Greening BECC

This page reviews the efforts that ACEEE has taken to “walk the green talk” and reduce carbon emissions associated with the BECC Conference.  BECC’s footprint has been calculated for transportation emissions and a general estimate has been made for the CO2 impact of conference meals.  Hotel data are currently being compiled. The page for each area includes a background discussion and the BECC reduction strategy.

Be sure to explore your low carbon transit options in the Transit in DC section below.

Travel Emissions

Travel represents the largest segment of CO2 emissions associated with the BECC conference.

Footprint: ~1260 tons CO2.

Discussion

Nearly 800 participants attended the BECC Conference in 2008.  About 62% arrived from the Pacific Coast, 7% from the DC/Virginia Area, 5% from New England and 4% from Europe.  Attendance at BECC 2009 will likely see a redistribution of participants with a 25% drop in attendance from the Pacific Coast, and increases of 100%, 25% and 25% in, respectively, the DC/Virginia Area, New England and Europe (see table 1).

          
Table 1

To calculate emissions, regions were established with similar emissions values or with similar levels of participation (within geographical limits).  Emissions values for these regions were multiplied by the number of expected participants from the region.  For US states west of the Mississippi River and areas outside the US, emissions were calculated for air travel only.  For regional emissions, see table 2.

   
Table 2

Reduction Strategy

Because alternate, efficient modes of transportation are not available to a number of regions, carbon offsetting stands as an important and recommended reduction strategy.  Choosing more efficient transportation is also encouraged, where it is an option, though it is less effective at reducing overall emissions.

Of the 1345 tons of CO2-eq associated with travel, 95% is attributed to air travel from areas west of the Mississippi River and located outside the US.  An additional 3.5% of total emissions, amounting to ~68 tons of C02-eq, are generated by the expected air travel from East Coast areas.  While more efficient travel is an option (e.g. train, bus) for these regions, the potential for reducing total conference emissions is relatively small.  Table three shows that if the projected mix of air, car, and rail travel from the East Coast is replaced by just rail, only ~17 tons, or just over 1%, of CO2-eq would be eliminated.

Table 3
Virginia/DC/West Virginia: Base Estimate: 50% car; 50% train.  Efficient: 100% train.
Maryland/Delaware: Base Estimate: 50% car; 50% train.  Efficient: 100% train.
Mid Atlantic: Base Estimate: 60% air; 40% rail.  Efficient: 100% train
New England: Base Estimate: 100% air.  Efficient: 100% train.
South Atlantic: Base Estimate: 100% air.  Efficient: 100% train.
Florida and Central East: While rail options are available for these regions, it is unlikely that transport other than air will be used.  Travel is 100% air in both cases.

The most effective strategy for reducing CO2-eq emissions, given the large amount of unavoidable air travel, is CO2-eq off-setting.  ACEEE has calculated average CO2-eq round trip travel emissions and offset costs for regions contributing BECC participants (table 4) and is giving participants the option during registration to off-set their travel.

Table 4. (pdf file)

Carbon off-sets fund projects that counteract specified quantities of CO2-eq emissions (For example: reforestation programs or investments in energy efficiency).  The data above was calculated with the Carbonfund travel calculator and with values from the ACEEE database.  Off-sets purchased for BECC will fund the Carbon Trust, a 501 (c) non-profit.

Conclusion

Efficient travel, while recommended, will not significantly reduce CO2 emissions associated with the BECC Conference. Encouraging BECC participants to purchase CO2 off-sets appears a promising option, as it relies on the actions of a group committed to fighting climate change.  It is assumed that 20% of travel emissions will be offset by participants.

Finally, the ACEEE is exploring advanced media technology that would allow future conferences to be held simultaneously in multiple locations (for example: Washington, DC, Sacramento and Europe).  With almost all travel emissions generated by plane trips, eliminating the need to travel by air would substantially reduce carbon emissions.  The table below presents the potential savings from this approach.  Emissions would decline from 1260 tons to 302 tons, a 75% reduction. 

