor at Ball State University, and his books and articles have been published by Wiley, Princeton Architectural Press, the American Institute of Architects, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition, he has delivered green building addresses and courses in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

ETS 101 - a starting guide

There is much debate in NZ on the proposed NZETS. We must remember that an ETS is not the total solution to all of the emission problems nor is it the only response.

To follow is a 101 guide to ETS.

It has always been our position that being sustainable is good for business! This is now bearing fruit as there is a direct positive economic impact related to the cost of carbon under and NZETS.

For example if the power price is set to rise in the NZETS then being more energy efficient will save you money! We think this is a "no brainer"!

Emissions Trading

 

Emissions trading is a policy instrument available to mitigate GHG emissions. It involves putting a limit on the quantity of GHG emissions that can be emitted to the atmosphere over a set period of time – the “emissions cap”

 

Government policy documents state that emissions trading schemes are internationally recognised as an equitable, effective and efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Emitters of carbon will need to purchase carbon credits. As carbon is emitted, the credits that a business holds/processes will need to be surrendered, effectively “paying” for the greenhouse gasses produced.

 

GHG emissions are usually converted to their carbon dioxide equivalent [CO₂e]

 

Trading participants can then purchase and sell emission allowances in order to meet their emissions cap.

 

Emissions trading operates like a commodity market where the price is determined by the Market based on the relative supply.

 

The price of the emission allowance [the carbon price] is the financial incentive to limit emissions.

 

Emissions trading alone will not be sufficient to achieve the global reductions in GHG emissions that are required to stabilise atmospheric GHG concentrations, but ETS is the principal instrument that governments are employing in the first instance.

 

Any ETS system has advantages and disadvantages. Potential advantages of an ETS include:

 

• The guarantee of a specific emissions reduction [abatement] outcome which is set by an emission cap
• Can lead to the use of innovation and business responses to reduce the resource intensity and affect of business on GHG emissions

 

Potential disadvantages can include:

 

• The carbon price is not known in advance
• Can be costly to establish
• If free rebates and permits are offered then economic distortions can occur

 

Cap and Trade

 

New Zealand has chosen a cap and trade system. This involves setting a specific limit (a cap) on the quantity of emissions that can be released to the atmosphere from a specified group of emission sources over a given time period.

 

For an ETS to be effective and efficient as a mitigation instrument the trading  system should cover some of the following key principles:

 

• Maximum emissions coverage
• Provide a clear market incentive to reduce emissions
• Be embodied in long term government policy
• Maximise administration efficiencies to reduce compliance costs
• Have a clear set of standards that allow for accurate emissions accounting
• Provide economic efficiency and equity

 

What is the ETS

 

Under an ETS, prices are established for units to emit greenhouse gases. It is hoped that these prices influence decisions by producers, consumers and investors, in their decision making around the reduction of emissions and to look at viable alternatives.

 

Put more simply, essentially, if you create emissions, say by using fossil fuels by driving your car e.g. petroleum, it costs you units (so called carbon credits). If you create a carbon sink (plant trees) that then soak up carbon emissions, you create credit units that can be traded.

If you have any questions or comments let us know?

Milutin Milankovitch the father of climate change research??

I have been undertaking some research for some upcoming seminars I will be conduction on Sustainability, Climate Change and the NZETS.

I must have missed that class at college about the Milankovitch cycles so I thought that the reads of this BLOG may also be interested too??

Milankovich Cycles

 

The Milankovich cycles refers to changes in the earth’s orbit and orientation toward the sun and have long term important bearings on the earth’s climate.

 

Astronomer Milutin Milankovitch [1879 – 1958] developed the mathematical formulas upon which these orbital variations are based. He hypothesized that when some parts of the cyclic variations are combined and occur at the same time, they are responsible for major changes to the earth's climate (even ice ages). Milankovitch estimated climatic fluctuations over the last 450,000 years and described cold and warm periods.

 

The Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch is best known for developing one of the most significant theories relating Earth motions and long-term climate change. Born in 1879 in the rural village of Dalj (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today located in Croatia), Milankovitch attended the Vienna Institute of Technology and graduated in 1904 with a doctorate in technical sciences. After a brief stint as the chief engineer for a construction company, he accepted a faculty position in applied mathematics at the University of Belgrade in 1909—a position he held for the remainder of his life.

 

You may have missed this science class at school and may not be aware that  the axis of the earth pointing toward the North Star (Polaris) is at an angle of 23.45° and that the earth is approximately 91-94 million miles from the sun, these facts are not absolute or constant. The interaction between the earth and sun, known as orbital variation, changes and has changed throughout the 4.6 billion year history of our planet.

