GhG reduction emissions in UN orgs (2009)

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A Guideto

Greenhouse GAs

emission reduction

in un orGAnizAtions

Unit

ed

nations

environm

ent

Program

m

e


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Copyright United Nations Environment Programme, 2009

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5.5-7.1Crise in globaltemperature

by 2100**

4-5.2Crise in global

temperatureby 2100**

2.9-3.8Crise in globaltemperature

by 2100**

2.1-2.8Crise in global

temperatureby 2100**

Climate Change ModelsLikely effects of fouremission reduction models

COVER ILLUSTRATION

* from 1990 levels

** temperature rise is relative t o pre-industrial levels and ranges from themost likely (50% chance of occurring) to the worst case scenario (10%

chance of occurring)Source: UK MET OFFICE


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A Guideto

Greenhouse GAs

emission reductionin un orGAnizAtions


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Chapter I: A Quick List o Emission ReductionOpportunities 3

A. Emission Reduction From Travel 4

B. Emission Reduction From Buildings 5

C. Emission Reduction Through Processes 6

D. Emission Reduction Through Organizational

Culture 7

Chapter II: Basic Concepts and Approaches 9

A. Understanding the Basics 10

B. Identiying Emission Sources 10

C. A Strategy or Emission Reductions 11

Chapter III: Description o Emission Reduction

Options 15

A. Emission Reduction From Travel 16

1. Reduce Travel 16

2. Travel more eciently 17

3. Other Travel-related Issues to Consider 18

B. Emission Reduction From Buildings 191. Passive measures 20

2. Active measures 23

3. Building management measures 27

C. Emission Reduction Through Processes 28

1. Sustainable procurement 28

2. Administration 29

3. Budgeting 29

4. Meetings 30

D. Emission Reduction Through OrganizationalCulture 30

1. Policy support 31

2. Environmental Management Systems 31

3. Formal check points 31

4. Innovative incentives 32

Chapter IV: How to Get Started 35

About this Guide / Contents

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This Guide serves to provide an overview oapproaches to reducing emissions o greenhouse

gases rom UN organizations, within the boundaries

set in the UN Climate Neutral Strategy. The Guide

oers a generic model or how to approach emission

reduction, along with key emission reduction options

in dierent areas. For more detailed inormation

about each option, the reader is encouraged to

consult the tools and resources that will be made

available on the Climate Neutral Website (http://

www.unemg.org/climateneutralun/).

The Guide consists o our chapters:

A list o generic emission reduction options in1.

dierent aspects o common UN operations.

An introduction to basic concepts and2.

approaches relevant to emission reduction.

An extended description o the emission3.

reduction options listed in Chapter I

How to get started.4.

The guide is intended as an introduction and does not

attempt to give in-depth implementation instruction

or individual emission reduction options, nor to listevery possible emission reduction opportunity. Its

value is in directing the reader towards areas where

such opportunities typically exist.

The Guide will be updated and expanded over time

in line with lessons learned rom various parts o

the UN system. Feedback and comments on how

the Guide can be improved are welcome.

Please contact: [email protected]

CONTENTS


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1

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Climate change is today recognized as one o themost serious challenges to the global community,

potentially aecting almost all aspects o lie across

the planet. The United Nations is convening and

catalyzing international eorts to reduce the causes

and eects o global warming. But more than that,

the mandate o each and every UN organization is

now aected directly or indirectly by global warming.

Climate change is no longer seen as only an envi-

ronmental problem but the eects on health, ood

production, economic development, inrastructure,

and even peace and security are now commonly

recognized. More and more members states are

asking that each UN organization are considering

climate change in their programs o work. For the

UN, walking the talk and reducing our own climate

ootprint is thereore a matter o high priority. This

has also been repeatedly emphasized by Secretary

General Ban Ki Moon.

UNs Chie Executive Board (CEB) adopted in late

2007 the UN Climate Neutral Strategy, committing

all UN organizations to move towards climate

neutrality with three specic targets to be achievedby December 2009:

All UN organizations have to prepare annual1.

greenhouse gas inventories. The rst inventories

(or 2008) are to be ready by the end o 2009.

All UN organizations have to start reducing their2.

greenhouse gas emissions.

All UN organizations have to consider the impli-3.

cations o purchasing osets to compensate or

emissions they cannot avoid.

Even though the Strategy identies the end o2009 as a checkpoint or the implementation o

the strategy, it is clear that the work on reducing

UNs climate ootprint cannot be a one-time eort

but has to be sustained and integrated into the daily

operation practices o all UN organizations.

The rst and third objectives o the strategy to

prepare greenhouse gas inventories and to consider

implications o osetting are not within the scope

o this report but are covered by other reports and

guidelines developed by UNEPs Sustainable UN

acility (SUN) and the Environment Management

Group (EMG). This report aims at providing an intro-

duction to how the second objective greenhouse

gas emission reduction can be pursued in UN.

This guide is specically addressing reduction o

greenhouse gas emissions rom sources covered

in the UN Climate Neutral Strategy1. However,

experience suggests that while reviewing the

emission reduction options o an organization, ideas

or a wider greening o the organization are oten

generated at the same time. Such ideas may relateto issues such as waste generation, consumption

o oce supplies, or water savings. Interventions in

these areas sometimes also have an indirect eect

on the energy consumption and greenhouse gas

emissions rom the organization. For example, i less

hot water is consumed, then less energy is used to

heat the water. It is recommended that the orga-

nization thereore remains open to consider green

options that may not immediately seem relevant to

the climate neutral strategy.

1. The UN Climate Neutral Strategy covers emissions from all activities that are directly within the control of UNs management, for exampleemissions related to electricity use, heating/cooling of buildings, travel of staff and meeting participants that UN pays the tickets for, use of officialvehicles, and leakage of refrigerants from air conditioning. The Strategy does not include emissions related to procurement, commuting of staff,field projects, or waste treatment.


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2


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Chapter IA Quick List of Emission

Reduction Opportunities


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Chapter I: A Quick Checklist of

Emission Reduction Opportunities

This Quick Checklist summarizes generic emission

reduction opportunities that are described in more

detail in Chapter III. This list can help the reader

to get a ast overview o aspects oten included in

greenhouse gas emission reduction plans, and may

serve as a check list or organizations to aid their

emission reduction eorts.

Based on the typical greenhouse gas emission prole

o UN organizations, which is also similar to many

other organizations, the most prominent sources o

emissions are travel and buildings. As is explained in

Chapter II, in order to address these it is oten necessary

to consider interventions in processes and organiza-

tional culture to achieve lasting emission reductions.

This Quick Checklist thereore presents material under

these our headings. For urther inormation about

each option please reer to Chapter III. For inormation

about the denitions and methodologies to identiy

and evaluate what options may be o relevance in the

individual case, please reer to Chapter II.

The ollowing opportunities should be considered as

means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

A Quick List of Emission Reduction Opportunities

A. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN FRom TRAvEl

Travel less1.

Take a policy decision to reduce travel by XX%

Bundle long-haul missions to increase the length o the missions but reduce the number o trips

Use local sta to reduce the need or long-haul travel

Reduce the number o participants or sta attending the same meeting

Use alternative means o communication such as virtual (Internet based) meetings

Travel in more efcient ways2.

When available, go by train instead o air on short-haul sectors

Encourage travel in economy class instead o business class

Give preerence to airlines with modern (low emission) aircrats

Require travel agents to provide inormation on low greenhouse gas emission travel alternatives

to the business as usual option

Require travel agents to highlight on tickets and quotations the associated carbon ootprint and

oset cost.

Require travel agents to give preerence to routings and airlines that minimize the number o

landings/takeos and use more modern aircrat.

Adopt a sustainable travel policy3.

Include time bound emission reduction targets and dened responsibilities or implementation.

Implement rigorous screening o travel need and travel modes4.

Establish ormal checkpoints in travel planning and approval systems.

