CARBON RATING is a derivative of ENERGY CONSUMPTION, and by extension COST due to CARBON TAX or COST due to ENERGY USE. The more efficient the energy, the more likelihood of cleaner energy, the more carbon emission performance (Low carbon emission), and the less the operational cost of energy use. There lies a divide where SPECIFIERS, OWNERS and FINANCIERS tend to look at in their product choices of engineering products. They often look at the CAPITAL (INITIAL) COST, which involves PROCUREMENT COST, CERTIFICATION COST, INSTALLATION, and or CONSTRUCTION COST.
Cost analysis of product lifecycle costing shows clearly that the operational cost of engineering products outweighs the capital cost. PRODUCT LIFECYCLE COSTING is the accumulation of a product’s costs over its whole life, from inception to abandonment. The product life cycle costing helps in revenue generation or cost reduction at PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (design stage) out of the FIVE STAGES (DEVELOPMENT, INTRODUCTION, GROWTH, MATURITY, and DECLINE) of product lifecycle.
LIFE-CYCLE COSTING (LCC) = CAPITAL COST + LIFETIME OPERATIONS COST + LIFETIME MAINTENANCE COSTS + DISPOSAL COSTS – RESIDUAL VALUE.
CAPITAL COSTS are one-time costs including procurement cost (cost of item and logistics), and cost of installation and construction, while RECURRING COSTS are sums of operations costs and maintenance costs. These are incurred after product procurement and includes – operational cost (cost of use), maintenance cost and cost of upgrade.
Disposal costs are the costs that have to do with the disposal of the product at the end of usefulness. While some products may have a scrap value, it is necessary to consider costs like recycling cost, or cost paid to the waste management organizations for safe evacuation of scrap products. Residual value, also known as the scrap value, represents the value of the product after it reaches its useful life, hence it is less from the lifecycle cost.
When CARBON RATING of products is of high performance, it means lower mass (kg) of CO2 emission per year, higher energy efficiency, lower operations and lower maintenance costs. The capital cost of inefficient and low carbon performing products may be relatively higher than that of products with low potential of carbon emission and higher energy efficiency at the development stage of product lifecycle, the cost saving at the cost of operations, cost of maintenance and cost of disposal is greater. CARBON RATING POTENTIAL of products are available from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) sources, while CARBON TAX is computed from the regional or country specific values per KG of CO2 being multiplied by the total estimation of ENERGY HOURS PER YEAR based on the ESTIMATED OR DESIGN POWER DEMAND FACTOR from the total power load calculation for engineering products and systems. Electrically powered equipment has kg CO2 factor / KWh or kg NH4 factor / KWh emission factor in the EPA sources likewise other countries based on standards, records and research databases similar to fossil fuels above. The energy star carbon credit is useful in classifying the magnitude of carbon emissions by various energy sources.
CARBON ASSESSMENT calculation formulae for a typical carbon assessment are as presented below.
Hours per day appliance is on (Hrs x Days per Year) x Power (KW) = (Hrs x Days x Watts)/1000 = KWH
Kilowatts Hour x Emissions Factor (EF) for the given region = KWH X EF = GHG (kg CO2)
CARBON ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS
Methodologies adopted in carbon and energy assessment for energy costing, and carbon emission tax are available in the following standards, and frameworks.
- ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Systems.
- ISO 550001 – Energy Management Systems.
- Carbon Footprint Standard, Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), formulated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
- Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Assessment, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Assessment.
- Building Research Establishment Assessment Method (BREEAM).
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Strategy.
- Public Availability Specification (PAS 2050) Specification for the Assessment of the Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Goods and Services.
- Public Availability Specification (PAS 2060) Carbon Neutrality.
Safety implementation systems require power sources, pumps, electrically actuated valves, field devices or end devices, intermediary devices, automatic control devices, and devices for human interaction. Designers and specifiers would do well to consider – Lifetime Costs global warming potential or carbon rating with VALUATION OF CARBON TAX, COST SAVING FROM ENERGY EFFICIENCY of products, ESTIMATION OF MAINTENANCE costs based on maintenance cycles and cost of REPLACEMENT SPARES of products for upgrades with the capital costs.
VALUE ENGINEERING is of essence in meeting the objective of reducing total lifecycle cost of safety implemented products by holistic design and specification that considers valuation carbon rating, energy efficiency and maintenance costs so that engineered products does not only meet compliance, but cost saving.
Author: William Nwaogu (Technical Advisor)
SAFETY CONSULTANTS & SOLUTION PROVIDERS LIMITED