 

Orbit Variations

 

About every 100,000 years the earth’s orbit around the sun varies from nearly circular to elliptical (elongated). This has an effect on the amount of the suns radiation that strikes the earth. When circular the variations are around 6% between summer and winter. However in an elliptical phase the variation can be 20-30%!

 

You may think that most objects in space that orbit something else move in circles, but that isn't the case. Although some objects follow circular orbits, most orbits are shaped more like "stretched out" circles or ovals. Mathematicians and astronomers call this oval shape an ellipse.

 

The eccentricity of Earth's orbit is very small, so Earth's orbit is nearly circular. Earth's orbital eccentricity is less than 0.02. The orbit of Pluto is the most eccentric of any planet in our Solar System. Pluto's orbital eccentricity is almost 0.25.

 

The Sun is not at the center of an elliptical orbit. It is a little off to one side, at a point called a "focus" of the ellipse. Because of this offset the planet moves closer to and further away from the Sun every orbit. The close point in each orbit is called perihelion. The far away point is called aphelion. If an orbit has a large eccentricity, the difference between the perihelion distance and the aphelion distance will also be large. Earth is only 3% further from the Sun at aphelion than it is at perihelion. Pluto's aphelion distance from the Sun is 66% greater than its perihelion distance.

 

 

 

Axis Tilt

 

 

About every 42,000 years the tilt of the earth’s axis ranges from 21.8 to 24.4 degrees. This tilt determines the angle of solar radiation that hits the earth’s surface.  At present we are around 23.5 degrees.

 

The Earth's axis is tilted from perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic by 23.45°. This tilting is what gives us the four seasons of the year - spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter. Since the axis is tilted, different parts of the globe are oriented towards the Sun at different times of the year.

 

Summer is warmer than winter (in each hemisphere) because the Sun's rays hit the Earth at a more direct angle during summer than during winter and also because the days are much longer than the nights during the summer. During the winter, the Sun's rays hit the Earth at an extreme angle, and the days are very short. These effects are due to the tilt of the Earth's axis.

 

Orientation

 

About every 22,000 years the orientation of the earth’s axis changes between the Pole star and the Vega star. This determines what time summer and winter occurs!

 

The term "Earth orientation" refers to the direction in space of axes which have been defined on the Earth. It is usually measured using five quantities: two angles which identify the direction of the Earth's rotation axis within the Earth, an angle describing the rotational motion of the Earth, and two angles which characterize the direction of the Earth's rotation axis in space. With these coordinates, the orientation of the Earth in space is fully described.

 

 

Pole Star

 

A pole star is a visible star, especially a prominent one that is approximately aligned with the Earth's axis of rotation; that is, a star whose apparent position is close to one of the celestial poles, and which lies (approximately) directly overhead when viewed from the Earth's North Pole or South Pole. There are potentially both northern and southern pole stars, but whether there is either depends on the current orientation of the Earth's axis, which moves over time (see precession of the equinoxes). The term the Pole Star usually refers to the star Polaris (colloquially referred to as the North Star), which is the current northern pole star.

 

EarthTrends Delivered: Get the latest WRI charts and data via your inbox

As a subscriber to the WRI - World Resources Institute I have been advised of the launch of Earth Trends.

They state:

WRI is happy to announce the preview release of "EarthTrends Delivered" - a free graphics subscription service sending WRI charts and figures to your inbox based on your research and policy priorities.

"EarthTrends Delivered" makes it easy for you to use WRI charts and figures in your research, presentations, or in the media. For every chart, "EarthTrends Delivered" provides high-resolution images and original citations, and in many cases the underlying data sets.

This initial release includes Climate and Energy charts and figures that address issues related to U.S. and international climate policy, energy and electricity, greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation.

To learn more, provide feedback, or subscribe today, visit www.earthtrendsdelivered.org/signup?c=CT1842.

I have signed up as this looks like a good resource. I suggest you sign up too!

Heaps of green issues and people on Twitter but can you trust the Twitter Platform?

When I signed in to write this post I had the following message from TypePad!

Attention: Recent attacks to Twitter are affecting the performance of our 'Share this Post' feature. TypePad is working with Twitter to remedy this issue. Thank you for your patience.

I use twitter for business and have the following twitter accounts:

www.twitter.com/sempreavanti@sempreavanti

www.twitter.com/onespec@onespec

www.twitter.com/imcnz@imcnz

As I have found when you "key word" search on Green, GHG and Sustainability there are 1000's of twipeople writing messages on TWITTER. It is a great platform to spread the green and sustainability message!