Raise awareness on why and how to reduce the travel-related carbon ootprint5.

Conduct awareness raising and training sessions with concerned sta (travelers, approving

managers, travel assistants) and travel agents.

Monitor and compare travel patterns6.Track relevant departments travels to better manage and set targets or emission reduction.


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5

B. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN FRom BUIlDINgS

Passive measures1.Improve insulation o the building envelope

Reduce heat transer through windows

Change rom single glass windows to double or triple glass windows

Change rom clear glass to e-coated glass

Remove thermal bridges between the outside and inside

Improve the seals between the inner and outer window rames

Install exterior shading devices outside the windows

Enhance natural daylight in the oce

Remove non-structural interior walls, replacing them with transparent walls i appropriateRemodel the oce layout to ensure that the more requently used spaces are adjacent to

windows

Install light shelves; horizontal light-refecting overhangs that are placed above eye-level and

have a high-refectance upper surace

Use bright/light colors or interior decoration (walls, roo, foor and urniture)

Install skylights (roo windows) or light tubes transmitting daylight into the interior o the

building

Leave blinds and curtains open in the daytime i compatible with heating/cooling.

Optimize natural ventilation, cooling and heating

Establish ventilation corridors inside the building

Enhance natural ventilation with solar chimneys

Use night time natural cooling in hot climates and day time natural heat accumulation in cold

climates

Use under-roo ventilation and green roos to decrease heat accumulation in hot climates

Benet rom adjacent vegetation to direct or shield the building rom prevailing wind fows

and direct sunlight

Use heat generated by oce equipment to reduce the heating need in cold climates

Active measures2.

Switch to energy supply rom renewable energy sources or purchase Renewable Energy

Certicates

Produce on-site energy rom renewable energy sources

Support heating/cooling with earth-energy cooling/heating systems

Reduce heating/cooling needs through heat recovery rom the ventilation air

Improve the perormance o the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system by

conducting a limited assessment or ull retro-commissioning o the system. This may result in

one or several o the ollowing recommendations:

Complete replacement with a more ecient system

Upgrade or replace parts o the existing equipment

Improve control o the HVAC system (increase the monitoring points, ne tune control

parameters, upgrade standard operating procedures etc)

Seal leaks in ducts, clean ans and lters

Improve training o operatorsEstablish monitoring and eedback systems

...continued on next page

Chapter I


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6

A Quick List of Emission Reduction Opportunities

Optimize the eciency o lighting. Measures include:

Provide the right level o lighting or the activities carried out

Only use high eciency lamps, such as fuorescent lampsChange rom magnetic to electronic ballast in lamps

Regularly clean lamps/bulbs

Ensure that lights can be turned on individually or each room or work place

Install movement sensors in less requently used spaces

Install timed central switches

Reduce energy use by oce equipment:

Purchase energy ecient equipment

Activate energy saving eatures on the equipment

Ensure that equipment is turned o when the work day is over

Completely unplug electric equipment when possible, e.g. at night and on weekendsReplace individual equipment with common high-eciency equipment:

Move rom individual printers to Local Area Network (LAN) connected high-eciency common

printers/copying machines/scanners

Replace physical servers with virtual servers

Building management measures3.

Commissioning all new systems and upgrades o existing systems

Retro-commission existing systems

Dene, monitor and report on the key parameters o the energy systems (e.g. energy use, air

speed, temperatures)

As part o the above, set the indoor temperature so that it meets comort levels without wasting

energy on over heating or over cooling.

Use automated building management systems.

Provide training or key sta on proper operation and management o the building energy

systems.

Encourage energy saving behaviour among the building users.

C. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN ThRoUgh PRoCESSES

Provide training on sustainable procurement to enable procurement o climate riendly goods

and servicesPursue increased use o on-line administrative tools and paperless administration

Consistently refect cost savings associated with emission reduction measures, such as energy

savings and avoided oset costs

Adopt and implement a policy to conduct all meetings as green meetings, e.g.:

Reduce the overall number o international meetings and overall number o participants. Use

means o e-communication instead o physical meetings when possible.

Select venues to minimize the need or long-haul travel and local environmental impact.

Provide catering services that meet criteria or sae production and air trade.

Avoid the use o disposable plates, cups and bottles.

Favour hotels that meet environmental criteria.

Organize local transportation using less polluting modes o transport.


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7

Chapter I

D. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN ThRoUgh oRgANIzATIoNAl CUlTURE

Adopt an overall policy guiding and supporting the eort o the organization to reduce greenhousegas emissions.

Establish an Environmental Management System to support practical implementation o the policy.

Assign a senior manager/director as champion or the climate neutral eort

Institute ormal check points in key planning and management processes, including:

Compulsory training or all sta.

Require that project documents, memoranda o understanding and other orms o ormal

agreements, describe how the greenhouse gas emissions rom related activities will be

minimized.

Include goals to support greenhouse gas emission reduction in sta work plans, such as the

Perormance Appraisal System (PAS).

Encourage sta support or a green and climate riendly organization through innovative

incentives, such as:

Increase the awareness through inormation campaigns, matched by incentives or sta to

turn the message o the campaign into practical action, e.g. on recycling, local transport, use

o double sided printing, use o recyclable cups etc.

Provide an oce setup that encourages sustainable and carbon-lean oce practices, e.g.:

Use common printers, scanners and copying machines

Provide highly visible recycling stations

Organize work spaces so that they benet rom natural lighting

Use plants in the oce as a way o improving the indoor environmental quality, both

physically and mentally

Develop and share with all sta monthly or quarterly key perormance indicators (travel,

paper use, waste generation, etc) or each department/division within the organization.

Highlight and recognize emission reduction initiatives by individual sta or departments

Consider using the UN Flex policy to allow distance work, thereby reducing the need or

commuting and improving work-lie balance

Invite colleagues to provide suggestions on how to urther improve the organizational culture

to support sustainable and climate riendly behaviour


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8


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Chapter IIBasic Concepts and

Approaches


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10

Chapter II: Basic Concepts

and Approaches

A. UNDERSTANDINg ThE BASICS

The term Greenhouse gases (GHG) is used as a

common name or several dierent gases which all

contribute to the Greenhouse eect, better known

as Climate Change.

UNs Climate Neutral Strategy is based on the

methodology or emission calculation known as the

Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which was developed

by the World Resources Institute and the WorldBusiness Council or Sustainable Development. This

is a methodology now widely used by companies

and organizations in both the public and private

sectors. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol uses the

denition o the Kyoto Protocol on what Greenhouse

Gases to consider. These are: Carbon dioxide (CO2),

methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3),

hydrofuorocarbons (HFC), perfuorocarbons (PFC)

and sulphur hexafuoride (SF6). The greenhouse

gases most commonly emitted by UN organiza-

tions are carbon dioxide rom burning o ossil uels,

emissions associated with electricity production o

site, hydrofuorocarbons as leakage rom rerigera-

tion and air conditioning aggregates, and sometimes

methane rom on-site waste treatment.

Dierent gases have dierent levels o impact in terms

o their greenhouse eect. This is expressed as their

Global Warming Potential GWP. Carbon dioxide

(CO2) has a GWP o 1, while Methane (CH4) has a

GWP o 23, and Hydrofuorocarbons 23 (HFC23),

ormerly used as a rerigerant in air conditioning

aggregates, has a GWP o 12.000. This meansthat the emission o 1 kg o HFC23 has the same

impact on the climate as the emission o 12.000 kg

o carbon dioxide. Because o the dierent levels o

impact o dierent gases, emission o greenhouse

gases are expressed as Carbon dioxide equivalent

(CO2 eqv). The emission o one tonne o CO2 is

expressed as one tonne CO2 eqv. The emission

o one tonne o HFC23 is expressed as 12.000

tonnes CO2 eqv. It is thereore important to keep in

mind that even small volumes o emissions o some

greenhouse gases, such as HFC, can have a bigimpact on the carbon ootprint o the organization.

