"Greening" the Meeting in 2007

Emissions Reduction Credits

For the fourth year running, GovEnergy (Energy 2007) has obtained emissions credits to offset the environmental impact of its energy conference.  FuelCell Energy, Inc., a Connecticut-based company that operates Ultra-Clean fuel cells at more than 50 installations in five countries, has donated more than 1,200 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates to ensure that GovEnergy (Energy 2007) is pollution-free.

Fuel Cell Energy's stationary fuel cell power plants, including the installation at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA, generated the pollution offsets that enable GovEnergy (Energy 2007) to be pollution free.

Green electricity produced by the highly efficient power plants counterbalances pollution that would be created by generating the same amount of electricity by traditional means.  For this year's show in New Orleans, credits donated exclusively by FuelCell Energy will offset over 6,700 pounds of sulfur dioxide (1,060 percent); 2,373 pounds of nitrogen oxides (100 percent); over 960 tons of carbon dioxide (100 percent); and more than 23 times the mercury pollution to be discharged into the atmosphere from energy related to the conference, including utilities, travel, meals, lodging, and other show-related activities.

Emissions reduction credits (ERCs) are created through the use of cleaner fuels, highly efficient power generation systems and increased application of renewable energy sources – thus offsetting pollution created by power generation elsewhere.  By creating a market for the credits, experts predict ERC trading will help foster development of cleaner, more efficient technologies and reduce environmental pollution.

Blocks of ERCs may also be prohibited from additional buying and selling (and thus "retired" from trading).  Removing them from the market in this manner effectively reduces the amount of pollution discharged into the atmosphere by halting their ability to be used further as offsets.  FuelCell Energy's donated ERCs are being permanently retired.

With one of the largest crowds ever expected for this year's show, the GovEnergy planning team decided to set aggressive emissions offset goals similar to previous events.  Its first zero-emission event, held in Rochester NY, won the Government Services Administration (GSA) Best Practice Award for Sustainable Development.  It also earned the 2005 GSA Achievement Award for Real Property Innovation for the way it achieved its low environmental impact.

	Many installations such as the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, California, above, use biogas generated in manufacturing processes as the source of hydrogen for their fuel cell systems.

This year, FuelCell Energy worked with the Leonardo Academy to help GovEnergy determine and achieve its green goals.  Key factors in the Leonardo Academy's analysis included the use of 195,863 square feet of meeting space; an estimated 1,400 attendees; and over 4.4 million round trip air passenger miles.  With emissions offsets preventing 1,921,919 pounds of CO₂ emissions, the planning team concluded it will offset 100% of the greenhouse gas impact of the event.  The credits FuelCell Energy donated and retired were generated at several of its U.S. sites:

• Twenty-Nine Palms, an important federal training facility located in Southern California implemented a fuel cell system to meet the requirements of the energy policy act of 2005.  Combined Heat and Power (CHP) capabilities of the system help heat the facility's buildings, which are subjected to abrupt nightly temperature drops in this desert environment.
• The Santa Rita Jail, in Alameda County, California, the fifth largest correctional facility in the U.S. and one of the most technologically advanced prisons in the world, where the fuel cell power system augments the rooftop solar array and generates hot water for the facility.
• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., brewers of award-winning beers and pioneers of the craft brewing industry, use digester gases produced in the brewing process as the source of hydrogen to run their fuel cell system, which generates 100% of the brewery's baseload power requirements.

Fuel cells produce baseload electricity giving commercial, industrial, and government customers greater control over their power generation economics, reliability, and emissions.  Emerging state, federal, and international regulations to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions place fuel cell power plants in the same environmentally friendly category as wind and solar energy sources – with the added advantages of running 24 hours a day and the capacity to be installed where wind turbines or solar panels often cannot.

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Additional Ways We are "Greening" This Year's Event

In addition to receiving emissions reduction credits, here are additional ways we are "greening" this year's event:

• Encouraging our attendees to register on-line;
• Selecting a city that offers low-cost, frequent transportation between the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and Louis Armstrong Airport;
• Encouraging arriving passengers to share rides;
• Selecting a hotel with meeting facilities, so you don't have to travel to get to your training sessions;
• Utilizing green housekeeping principles (e.g., signage that encourages guests to re-use towels and permit housekeepers to change bed linens less often);
• Using e-mail to confirm registrations;
• Using our govenergy.gov website for updates;
• Offering exhibitors the option to use a paperless system to track leads;
• Requiring the hotel to minimize use of disposable cups, plates, and condiments;
• Not setting water glasses at meals if we are already serving a cold beverage (water is always available by request);
• Analyzing prior years' meal functions to better estimate food requirements (we met in advance with the executive chefs at Hilton and the Aquarium to custom-tailor a menu which minimizes food waste and suits our attendees based on prior survey feedback);
• Asking attendees if guests will be attending the closing luncheon to better estimate our food requirements

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Energy 2007