The outage over the last 2-3 days due to hackers show how business risk need to be managed!

Let me know your horror stories of the past days of not being able to use twitter for business?

WRI Report - Emerging Risks: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia

Are you on the WRI World Resources Institute emailing list? If not you should be.

Here is one good reason - they send you emails updating you on studies and reports.

Here is one that will be og interest!

Emerging Risks: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia

Emerging Risks: Impacts of Key Environmental Trends in Emerging Asia lays the groundwork for analysts to understand environmental issues as financially material, and for companies to see the financial benefits of reducing their environmental impacts.

This report is the first in a series establishing the link between issues like climate change, air pollution, water supply, and natural resource depletion and traditional financial analysis on corporate value and financial strength for companies in six key Asian economies – India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The report lays the groundwork for analysts to understand environmental issues as financially material, and for companies to see the financial benefits of reducing their environmental impacts.

The report is 58 pages and the PDF file is 2.3MB and it is well worth a read!

Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region

Sometime ago I signed up to receive updates from the Global Carbon Project GCP.

They sent me an email the other day which lead me to some information that you may find interesting.

You may be interested in a new assessment just published on the quantity of organic carbon buried in the permafrost regions of the Northern Hemisphere, a key vulnerability to future climate change.

Please check:

http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/news/SoilOrganicPoolsinPermafrost.html

Press releases:

English: http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSSP458218

Spanish: http://lta.reuters.com/article/topNews/idLTASIE56005N20090701

Chinese: http://cn.reuters.com/article/CNEnvNews/idCNChina-4893620090701?mlt_click=Tertiary+Navigation+CN_36_Static+module+_sec1-priCon-m0_News

The link starts with: The vast amount of carbon stored in the Arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week. The new estimate is over 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere......

READ MORE HERE

So what do you think? Are we as a planet stuffed if more of the permafrost thaws out?

What can we do? Will the meetings in December 2009 sort it out?

The jury is out on this one!

 

 

Come and visit us at the Bizzone Bussiness Expo in Wellington 22-24 July

Green is Good BLOG together with Onespec and Sempre Avanti Consulting will be at stand #117 at the Bizzone Business Expo at the TSB Bank Arena from 22-24 July.

Please pop by and say hello.

We would love you to visit us (look out for us at stand 117 in the main hall) and to have a good look around the expo. Make sure you enter our card draw to win a new iPod.

We can offer you a complimentary ticket to the event by CLICKING HERE.

More details on the expo can be found at http://www.bizzone.com/ The information below gives you a quick overview of the Expo.

Why you should attend?

Increased sales, smarter marketing, tighter cashflow, compliance made easy, staffing solutions, access to finance, debt collection, pricing strategy, business planning, strategy, online business, IT, cost reduction, investment advice, insurance…

Get support for your business from

New Zealand

’s best

Including 40 free seminars, specialised zones, free business mentoring, free smart marketing expertise and much more.

For your complimentary guest ticket to the Bizzone Business Expos register online and automatically go in the draw to win a $100,000 Smart Marketing Prize 

www.bizzone.com/guestof/exhibitor

Put these dates in your diary now!

Wellington

– TSB Arena

22^ndJuly Wednesday 9-4pm

23rd July Thursday 9-8pm

24th July Friday 9-4pm 

The good oil! NZ Olive oil that is!! (knowing where your food comes from)

Next in the current series of blog posts on food is my very favorite a post about the good oil! OLIVE OIL. New Zealand olive oil. Local olive oil, oil grown and made with tender care in the Wairarapa. (in this photo - an olive picked from the tree by Anne)

I love and use olive oil a lot. I have developed a taste for premium NZ Olive oil.

The other day I met Dr Anne Opie at Moore Wilson's in the city. Anne was tasting oil that she had produced.

I loved it - the oil in question is Trio organic olive oil.

Anne and husband Brian have an olive grove in Greytown. As Anne and I talked it was evident we had a mutual passion for the good oil, food source issues and sustainability. I sent some information to Anne and she invited me over to the Wairarapa to have a tour of her olive grove.

(By the way I left Moor Wilson with a 375ml bottle of Trio oil)

On Saturday 20 June I got to visit the Opie's olive grove to learn more about where my good oil comes from, how it is produced and how it gets to market.

To follow is a photo essay of the tour. (you will note that some friends joined us for this great opportunity)

This is what the olive grove looks like.