B. IDENTIFyINg EmISSIoN SoURCES

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which is used by

UN or calculating its greenhouse gas emissions,

pre-denes the emission sources to be considered.

In the context o the UN Climate Neutral strategy the

ollowing boundaries have been set or emissions to

be included:

On-site uel consumption

Purchased electricity

Purchased heating/cooling (e.g. steam)

Release/leakage o other chemicals causing

GHG emissions, e.g. rerigerants

Fuel used or vehicles (owned or rented)

Ocial travel o sta and other persons or whom

the organization pay the ticket.

Sources not covered by the UN Climate Neutral

Strategy include emissions rom waste treatment,

emissions rom sta commuting, emissions rom eld

projects, and emissions embedded in products and

services (i.e. associated with the production o theseproducts/services) procured by the organization.

The preparation o the GHG emission inventory,

also mandated or each UN organization by the

Basic Concepts and Approaches

Figure 1: Typical distribution of greenhouse gasemission sources in UN organizations. Based onindicative and preliminary emission inventory data froma limited number of UN organizations.


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UN Climate Neutral Strategy, is not covered by

this Guide, but obviously the GHG inventory is an

important rst step to identiy options or emission

reduction. The GHG inventory will look dierently in

dierent organizations depending on the ocus o

activities, size o organization, location and age o

oces etc. In general terms however, it is likely that

the largest greenhouse gas emission source will be

air travel, ollowed by electricity generation and use,

ollowed by non-electric heating/cooling, ollowed

by other sources.

Identiying the sources o emissions is however

not sufcient to allow identifcation o emission

reduction measures. It is also necessary tounderstand why the emissions are created so

as to allow identifcation o means to reduce the

emissions. An example o why it is important to

understand what is causing emissions is provided

in Box 1.

The second step in preparing your greenhouse gas

emission reduction strategy is thereore to conduct an

assessment o the underlying causes or greenhouse

gas emissions. This can be done within specic areas,

e.g. travel, electricity use, or heating/cooling. In mostorganizations however, it makes sense to make a

wider review o the overall organizational approach to

emission reduction and sustainability perormance.

Are there or example any policies established

supporting emission reduction, or sustainability

initiatives?

How is this refected in practical action, sta

training, or budgeting?

Are there any green groups active in the

organization?Are investments made to upgrade acilities?

Are oces set up to optimize resource

conservation?

Are sta encouraged to include sustainability

considerations in their daily work?

Together with the GHG inventory, this wider review is,

in most cases, very helpul to indicate in what areas it

makes sense to start looking or emission reduction

opportunities.

SUN has developed an Initial Assessment Ques-

tionnaire to assist organizations to undertake this

organization-wide review. This can be downloaded

rom the ollowing web address:

http://www.unemg.org/climateneutralun/Becom-

ingClimateNeutral/EmissionsReduction/ToolsTem-plates/InitialScreening/tabid/553/Deault.aspx

C. A STRATEgy FoR EmISSIoN

REDUCTIoNS

The GHG Inventory and assessment o underlying

causes will provide a good ground or developing

the emission reduction plan.

An emission reduction plan may either ocus onemission reduction within a specic area (e.g. travel

or acility management) or the whole oce or or-

ganization. In most cases emission reductions are

achieved through a combination o one-time interven-

tions, e.g. upgrading a heating system, and on-going

processes, such as managing the heating system. It

thereore makes sense to establish emission reduction

plans that are set up as integrated parts o the daily

management o the organization. In most cases this

would translate to an environmental management

system (EMS), with an initial ocus on greenhousegas emissions. EMS are urther described under or-

ganizational culture below.

Chapter II

Box 1: Sources and causesWhy it is important to understand what is causing GHG emissions?

The climate neutral focal point in UN Office X had just finalized the GHG inventory for the organization. Her quest was nowto figure out how to reduce the emissions. One of the major causes for the emissions according to the GHG inventory wasthe use of electricity in the office. Electricity was used for a number of different purposes, including lighting, ventilation,powering of office equipment, cooling of servers, and heating of the building. The climate neutral focal point did not havea breakdown between the different categories of electricity use, but according to the facility manager the electric heatingsystem was a major energy consumer.

...Continued on P. 12


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Box 1: Sources and causes - continuedWhy it is important to understand what is causing GHG emissions?

...

At this stage she had a choice between two courses of action:Focus on the electric heating system and work with the facility manager to have the system upgraded.1.Try to confirm that the electric heating system is really a major electricity consumer as compared to other electricity use,2.and if so, try to understand why the electric heating system is consuming large amounts of electricity.

In this case, the climate neutral focal point decided wisely - to go for option 2. She first confirmed that the electricity consumptionwas large compared to other similar systems and buildings. She then made a list of potential reasons for why the heating systemwas consuming excessive amounts of electricity, and indicated a potential remedy for each cause.

Cause for high electricity use Remedial action

Indoor temperature set too high Reduce indoor temperature and inform staff

Heating is on, also when the office is empty Reduce heating during off-hours

Poor insulation of walls Add wall insulation

High heat loss through windows Install high performance windows

Staff leave doors and windows open for ventilation, causinghigher demand for heating

Improve ventilation system and inform staff

Heating system outdated Replace/upgrade heating system

Heating system not properly maintained Provide training and operation manuals for concerned staff.

Heating system lacks proper control system Install/upgrade building management system

Heating system was never properly installed Conduct retro-commissioning of the heating system

The whole office is heated even though only parts arenormally in use

Establish zoned heating control so that only office space inuse is heated

Large heat loss in exhaust air from ventilation Install a heat exchanger between outgoing and incomingventilation air.

Electricity consumption is in fact normal but the electricity ispurchased from coal fired plants, causing high emissions

Consider purchasing green electricity from renewableenergy sources.

With this list in hand, the climate neutral focal point reviewed each potential cause and thereby identified the best options forreducing electricity consumption for heating and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Her review resulted in a list of threepriority actions:

Reduce indoor temperature1.Replace windows2.Provide training to the staff responsible for controlling the system.3.

The result would have been much different and more expensive if she had just thought that the apparent source (the heatingsystem) was also the cause for excessive electricity and associated emissions.

The analysis she undertook to identify which ones of these options should be pursued, also provided her with the facts andfigures she needed to prepare a convincing emission reduction plan for the approval of senior management.



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13

It is also possible to just ocus on specic actions

to reduce emissions within limited areas. For this

kind o emission reduction plans it is useul to

provide the ollowing inormation so as to get senior

management support or its implementation:

Current carbon ootprint rom the targeted area1.

(e.g. travel)

Explanation o technical requirements or the in-2.

tervention

Explanation o administrative requirements3.

Estimated emission reduction through the4.

proposed interventions.

Estimated cost or the interventions5.

Estimated savings rom the intervention (e.g.6.

through reduced energy use, reduced travel

costs, and reduced oset costs).

Responsibility or implementation7.

Implementation schedule8.

An example o an emission reduction plan or a

specic area is provided in Box 2.

Chapter II

Box 2: Example of an issue specific emission reduction plan

The climate neutral focal point in UN office Y in a field duty station is working on compiling a comprehensive emission reductionplan for the organization, framed as an environmental management system. Due to a public debate about the pollution from4-wheel drives, the director decides that the emissions from the twenty 4-wheel drives that the office is using for local transporthas to be addressed as a matter of urgency and requests that the climate neutral focal point put together a proposal within a fewweeks for how this can be done. The climate neutral focal point carefully reviews the situation, using the approach presented inBox 1: Identify why the cars are used, when they are used, how they are used and what alternatives there are to using the cars.He compiles a list of options as follows:

Option Cost/savings Technical requirements Admin requirements

Sell 4-wheel drive automobilesand buy hybrid cars

Second hand value of 4-wheeldrives is low and hybrid areexpensive at local market.Pay-back period from fuel savingsis still long.

