Green Business: Businesses join PG&E’s ‘climate-neutral’ program

M.A. Silva Corks USA joined a number of North Bay businesses that are opting to pay extra on their utility bills to “zero out” the greenhouse-gas emissions attributed to their operations. The Santa Rosa-based wine closure importer is participating in Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s ClimateSmart program.

Launched in 2007, the program allows businesses and customers to make tax-deductible contributions into a fund the utility manages for projects that either keep greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from fermentation or methane from livestock manure from escaping or that pull the gases from the atmosphere, such as forest preservation or restoration.

The two existing ClimateSmart projects are California coast redwood forests, calculated to sequester 214,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the five-year contract. One is the 23,780-acre Garcia River Forest Project operated by The Conservation Fund in southwest Mendocino County. The other is the 425-acre Lompico Headwaters Forest Project operated by the Sempervirens Fund in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

PG&E selects projects based on available protocols from the California Climate Action Registry, originally started by the state to come up with measurements for greenhouse-gas reduction, according to Katie Romans, a spokeswoman for the utility.

“ClimateSmart is road testing California Climate Action Registry protocols for the carbon market,” she said, referring to a pending cap-and-trade system being developed for compliance with the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a.k.a. AB 32.

Manure-gas capture, forestry and landfill-gas capture are protocols that already have state approval. The latter could go away under pending state rules that would make dump-gas capture a requirement, and a protocol for urban forests is under consideration, according to Ms. Romans.

The second round of projects will be announced in late February.

In early February, PG&E will call for proposals on projects that can offset emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.

The projects have to be new carbon-reduction efforts, with possible acceptance of major enhancements to existing projects, such as dairy or winery biogas co-generation projects, being considered. The starting point for funding negotiations is $9.71 per equivalent metric ton of carbon dioxide reduced by the project, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. PG&E will be holding a briefing for bidders on Feb. 27.

The utility has committed to the CPUC to find carbon-reduction projects totaling 1.5 million tons by 2010.

This year, the monthly cost for customer participation in ClimateSmart is 0.254 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity and 6.528 cents per therm for natural gas. That’s $5 extra per month on the average home bill. The cost for businesses varies widely by industry and facility type.

Critics of ClimateSmart assert PG&E should focus on producing more green energy rather than offering a program for customers to pay to become “climate neutral.”

Ms. Romans said businesses and residents likely will undertake energy-efficiency upgrades to reduce their contributions for offsets. Thirty thousand customers are participating, including 22 large companies and 630 small and medium-sized operations.

Other North Bay organizations participating are Collotype Labels International, Napa; Joseph Phelps Vineyard/Stone Bridge Ranches, Napa; Fresh Choice Inc., Novato; Dragonfly Learning, Novato; Puma North America, Corte Madera; Yountville Chamber of Commerce; A Brown Soun, San Rafael; Vin Lux, Napa; Kalliopeia Foundation, San Rafael; Film Institute of Northern California, San Rafael; Palisades-Calistoga Resort, Calistoga; Adobe, Benicia; Out of the Woods Custom Cabinetry, San Rafael; Tamalpais Community Services District, Mill Valley; Eagle Vines Realty, American Canyon; Wetlands Research Associates, San Rafael; Hard-Boiled Ice Cream, Vallejo; Marin Country Day School, Corte Madera; Marchant Property Management, San Rafael; Harrigan Weidenmuller, San Anselmo; Nature Friends, Mill Valley; and Three Twins Ice Cream, San Rafael.

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Somewhat related to ClimateSmart, Pacific Gas & Electric late last year started a pilot project with the Sonoma County Water Agency on an incentive program for businesses to reduce consumption of “embedded energy” in the use of water.

That energy use is what’s required to transport, treat, heat and cool water as well as handle wastewater. Water-related energy use accounts for annual consumption of 19 percent of California’s electricity, 30 percent of natural gas and almost 90 billon gallons of diesel fuel, according to PG&E.

Under the pilot program, large businesses that are customers of PG&E and utilities supplied by the water agency would get rebates from the water agency for reducing water use, rebates from PG&E for “embedded-energy” savings from that reduced water consumption as well as PG&E’s existing incentives for reducing energy use related to water. For example, a facility that needed $20,000 in equipment to reduce water use by 565,750 gallons per year could get as much as $16,000 in rebates from the three sources.

Businesses targeted initially with the program are wineries, food processors and the hospitality industry. PG&E contacts are Jim Salomone at 707-577-1078 for wineries, Patsy Dugger at 415-973-1019 for food processors and Joe Horak at 707-577-7130 for other operations.

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Elliot Jorgensen, director of properties for Fairfield-based commercial real estate developer and investor The Wiseman Co., earned the LEED Accredited Professional designation from the Green Building Certification Institute. The institute manages certification of professionals for their proficiency with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design project-rating systems. Mr. Jorgensen has overseen property management for The Wiseman Co. since January 2008.

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North Bay Landscape Management Inc. of Petaluma has become certified by Italgreen of Italy to install its artificial turf.

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