Hotel Emissions

Data on hotel emissions are forthcoming.

Food Emissions

Discussion

A “Low Carbon” Lunch is one that replaces meat with vegetables, grains, and non-meat proteins.  The low-carbon lunch excludes meat because meat production contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  These GHG emissions are directly related to fossil energy inputs in agricultural production and to non-energy related fertilization, enteric fermentation and manure management processes (Eshel and Martin 2005).  The latter GHGs are primarily methane and nitrous oxide.

In the US, agriculture accounts for 18% of national energy use (Pimentel et al 2008) (and 19% worldwide [Brodt et al. 2008]).  David Pimentel (2008) estimates that of this energy use (which represents an average American diet), 33% could be reduced by switching to a vegetarian diet.  Regarding GHG mitigation, another recent study suggests that the cost of reaching 2050 emissions reduction goals (80% lower than 2000 levels) could be cut by 50% if agricultural production transitioned from raising meat based to plant based diets (Stehfest et al. 2009).

Reduction Strategy

Calculating the carbon emissions generated from a given meal, no less from all the meals of a conference, is a rough science.

However, Eshel and Martin (2005) provide a number of useful values for average yearly diet-related CO2-eq emissions in the US. They find that for an average non-vegetarian meal, energy used directly in agricultural production emits .701 CO2-eq tons per year above the emissions that would be generated by a vegan meal.  This number is less useful in the current context because “Low Carbon” meals served at BECC are vegetarian, not vegan, but calculations will be carried out for the sake of example.

Dividing the CO2-eq value by 365 days and again by 3 meals per day, the CO2 emitted per meal is 6.4 x10-3 tons.  If it is assumed that all expected ~800 participants have non-vegetarian lunches at the conference on both Monday and Tuesday, the diet caused emissions for BECC are about 1.02 tons over what would be emitted where the meal vegan.  This value will be reduced if participants opt for vegetarian meals.

Notably, the CO2 value for non-vegetarian meals doubles when non-CO2 GHGs are accounted for.

Conclusions

Using vegetarian meals as an offsetting strategy is less effective for a conference the size of BECC than it is on the broader scale of global agriculture. Moreover the matter of calculating emissions specifically for a single conference requires data that is not available.  Nevertheless, a commitment to a “Low Carbon” diet in the behavior focused context of BECC is an important first step into what has the sweeping potential to abate climate change.

References

Brodt, Sonja, Gail Feenstra and Thomas Tomich. 2008. “The Low-Carbon Diet Initiative: Reducing Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Food Systsem from a Life Cycle Assessment Perspective.” <http://asi.ucdavis.edu/Research/ Energy_Food_System_Symposium/White_Paper_on_Energy_Use.pdf> July 8, 2009.

Eshel, Gidon and Pamela Martin. 2005. “Diet, Energy and Global Warming.” Earth Interactions. <http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~gidon/papers/nutri/nutri.html> July 9, 2009.

Pimentel et al. 2008. “Reducing Energy Inputs in the US Food System.” Human Ecology 36:459-471. <http://www.springerlink.com/content/k487435204442t48/> July 7, 2009.

Stehfest, Elke, et al. 2009. “Climate Benefits of Changing Diet” Climate Change 95:83-102.
< http://www.springerlink.com/content/053gx71816jq2648/ > July 9, 2009.

Also see David and Marcia Pimentel’s 1996 book: Food, Energy and Society.
http://books.google.com/books?id=yLmGPtZTHUYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=food+energy+and+society+by+david+pimentel

Transit in DC

While staying in Washington for the BECC Conference, use the public transit directions complied by ACEEE staff to find convenient, low-carbon means for traveling to the conference and getting around the city.

Quick links for those traveling By Rail: Union Station, By Air: DCA, BWIor IAD

If you will be driving to the conference, please consider Ride Share.

Table of Contents

Travel

Hotel

Food

Travel Off-Set PDF

Transit in DC