Poor access to service ofhybrid cars.

Security in smaller cars?

Sell 4-wheel drive automobilesand lease hybrid cars

Saving from selling 4-wheeldrives + lower fuel consumptionof hybrids. Lease costs moderate= overall cost saving

Poor access to serviceof hybrid cars. Leasecompany does not guar-antee service = high risk.

Secure lease agreementand clarify if insurance isvalid when transport is notin owned car.

Sell 4-wheel drive automobilesand buy smaller cars with less

fuel consumption

Saving from selling 4-wheeldrives + lower fuel consumption

of smaller cars = overall costsaving

None Security in smaller cars?

Upgrade engines for betterfuel efficiency

Moderate costs for upgradingengines + lower fuel costs =moderate pay-back period

Find qualified garage toperform upgrade

None

Only use 4-wheel driveautomobiles for essentialtravel, and lease smaller carsfor other transport

Most 4-wheel drives can be soldand replaced by smaller numberof smaller cars with lower fuelcosts = immediate savings

None Issue instructions forwhen 4-wheel drives canbe used.

Improve maintenance ofcars and train drivers in fuel

efficient driving

Minor cost for training of driversand more frequent maintenance.

Savings from reduced fuel use.

Secure supply for improvedmaintenance

None

... continued on P. 14


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14

Box 2: Example of an issue specific emission reduction plan - continued

...

Based on the considerations in this list the climate neutral focal point could then put together the following emission reductionproposal for his director:

Current carbon footprint from the targeted area (transport in 4-wheel drives)In total the 20 4-wheel drives are used on average110 days per year each. The total distance covered by all 4-wheel drives is112.000 km with an estimated total GHG emission of 50 tons CO2 eqv.

Explanation of technical requirements for the interventionAfter reviewing several options to reduce the emission we propose the following actions:

Only use 4-wheel drives when essential. Most travel is undertaken on good roads where 4-wheel drives are not required.1.

Our estimate is that we only need five 4-wheel drives, and can manage the remaining travel requirements with ten fuelefficient smaller cars. Due to the problems with maintenance in this location we do not recommend hybrid cars.Upgrade the engines for the five remaining 4-wheel cars.2.Provide training to all drivers on maintenance and fuel efficient driving3.

Explanation of administrative requirementsEstablish guidelines for when 4-wheel drives can be used (e.g. for security)1.Implement selling and purchasing of cars.2.

Estimated emission reduction through the proposed interventions.Assuming that we will maintain the same level of travel, but will mostly travel in better maintained, more fuel efficient 4-wheeldrives and smaller cars, we estimate that we can reduce fuel consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.

Estimated cost for the interventions

Costs for purchasing ten smaller cars, for upgrading the remaining 4-wheel drives, and for providing training and improvedmaintenance for all cars is calculated at US$ 2.5 million.

Estimated savings from the interventionEarnings from selling 15 4-wheel cars is estimated at US$ 3 million.Fuel costs are estimated to be reduced by 50%.Overall this action will result in an immediate cost saving of US$ 500.000 and an annual fuel cost saving of approximatelyUS$ 20.000 at todays fuel prices.

Responsibility for implementationThe head of general services would be in charge for implementing these actions

Implementation schedule

Upon your decision we estimate that all actions can be implemented within 6 months.

With this well prepared emission reduction proposal, also saving money for the organization, the director had no problems inapproving its implementation.



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Chapter IIIDescription of Emission

Reduction Options


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16

Description of Emission Reduction Options

Chapter III: Description of

Emission Reduction Options

Whether your greenhouse gas emission reduction

plans targets the whole oce/ organization, or has

a more limited ocus, your main challenge is to

identiy exactly what options there are or reducing

emissions. In this section we will provide an overview

o some o the common options. Details are provided

in sources reerred to in the text.

Broadly, emission reduction can be pursued in the

ollowing areas:

TravelA. : Reduced travel and more ecient travel

supported by a proper travel policy.

BuildingsB. , Active and passive measures as well

as improved building management measures.

ProcessesC. : Procurement, administration,

budgeting, and meetings

Organizational CultureD. : policies, environmental

management systems, ormal checkpoints and

innovative incentives.

A. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN FRom TRAvEl

Emissions rom travel, in particular air travel, constitute

the major part o the greenhouse gas emissions in

most UN organizations, and are thereore a priority

area to address.

In this context we include ocial missions o sta,

entitlement travel (home leave etc), and travel o

meeting participants and consultants or whom

the organization is paying the are. The typical

travel prole in UN is one where the vast majorityo missions and other travel are undertaken by air.

The general policy in UN is that travel should be

undertaken in the most direct and economic mode.

In most organizations there is also a rule stating that

sta traveling or more than nine hours are entitled

to business class, although there are variations in

how this is applied.

Emission reduction rom travel can be achieved in

two ways:

Reduce travel1.

Travel more eciently2.

1. Reduce Travel

Travel is an essential requirement or much o the

work o the United Nations. This however does not

mean that every single trip is justied. Within UN

there are examples o dierent ways o reducing

travel:

Make a top-down decision to reduce travel bya.

XX%. This has been done by many organiza-

tions not or environmental reasons - but or

cost saving reasons. In some cases the imple-

mentation o the decision has been given to the

heads o divisions, who have had to meet the

travel reduction goal as part o the goals stated

in their personal appraisal system (PAS) plan.

This is on one hand an easy way o reducing

emissions, but may on the other hand result

in that essential travel is cut, which will harm

the perormance o the organization. A careul

analysis o current travel patterns to identiy who

goes where and why, so as to better understand

the potential to reduce travel within dierent

parts o the organization is recommendedbeore any top-down decisions are taken.

Optimize travel planning so as to reduce theb.

travel required or each mission. This can be

done by:

Bundling missions so as to cover several

meetings or objectives in one single ticket,

in particular or long-haul travel. This may

Figure 2. In most UN organizations, air travel generatesthe vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions


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17

Chapter III

require that the sta remains on mission or

a longer period o time to cover the time in

between meetings, incurring additional DSA,

but this is oten more than compensated by

not having to issue two or several tickets or

the same destination.

Using sta in local oces. In many cases

it is possible to use local or regional oces

to cover meetings and objectives, instead

o having sta traveling long distances rom

the headquarters.

Reduce the number o participants to

meetings. Some organizations have

adopted policies or limiting the number o

sta to any given meeting, while others senda large number o sta to the same meeting,

some o whom have only limited unctions

to perorm in the meeting, which could be

covered by other sta.

Instead o traveling, use alternative means

o communication. Many meetings can be

conducted via Inormation and Communica-

tion Technologies (ICT) such as telephone,

e-mail, video conerencing, virtual meeting

rooms, or personalized (PC to PC) video

links. Some o these technologies havedeveloped rapidly in the past ew years and

the costs and problems associated with e.g.

video conerencing have decreased sig-

nicantly. However, UN organizations and

oces do not always equip their sta with

a level o ICT sucient to provide a realistic

alternative to travel. SUN is in the process o

developing a recommendation or minimum

ICT access in UN organizations, with the

intention to release this in 2009. In addition,

the Secretary General issued in early 2009a bulletin providing general guidelines on

green ICT (www.iseek.un.org)

2. Travel more efciently

The carbon ootprint o any travel depends not only

on the distance traveled, but also on the orm o

transport used. Train usually has a much smaller

carbon ootprint than travel by car. Travel by car

usually has a smaller carbon ootprint than travel

by air. Air travel in economy class has a smaller

carbon ootprint than travel in business class, and

business class has a smaller carbon ootprint than

travel in rst class. The lower the class, the smaller

share o the aircrat and associated emissions

does the ticket represent. Normally a business seat

accounts or twice the emissions o an economy

seat and a rst class seat three times the emissions

o an economy seat. Travel by modern aircrat has

normally a smaller ootprint than older aircrat. And

each landing and take-o increases the carbon

ootprint o any aircrat.