There are 500 olive trees on this grove. The 2009 vintage produced a great oil from a small harvest in a difficult growing year. The result was an excellent return rate of 17.8%.

This is Dr Anne Opie (our host) Anne is very passionate about her olives! I found it amazing to meet the person who grows and nurtures the oils and overseas the transformation into world class extra virgin olive oil.

Anne's olives are certified organic. This causes one issue for production. The certified organic oil press is in TeHoro on the Kapiti Coast so the harvested olive has a long drive for pressing.

All of the walking about gave us all an appetite so we all had lunch together as YES WE GOT TO SAMPLE THE 2009 OIL! Together with last years.

 2008 oil on the left, 2009 on the right. As you can see the 2009 oil is very different with a great Green colour and powerful pepper aftertaste. I found the 2009 oil to be fantastic and used it on top of my soup!

We all had an amazing trip and tour. I thought I had a good understanding of the good oil. However post visit I have an enhanced awareness of the different vintages, storage times, types of olives and how much the growers passion can stamp its mark on the final product.

Trio oil is a fine example of grow local and eat local!

A big thank you to Anne and Brian for hosting us!

Knowing where your food comes from!

Yesterday I had the opportunity and pleasure to travel to the Wairarapa to visit Jackie and Tony's niche walnut production.

They live on a property that has a number of walnut trees and as a hobbie they are producing around 200kg of walnuts per season.

They do not produce commercial quantities but enough to share with friends and the local community.

I was amazed at their passion for what they produce and for the quality of their nuts.

We came away with a 1kg bag of nuts and with a better knowledge of how walnuts are produced. By the way these freshly picked and dried nuts taste amazing! Much better than what you get in the supermarket.

To follow are some pictures of the visit.

They also have two pigs

Walnut trees

Walnut in shells on drying rack

 

Jackie (in orange) showing us the tool they use to pick up the walnuts from the ground

Commercial nut cracker!

The final product - Yum

United Nations World Environment Day (WED) 2009 celebrations

I have been sent the following information that may be of interest. Follow the link to some cool downloadable banners.

Also if you are on twitter then start following the UNEP.

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to invite you to participate in the United Nations World Environment Day (WED) 2009 celebrations. While the main WED activities will take place in this year’s host country, Mexico, hundreds of additional worldwide celebrations will also be organized making this a truly global event.

The theme for WED 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You! Unite to Combat Climate Change.' It reflects the urgency for nations to ‘seal the deal’ at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year. It also raises a call for everyone to get involved, rethink actions and ways that result in wastage and heavy greenhouse gas emissions, and adopt a greener lifestyle.

We have a number of easy-to-use campaign materials which can be downloaded on the website at http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/content/downloads.asp.
These include the WED logo, posters and several flash animations including a new feature, the Daily do something Tips. These are useful ideas on how to easily green your daily routine, and once posted to your website, will link to a page on the WED 2009 website that lists daily tips in the countdown to WED. We request you to post this or the Use Less / Act More flash animation banner on your website to help promote World Environment Day to your stakeholders.

Further, we have started a global online tree-planting campaign for WED on Twitter. UNEP has pledged to plant 100,000 trees for 100,000 followers --or one for every follower if we can achieve more than 100,000-- by World Environment Day, 5 June. This effort supports the Billion Tree Campaign’s goal to plant a total of seven billion trees- one for every person on the planet- by year’s end. We ask that supporters start following at www.twitter.com/UNEPandYou. Add your voice and twitter loudly!

I sincerely hope that you will support World Environment Day and that you will also encourage your wide circle of contacts to publicize and participate both online and on the ground.
As our WED slogan says, ‘Your Planet Needs You!’ We count on your valuable support to help spread the message and mobilize action on this important day for the environment. If you have any questions or requests, please feel free to contact me.

Your support is highly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,
Emmakate

Price of Carbon

While undertaking some research for an upcoming presentation I am making I came across a great web site that I wanted to share with you all.

POINT CARBON

Their web site states:

Point Carbon is a world-leading provider of independent news, analysis and consulting services for European and global power, gas and carbon markets. Point Carbon’s comprehensive services provide professionals with market-moving information through monitoring fundamental information, key market players and business and policy developments.

I also found a FREE report on the current developments of New Zealand's and Australia's carbon markets and ETS's.

Download Carbon Markets NZ and Australia Overview

Where to start with climate and emissions research

Just a reminder that there are many great web based resources for you to use if you are wanting to upskill or research climate change, emissions or GHG inventories information.

Today while undertaking some research I was reminded how good the USA EPA site is.

Also of note in the GHG Protocol site.

Good luck with your research and reading.