Carbon footprints, or the measure of carbon emissions released by companies or individuals on a daily basis, have become another tool for verifying a business’s environmental friendliness.
Technological advances in climate and computers sciences have paved the way for new methods of determining carbon emissions by pallet companies in the manufacturing process. The United Kingdom’s Timber Packing and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON) collaborated with the Swedish Forest Industries Federation (SKOGS) to launch a Pallet Materials Carbon Calculator.
The carbon calculator software is developed to help pallet companies meet increasing consumer demand for green products, while also proving the environmental benefits wood pallets have over pallets constructed from other materials.
As consumers are increasingly bombarded with media images of melting Antarctic ice shelves and other portents of climate change disaster, providing a quantitative measure of wood pallets’ limited environmental impacts may drive more businesses to seek contracts with wood pallet manufacturers.
Carbon Calculating Made Easy
The carbon calculator is an extremely easy-to-use computer tool for attracting customers who want to reduce their overall environmental impact. According to TIMCON, users simply click their way through a short introduction, and then fill in the required fields as they appear.
Variables that a user can input into the software include the type of material, quantity, nails, country of origin, and transportation distances to and from the pallet manufacturer.
Additionally, the software includes a “pallet library” reference section, which provides information on volumes of wood used in top and bottom decks, as well as blocks and stringers. The software is designed to include almost all common pallet sizes and specifications for UK, Europe, and North America pallets.
The software also offers computerized results and calculations tabs once a pallet manufacturer has added the necessary information. By clicking the “results” tab, users can view tables that provide a breakdown of greenhouse gases associates with each pallet type. The “calculations” section helps users understand the methodology used for the carbon estimates, including helpful mathematical explanations and references for each part of the analysis.
TIMCON provides fact sheet reports that help pallet manufacturers and customers understand the carbon intensity of heat treated, kiln-dried, and green timber pallets. The reports also include information about carbon dioxide emissions from timber harvesting, transportation, and energy consumed during manufacturing.
“I have seen the software and it is very impressive,” said Gordon Hughes of the Canadian Wooden Pallet and Container Association. “It takes all the aspects of the wooden pallet, box, or crate and calculates the carbon footprint of that individual unit.”
Gordon also noted that the software is especially beneficial to wooden pallet manufacturers because it calculates the carbon footprints of identical-sized pallets, boxes, and crates produced from plastic. The software then compares the carbon footprints of plastic and wooden products side by side, giving consumers an opportunity to see which unit load design is less carbon intensive.
The Carbon Counting Craze
Just about everything we do leads to the release of carbon emissions. Naturally, concentrations of carbon emissions are larger depending on the activity. For instance, driving to work increases carbon emissions, as does burning logs in a fireplace during winter. But even rote daily tasks, such as listening to the radio or checking e-mail, still emit carbon wherever the source electricity is produced.
Most scientists attribute carbon and other greenhouse gases to the gradual increase of worldwide average temperatures. As a result, entities within both the public and private sector are developing strategies to reduce the carbon amount released into the atmosphere.
The term “carbon footprint” is simply a reference to the amount of carbon businesses or individuals produce either directly or indirectly.
Economic evidence suggests that emissions reductions protocol may have long-term cost saving benefits for a company. An obvious example of this is increasing the efficiency of a supply chain. If the same number of trucks can deliver more goods to more places in fewer trips and less miles, then a company benefits from reducing labor, maintenance, and fuel costs while also reducing carbon emissions.
One of the new catch phrases of the surging green movement is carbon neutrality. Carbon neutrality means that a business or individual balances carbon dioxide emissions, by investing renewable energy or carbon sequestration to offset carbon emissions.
Although it is extremely difficult for some companies to achieve true carbon neutrality based on their specific manufacturing niches, a growing number of environmental organizations and consulting groups exist to help businesses understand and achieve carbon neutrality.
Organizations such as Conservation International and Sustainable Business Consulting (SBC) offer a range of options for education and sustainability implementation in addition to carbon calculation consulting.
As government and international bodies continue to enforce increasingly stringent regulations for forest products, carbon reporting will provide the pallet industry new avenues to market their products. According to a press release from SBC, companies interested in attaining Forest Stewardship Certification or using waste wood for fuel can benefit from reducing overall carbon emissions.
Not All Carbon Calculators Are the Same
Environmental organizations and consultancy groups seem to be popping up all over the place. While most of these groups offer carbon calculating services, TIMCON’s carbon calculator is the first to focus specifically on carbon footprints of pallets.
Most online carbon calculators are too general to be of specific use to the pallet industry. For instance, the business carbon calculator available from Carbon Footprint, Ltd. (www.carbonfootprint.com) focuses on electricity and non-renewable energy usage at office buildings. The carbon calculator also measures carbon emissions for employee travel by air or with automobiles, but there is no mention of pallet or wood utilization.
Conservational International provides a similar online carbon calculator for small businesses at its Website, www.conservation.org. Similar to Carbon footprint, Ltd. the carbon calculator is recommended for small businesses interested in a brief overview of their carbon emissions.
Sonal Pandya, Senior Manager of Ecosystem Services Investments at Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, considers the company to be more of a “thought partner.”
“We offer [businesses] advice on what the best approach is,” Sonal said. She added that her company is less involved with the “technical side” of sustainability planning, but provides businesses with resources to point them in the right direction.
Conservation International also provides more detailed carbon calculation consultations beyond the capabilities of its Website. However, the company is non-profit, and does not have established fees. Instead, consulting “donations” are based on time spent compiling a client’s carbon emissions data at a price comfortable for both parties.
For-profit consulting firms such as Carbon Footprint, Ltd. and SBC determine consulting fees based on a variety of factors, including business size and project duration, meaning that fees can vary dramatically depending on the client.
TIMCON’s Pallet Materials Carbon Calculator will be included with an annual TIMCON membership, which costs as little as $720 per year for business with less than $1 million in annual sales. Pro rated membership fees are also available for the remainder of 2008.
Developers of the Pallet Materials Carbon Calculator will be on hand for discussions and demonstrations at the June 2008 Canadian Wooden Pallet and Container Association (CWPCA) Annual Business Conference and General Meeting in Vancouver June 2nd and 3rd.
The software, which is undergoing modifications for international use, is expected to be released in the “near future” according to co-developer Gunilla Beyer of SKOGS. A TIMCON representative said that management is debating whether or not to release the software to non-TIMCON members.
More information about the software and the carbon fact sheets are available at TIMCON’s Website, www.timcon.org.