There are thereore good reasons to consider options

or guiding travelers towards more ecient modes

o travel. O course, sta should not be punished or

undertaking travel which is essential or the organi-

zation. Instead, travel eciency policies should be

coupled with positive incentives.

The ollowing policies have been applied in various

parts o the UN system:

Short-haul travel, e.g. travel less than 500 km,

should always be undertaken by train i available.

This applies in particular in Europe and North

America. Travel by train is normally undertaken

in rst class, which can be seen as a positive

incentive or train travel.

When entitled to business class travel, sta

are oered the option to go by economy classinstead, but with a ull day or rest upon arrival

at the destination as a positive incentive. The

provision or time or rest is a standard clause

in UN travel policies but is oten interpreted and

applied in a very restrictive manner. The extra

day o DSA is always more than compensated

or by the savings in ticket costs.

In some organizations a generic ban on business

class travel has been implemented. In these

cases this has been applied to all sta including

the Executive Director. Restrictions that applyonly to sta below certain levels are a recipe or

resentment and circumvention.

Travel agencies are instructed to give preerence

to routings and airlines minimizing the number

o landings/takeos, and using more modern

aircrats.

The above examples o policies would normally

require that the organization ormally adopt a revised

travel policy where the guidelines or how to travel

are clearly dened, so as to avoid conficts with

managers or travel sta managing travel requests

as per UNs standard travel policy.


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18

3. Other Travel-related Issues to Consider

Sustainable Travel Policy

Emission reduction plans or travel will benet rom

being presented as a coherent revised travel policy

or policy or sustainable travel. Such a policy would

normally include ve elements:

A policy statement on the ambition o the or-1.

ganization to reduce the environmental impact

rom travel, in particular associated greenhouse

gas emissions.

Decisions on reduced travel and/or more ecient2.

travel, including elements as outlined above.

Mechanisms or implementation o decisions.3.This may reer directly to the travel planning and

approval process, as exemplied below, or to

associated areas, e.g. upgrade o ICT to provide

improved alternatives to travel.

Designation o responsible persons, budget and4.

deadlines.

Mechanism or monitoring and reporting (see5.

below).

Mechanisms or implementation

A decision to travel less or to travel more ecientlywill in the end be managed through whatever travel

planning and approval system is in place. Travel

planning and approval is in no way a coherent

process within UN. However, there are a number

o measures which are oten not implemented, but

which would contribute to ewer and better planned

missions:

Require the travel agent to provide and highlight

inormation about the carbon ootprint and oset

costs or each ticket quoted.Require that the travel agent always include,

among quotations given, low carbon alterna-

tives as well as business-as-usual alternatives,

e.g. travel in economy class instead o business,

or travel by train instead o by air.

Ensure that travel plans in oces are circulated

to all sta at least one month ahead o the start

o missions so as to allow sta to identiy oppor-

tunities or coordination.

Require that the travel request explains why the

objective o the mission cannot be conducted

through ICT or by local sta.

Conduct awareness raising and training o

sta to ensure that everybody understand the

importance o travel rom a climate change

perspective, understand how the travel carbon

ootprint can be reduced, and also know what

alternatives there are, and what incentives there

are to use the alternatives.

Train managers, travel assistants and und

management sta to recognize the reasons why

incentives such as an extra R&R day or long-haul

travel in economy class, or bundling o meetings

resulting in missions having a longer duration, are

benecial or the organization.

Monitoring

Monitoring is an essential part o any sustainable

travel policy. The objective is both to be able to

track and report on how travel patterns evolve as aresult o the travel policy, and to identiy additional

opportunities to reduce emissions rom travel. A

travel monitoring system can be easily maintained

by registering or each ticket a ew simple data:

Name o traveler

Destination

Mode o travel

Purpose o travel

Climate ootprint o the travel

The associated greenhouse gas emissions will in

any case be registered in the annual greenhouse

gas inventory, but these data will also provide an

indication o who are the most requent travelers,

what are the most common purposes o travel, and

to what extent are alternative (low carbon) travel

modes used.

Frequent Flyer Miles

Most airlines are today oering their passengers

some orm o rewards or choosing to fy with theirairline. These are most oten provided in the orm o

Frequent Flyer Miles, which can be converted into

air travel class upgrades, ree hotel nights, ree air trips

etc. Considering the vast volume o travel undertaken

in UN many sta accumulate considerable amounts

o Frequent Flyer Miles. Concerns have been raised

about this or the ollowing reasons:

It can be considered an undue benet that sta

are personally rewarded or travel undertaken

on the expense o the UN. In some countries

the requent fyer miles awarded in connection

with ocial travel by government ocials are

awarded the government, not the ocials.

In many cases sta are likely to convert their



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19

requent fyer miles to ree air tickets, or personal

travel that they would or would not have

undertaken had they not had the miles. On the

other hand sta may just as well use the miles

to upgrade themselves to a higher class o travel

or to save money by using the miles to get ree

hotel nights or other orms o benets.

It could be argued that sta may tend to avour

certain airlines or certain routings when travelling

so as to allow them to accumulate requent

fyer miles on their airl ine o preerence, i.e. not

travel the most direct route as is required by

UN travel rules.

The rst concern is rst and oremost an economicissue about who should own the requent fyer

miles, and is not o direct relevance to the climate

ootprint o the organization.

The second concern, about how the miles are used,

are again without impact on UNs climate ootprint

since travel would either be undertaken by the sta

privately (i.e. outside the boundaries o the UN

climate neutral strategy), or be used to upgrade

the class o travel, something that is however not

refected in UNs ootprint (only the class o travelpurchased is refected). It can be argued that in any

case the requent fyer air miles are contributing to

a real increase in greenhouse gas emissions rom

travel, regardless o whether this is refected in UNs

greenhouse gas inventories or not. While this may

be true, depending in how the sta actually use their

requent fyer miles, it is also dicult to monitor or

manage. In neither case is the ocial climate ootprint

o the organization aected.

The third concern, about sta avoring certainroutings or airlines, would mean that UNs require-

ments that sta have to travel the shortest and most

economic routing are not eectively enorced. This

would be a problem that goes ar beyond the use

o requent fyer miles and would not be solved by

trying to regulate the use o requent fyer miles.

Even i the issue about requent fyer miles oten

suraces, and may indeed be an issue in relation

to how the organization is using its resources, it

is dicult to justiy interventions rom a climate

neutral perspective.

However, there are examples o oces in UN where

sta have been encouraged to use their Frequent

Flyer Miles or purposes beneting the organiza-

tion. Some airlines e.g. oers to convert Frequent

Flyer Miles into unds or humanitarian assistance

(education, health or poverty eradication) as well

as or projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas

emissions. The idea to encourage sta to use

the Frequent Flyer Miles to purchase osets to

compensate their travel goes well with an overall

approach to sustainable travel in UN. In summary,

strictly spekaing rom a climate neutral perspective

requent fyer miles do not add to the climate ootprint

o the organization, but may be used voluntarily by

sta to oset their travel climate ootprint, which is

strongly recommended.

SUN is preparing a more comprehensive sustainable

travel guide to be released in 2009. This will include

specic examples o travel policies, example o

standard requirements or travel agents, case

studies and a step-by-step implementation model

or a sustainable travel system in UN organizations.

B. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN FRom

BUIlDINgS

Since much o UNs activities take place in oces,

large shares o the greenhouse gas emissions rom

the organization also relate to activities in the oce.

As mentioned above the most common sources or

emissions include electricity use, heating/cooling

o buildings and leakage o HFC rom rerigeration

equipment. However, the underlying causes or

emissions are oten more complex and diverse,

typically including both physical eatures o

the buildings and equipment used, as well as

processes, management and organizationalculture. Under the heading Buildings we will review

some o the issues directly related to the buildings,

while management, processes and organizational

aspects are addressed in the ollowing sections.

Most UN organizations do not own the buildings

where their oces are hosted, but rent them, which

in some cases limit the type o changes the orga-

nization can do to the building. However, even in

rented oces there are usually many opportunities

to improve the building perormance, and reducegreenhouse gas emissions, within the restrictions

set by the building owner.

Chapter III


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20

Emission reduction opportunities in buildings can

broadly be classied as:

Passive measures1. , typically ocused on

reducing the need or energy consumption (e.g.

reduce the need or articial lighting)

Active measures2. , typically ocused on improving

the eciency o whatever unctions energy is

used or (e.g. improve the eciency o articial

lighting)

Building management measures3. , including

integrated management systems, monitoring

and training.

1. Passive measuresPassive measures serve to reduce the need or energy

consumption in a building, e.g. by reducing the heat

loss to the outside in a cold climate, or by increasing

the level o natural light penetration into the building.

Passive measures do not require energy to unction

(hence the name passive measures). The ollowing

areas are worthwhile to consider:

Improve insulation o the building envelope

The building envelope consists o the walls, roo

and foor o the building. The main purpose o

the envelope is to protect the inside rom outside

conditions, including wind, rain, sunshine and

shiting air and ground temperatures. In order to

do this, the building envelope usually consists

o several layers o dierent building materials,

including structural elements, water proo layersand heat insulating layers. In particular the heat

insulating layers are important or regulating the heat

transer through the envelope, and can, i correctly

designed, reduce the heat transer signicantly.

Insulation is surprisingly oten inadequate in buildings,

in particular in roos, but also in walls and foors. In

hot climates insulation is more oten an exception

than a rule, in spite o insulation being as important

or containing cold inside an air conditioned building

as or containing heat in a heated building. A roughindication o whether the insulation is adequate

can be gained by simply eeling with your hand

the temperature o the surace o the wall, roo or

foor, on a day with hot or cold outside tempera-

tures. I the surace eels much warmer or colder

than the indoor air, then it is worthwhile to take a

closer look at the insulation. The SUN Guide or

Climate Friendly Buildings and Oces (due in July

2009) contains practical advice on how to assess

opportunities or improved insulation in buildings.

Insulation is generally a cheap material but can

be expensive to install in existing buildings since

it usually requires that parts o the existing walls,

roo or foor are removed. However, in connection

with major renovations, it is always worthwhile to

consider improving the insulation.

Reduce heat transer through windows

Windows are oten the weakest part o the

building envelope in terms o high heat transer.

Heat transer is taking place both through the

light transmitted through the glass, through direct

heat transer (conduction) through the glass and

window rame, and through air leakage through

gaps between the window and rame (convection).

Figure 3: Typical distribution of energy use in 10 storeyWestern European office building (Source UNEP SBCI2008)


Figure 4: Improved insulation is often a cost effectivemeasure to reduce the energy use in buildings.


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21

The window perormance can normally be improved

in several ways:

Change rom single glass windows to double or

triple glass windows, with insulating inert gases

in between the window panes. This is usually a

very eective measure.

Change rom clear glass to e-coated glass, to

reduce transmission o heat radiation.

Remove thermal bridges between the outside

and inside by changing the window rame

material rom metal, a good conductor o heat

and cold, to less heat conductive materials such

as PVC or wooden rames.

Improve the seals between the inner and outer

window rames to eliminate any gaps and air

leakage.

Install exterior shading devices outside the

window to reduce the direct sun exposure and

associated heating o the inside.

Note that colored or tinted glass, while reducing

direct visible light, is oten less eective in terms o

reducing heat transer through the glass. Instead,

specially treated glass (oten reerred to as e-coated

glass) can be used or this purpose.

Interior shading, curtains and louvers, can be used

to reduce direct sunlight but does not reduce heat

transer. Only double/triple glass windows combine

high light penetration with low heat transer.

Enhance natural daylight in the oce

Lighting may be a major cause o electricity

use in a building. The need or articial lighting

can be reduced by maximizing the daylight

penetration into the oce. This may include:

Remove non-structural interior walls, possibly

replacing them with transparent walls.

Remodel the oce layout to ensure that the

more requently used spaces are adjacent to

windows.

Install light shelves refecting the daylight into the

building. This horizontal light-refecting overhang

is placed above eye-level and has a high-refec-

tance upper surace. This surace is then used

to refect daylight onto the ceiling and deeper

into a space.

Use bright or light colors or interior decoration(walls, roo, foor and urniture)

Avoid direct exposure to daylight as it is usually

more comortable to work in indirect light, and

direct light may cause the building users to close

the blinds and turn on a lamp.

Install skylights (roo windows) or light tubes (also

known as light wells) transmitting daylight into

the interior o the building through tubes tted

with mirrors or bre optics.

Figure 5: Options to reduce heat transfer throughwindows (illustration courtesy of US DoE).

Figure 6a: Light shelves installed in an office.

Chapter III


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22

ventilation, thereby reducing the need or

daytime articial cooling.

In cold climates, sun radiation can be

accumulated as heat in water tanks or heat

absorbing structures during the day when

exposed to the sun, and then be used as heat

sources through radiation towards the interior

during the night.

Roos are directly exposed to the sun and may

transmit large amounts o heat into the building.

In addition to insulating the roo (reer above)

under-roo ventilation and green roos can decrease

the heat load on the interior considerably.

Surrounding vegetation can be used to increase

heating or cooling o buildings as well as toenhance natural ventilation. Trees planted

adjacent to buildings provide shading in the

summer time and (in temperate climates) let

through sunlight in winter time when the leaves

have allen o the trees. Depending on where

they are placed, they may also shield the building

rom the cooling eect o wind in cold climates

and may direct predominant winds towards

certain areas to enhance natural ventilation o

the building.

The heat generated by oce equipment, re-rigerators and other machines is sometimes

sucient to keep the temperature indoors at

comortable levels. This can be taken advantage

o by placing major heat generating equipment

at central locations in the building. Since hot

air travels upwards, heat sources can oten be

urther enhanced i placed in the lower parts

o the building, especially i there are open

passageways between the foors.

2. Active measures

Natural cooling and heating

Depending on the location, design and orm o the

building there may be opportunities or optimizing

natural ventilation, thereby reducing the need or

articial ventilation.

Establish ventilation corridors inside the building,

providing an open pathway or air to move between

windows or ventilation openings at opposite sides

o the building. Many times it only takes to open a

door or to recongure some interior partitions to

establish such ventilation corridors.

Natural ventilation can be enhanced in hotter

climates by the use o solar chimneys, exposed

to direct sunlight, thereby creating a orcedmovement o air upwards. This upward airfow,

i connected to the interior air volume o the

building, can provide orced (solar powered)

natural ventilation throughout the building.

In hot climates with a dierence between day

and night temperatures, the building can be

cooled down during the night through natural


Figure 6b: Principle design and example of the use oflight tubes.

Figure 7: Design principle for solar chimneys


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23

Active measures reer to systems consuming energy

or their operation. This includes heating, cooling,

ventilation, lighting, but also oce equipment and

energy supply. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

in these areas typically includes three types o inter-

ventions:

Switch to more ecient systems,a.

Improve management and maintenance o theb.

systems,

Optimize the conguration o the systems.c.

The ollowing areas are worthwhile considering.

Green energy

Energy supply is providing the Number One

opportunity to drastically reduce the carbon ootprint

o energy consumption in the building. I energy can

be sourced rom renewable sources (hydro, wind,

solar) or nuclear power, the carbon ootprint will be

close to zero, regardless o how much energy is

used in the building. In locations where it is possible

to purchase green power (also reerred to as green

electricity, green certicates etc) this is oten the

easiest and most eective way o reducing the

carbon ootprint. The cost or green power is oten

slightly higher than or the normal energy supply (also

reerred to as brown electricity or brown power) butis oten resulting in a net saving i the organization is

purchasing osets to compensate or greenhouse

gas emissions. An emission reduction strategy

entirely based on green power will drastically reduce

the greenhouse emissions but will not capture the

cost savings rom reduced energy consumption

Figure 9: Green roofs can reduce heat gain and heat loss,reduce water runoff and provide a literally green image ofthe building: Fukuoka International Hall, Japan.

Figure 8: Under roof ventilation. Air between outer and

inner roofs is heated and raised towards vents at the topof the roof where it exists the roof, while fresh cooler airis sucked into the roof space through vents at the lowerparts of the roof.

Chapter III

Figure 10: PV cells and solar water heater design.


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24

associated with most other strategies.

On-site renewable energy

An alternative to purchasing green power rom

the outside is to install on-site renewable energy

production on-site. This includes photovoltaic cells

(PV cells), solar heaters, wind turbines (building

integrated or ree standing) and biomass ueled

boilers/heaters. The conditions and costs or

installing on-site renewable power supply vary rom

location to location. In most cases it is very dicult

to ensure ull energy supply only through PV cells or

wind turbines, but in almost all cases these tech-

nologies can be used to produce supplementary

energy, thereby reducing the need or external powersupply. These technologies are also oten used as

visible and easily recognizable representations o

organizations ambitions to go green. PV cells and

wind turbines produce electricity, while solar heaters

produce hot water through direct uptake o solar

radiation. Solar heaters have a higher degree o

eciency and can in many cases provide the entire

need or hot water to a building. The hot water can

also be used or heating the building.

Ground/Water as heating/ cooling sourceA ground/water coupled heat pump uses the earth

or ground water or both as sources o heat in the

winter, and as the sink or heat removed rom

the home in the summer. For this reason, ground-

source heat pump systems have come to be known

as earth-energy systems. Heat is removed rom the

earth or water body through a liquid, such as ground

water or an antireeze solution, upgraded by the heat

pump, and transerred to indoor air. During summer

months, the process is reversed: heat is extracted

rom indoor air and transerred to the earth through

the ground water or antireeze solution.

Heat recovery in ventilation air

Heat exchangers are devices that transer heat rom

one medium to another. The radiator is a common

example o a heat exchanger. In the case o buildings

where the inside temperature is dierent rom the

outside, signicant energy losses occur when heated

or chilled indoor air is vented outside. This loss o

energy can be reduced by transerring the heat in

the outgoing air to the incoming air. There is a wide

range o heat exchangers available or this purpose,

including plate heat exchangers and heat wheels.

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning(HVAC) systems

The three unctions o heating, ventilating, and

air-conditioning are closely interrelated. All seek

to provide thermal comort, acceptable indoor air

quality, and reasonable installation, operation, and

maintenance costs. HVAC systems can provide

ventilation, reduce air inltration, and maintain

pressure relationships between spaces. In modern

buildings the design, installation, and control

systems o these unctions are integrated into one

or more HVAC systems.

There are dierent types o standard heating systems.

Central heating is oten used in cold climates to

heat private houses and public buildings. Such a

system contains a boiler, urnace, or heat pump

to heat water, steam, or air, all in a central location

such as a urnace room in a home or a mechanical


Figure 12: Principle for heat exchanger

Figure 11: Ground coupled heat pump


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25

room in a large building. The system also contains

either ductwork, or orced air systems, or piping to

distribute a heated fuid and radiators to transer this

heat to the air.

In boiler ed or radiant heating systems, all but the

simplest systems have a pump to circulate the

water and ensure an equal supply o heat to all the

radiators. The heated water can also be ed through

another (secondary) heat exchanger inside a storage

cylinder to provide hot running water.

Forced air systems send heated air through

ductwork. During warm weather the same ductwork

can be used or air conditioning. The orced air canalso be ltered or put through air cleaners.

Heating can also be provided rom electric, or

resistance heating using a lament that becomes

hot when electricity passes through it. This type o

heat can be ound in electric baseboard heaters,

portable electric heaters, and as backup or supple-

mental heating or heat pump system.

Ventilating is the process o changing or replacing

air in any space to control temperature or removemoisture, odors, smoke, heat, dust and airborne

bacteria. Ventilation includes both the exchange o

air to the outside as well as circulation o air within

the building. It is one o the most important actors or

maintaining acceptable indoor air quality in buildings.

Air conditioning and rerigeration are provided

through the removal o heat. The denition o cold is

the absence o heat and all air conditioning systems

work on this basic principle. Heat can be removed

through the process o radiation, convection, andconduction using mediums such as water, air, ice,

and chemicals reerred to as rerigerants. In order

to remove heat rom something, you simply need to

provide a medium that is colder -- this is how all air

conditioning and rerigeration systems work. There is

a large number o specic technologies which can be

applied to remove heat, each one o which may be

more or less suitable depending on local conditions.

HVAC systems are oten major energy consumers

in a building and due to their complexity and rapid

technology development in this area or the last

decades oten represent major opportunities or

energy savings. In addition to several o the passive

measures presented above, savings in HVAC

systems may be achieved by:

Complete replacement with a more ecient

system

Upgrading or replacing parts o the existing

equipment

Improved control o the HVAC system (increase

the monitoring points, ne tune control

parameters, upgrade standard operating

procedures etc)

Seal leaks in ducts and clean ans and lters

Improved training o operators

Establishing a monitoring and eed-back system

and compare to benchmarks as a means to

assess the eciency o the system and identiyneed or urther improvement.

Since HVAC systems are oten large complex

systems it is helpul to have external experts to carry

EnErgy EfficiEncy

in BuildingsGuidance forFacilities Managers

Figure 13: The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Guideprovides more detailed information on the top ten energysaving measures in buildings (SUN May 2009).

Chapter III


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26

out an assessment (retro- commissioning) o op-

portunities or improvement. Even in relatively new

buildings, experience suggests that retro-commis-

sioning requently results in energy savings in the

range o 20-30%.

Lighting

Lighting is sometimes responsible or large shares

o electricity use in an oce and there are several

ways o reducing the energy used or lighting. The

rst option is o course to consider increased use o

natural daylight, as described above. Once the passive

measures to enhance daylight penetration into the

oce are implemented, you are ready to consider

reducing the energy use or articial lighting.

Measures to reduce energy consumption or lighting

include:

Provide the right level o lighting or the activities

carried out: Map the lighting need and remove

lamps providing lighting above what is needed.

Avoid decorative lighting.

Only use high eciency lamps such as compact

fuorescent lamps.

Electric current in lamps normally has to beadjusted to avoid overloading and burning the

lamp. This adjustment is done with a device

called ballast. Electric ballasts are considerably

more energy ecient than the older magnetic

ballasts. Changing rom magnetic to electric

ballast can be an easy and cheap way to reduce

electricity consumption in lamps.

Regularly clean lamps

Ensure that lights can be turned on individually

or each room or work place. You should not

have to turn on the lights or an entire foor i you

only use one room on that foor.

Install movement sensors in less requently used

spaces, e.g. in rest rooms, so as to automatically

turn o the lights when the room is empty.

Install timed central master switches so as to

ensure that lights are turned o at a certain time

(the sta needing the lights can then individually

turn the lights in their own room on again).

Find more inormation about ecient lighting at:

www.unep.r/scp/sun/publications

Oce Equipment

Most oces have a large number o computers,printers and copying machines that are typically

responsible or a large or even major share o

electricity consumption. The energy consumption o

oce equipment can be reduced by:

A) Improving the eciency o each machine:

Purchase energy ecient equipment (reer to

the SUN product act sheet on sustainable

procurement o IT equipment www.unep.

r/scp/sun/). Computers, screens, copying

machines and printers have all gone througha revolution in terms o energy eciency in

the past decades.

Activate energy saving eatures on the

equipment (automatic screen savers,

stand-by mode) and other indirect measures

such as deault double-sided printing on

printers.

Ensure that equipment is turned o (not only

put in stand-by mode) when the work day

is over.

B) Replacing individual machines with common

high-eciency equipment:

Move rom individual printers to high

eciency Local Area Network (LAN) common

printers/copiers/scanners. In addition

to reducing energy use and investment

costs, studies show that common printers/

copiers contribute to an improved indoor

environment and reduce printing volumes.

Replace servers with virtual servers, i.e.

reduce the number o actual servers required

to host a certain number o unctions/ ap-

plications, or outsource the entire server

unction to external data centers. This can

be an important measure as traditional


Figure 14: SUNs manual for efficient lighting.


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27

server rooms, mostly because o the need

or cooling, typically account or approxi-

mately 15% o electricity consumption in

an oce-based organization.

C) Completely unplug electric equipment when

possible:

Electric equipment consume electricity even

when in stand-by mode, and sometimes

even when turned o but still plugged in.

This type o idle electricity consumption

can have a signicant impact on the total

consumption and can be reduced i the

equipment is unplugged when not in use,

e.g. at night and on weekends. This canbe done easily by using power strips with

multiple plugs and a switch.

3. Building management measures

Passive and active emission reduction measures

in buildings mostly address physical eatures o

dierent components o buildings. A building is like

a machine, requiring maintenance and on-going

management to perorm as intended. Building

management measures are thereore as important

or the perormance o the building as are activeand passive measures. The main opportunities

or reducing greenhouse gases through building

management measures are described as ollows.

Commissioning o new systems or upgrading o

equipment

Commissioning reers to independent (rom the

supplier) verication that new systems and equipment

are correctly installed and perorm as to specica-

tion. The verication normally ollows established

test protocols and is perormed by an independentexpert. Commissioning is an established and

proven method or achieving cost cuts and sizeable

eciency improvements

Retro-commissioning o existing systems

Retro-commissioning reers to an independent

testing o existing HVAC systems to ensure that their

perormance remains optimized. Due to wear and

tear or individual upgrades that are not optimized

or the entire system, even well maintained systems

require retro-commissioning every now and then in

order to remain in top running order. I your building

is equipped with a system that has not been retro-

commissioned or the past 10 years, the chances are

good that a retro-commissioning will result in energy

and cost savings.

Monitoring and reporting

Monitoring and reporting on key parameters o

a buildings energy systems (e.g. energy use, air

speed, temperatures) should constitute a very basic

requirement or ensuring good system operation.

Unortunately, in many cases there is no monitoring

and thereore no way o getting an early indication o

system malunctions. A documented procedure or

monitoring and reporting o a ew key parameters,

and plotting these against benchmarks, is highly

recommended as a measure to ensure energy

eciency. A very basic, but also very important

aspect o monitoring and control is to ensure thatindoor conditions throughout the building meet

specications. Complaints rom the building users on

too hot or too cold rooms are oten a sign that the

building is over heated or over cooled. In both cases

this indicates inappropriate unctioning or control o

the system. As a rule o thumb, a one degree over

heating or over cooling typically causes an additional

5% o energy use and associated costs.

Automated building management systems

In larger and more modern buildings the monitoringand reporting can be managed through automated

building management systems. These are com-

puterized systems automatically measuring and

recording a number o key parameters both in

the energy systems and in individual oces, auto-

matically adjusting the system to provide optimum

temperature, air circulation, etc.

Training

Even the best systems are bound to break down

sooner or later i the sta managing the systems donot ully understand how to operate and maintain

them. It is important to ensure that key sta are

properly trained in how to operate the system. This

reers especially to active measures; energy supply,

heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting.

Behaviour o building users

The behaviour o the users o the building also has

a very large impact on the energy use in a building.

They may or may not chose or understand how to

make use o energy saving eatures in the building.

They may or may not care about the carbon

ootprint o the building. Improving the behaviour o

the people in the building is however more related

to organizational culture and is thereore presented

Chapter III


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28

under that heading.

C. EmISSIoN REDUCTIoN ThRoUgh

PRoCESSES

The ability o an organization to move towards carbon

neutrality requires that basic processes are directed

towards supporting this eort. This is particularly true

i the carbon neutral eort is to be maintained over

a longer period o time and not simply done as a

one-o activity. Key processes are:

Sustainable Procurement1. , through which

almost all products and services in UN are

acquired.

Administration2. , which is essential or the work

o UN, but which can be set up to unction in

more or less ecient ways with more or less

impact on the energy and resource use o the

organization.

Budgeting3. , which may or may not support

unds being directed towards investments in

greenhouse gas emission reduction.

Meetings4. , although not always a ormal process,

are one o the most common activities in UN.Meetings are important both or the carbon

ootprint and or the public image o the orga-

nization.

1. Sustainable procurement

Procurement is the process we use in the UN to

acquire goods and services. Procurement is a highly

ormalized process ollowing strict rules primarily to

ensure transparency, airness and best value or

money or the organization. Procurement may be

managed by an individual oce but is more otenmanaged by a common procurement unction in the

main UN body at the duty station.

Being able to purchase more sustainable goods with

a lower carbon ootprint (e.g. recycled paper, energy

ecient equipment or uel ecient transport) is very

important or an organization that is trying to reduce

its carbon ootprint and/or improve its overall sus-

tainability. Unortunately the procurement process is

many times seen as an obstacle rather than a help

in purchasing environmentally riendly goods andservices. The underlying problem is that neither req-

uisitioners nor procurers are trained in how to apply

the procurement rules so as to support procurement

o goods and services with a low carbon ootprint.

However, SUN is now, in cooperation with several

UN organizations, developing practical guidance and

tools to build capacity among UN requisitioners and

procurers in this area. Specic cut & paste product

criteria tailored or dierent product groups and

dierent regions are being developed, as are training

packages. As mentioned above, an eort to revise

the overall UN procurement policies to better support

sustainable and climate riendly procurement is also in

progress (www.unep.r/scp/sun).

Emission reduction plans o organizations should

thereore also give attention to the need to provide

sta in procurement with adequate training andaccess to sustainable procurement tools as a

means to support the overall carbon neutral eort

o the organization.

2. Administration

Administrative processes in the UN can be seen


Sustainable Procurement:

Buying for a better world

Sustainable Procurement ManualResource Book

May 2008

Figure 14: Sustainable Procurement manual for the UN(UNEP SUN 2008)


33/44

29

rom two perspectives. They are essential parts o

the UNs operation, without which the UN could

not unction at all. On the other hand, they are also

oten seen as a major barrier to eciency o the

organization. For this reason a number o more or

less continuous eorts are underway in dierent UN

bodies to revise and improve dierent aspects o their

administrative processes. From a climate neutral

perspective, reorm o administrative processes is

important but also a very tall order. However, there

are three specic areas where climate neutral ocal

points may be able to bring about positive change:

Provide input to the reorm process o UNs ad-

ministrative systems. This reers to the substanceo dierent rules.

Provide input to the structure and unction o the

UNs new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

system, which is to replace IMIS and other

admin systems within 2-3 years. This is not

reerring to the substance but to the ormat o

the on-line inormation management o adminis-

trative inormation.

Eliminate paper use associated with administra-

tive processes in your oce/organization. This has

a direct impact on energy use, paper and toneruse and waste generation in some cases also a

sizeable reduction o greenhouse gas emissions.

Paperless administration can be supported by

dierent versions o electronic administrative tools

(e.g. on-line correspondence tracking, on-line

travel planning, on-line preparation o contracts,

or on-line HR requests), but is rst and oremost a

matter o attitudes o sta and management. With

basic sotware (Acrobat PDF writer and e-mail) it is

possible to eliminate almost all paper printing and

also improve tracking and speed in processingo administrative requests. However, this is only

possible i concerned sta and management are

willing to adopt paperless routines. Since there

are oten cost savings associated with paperless

administration, the proposal or going paperless

can be underpinned with a simple cost-benet

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