METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRACKING AND REPORTING EMISSIONS

• US 20100070404A1
• Filed: 11/23/2009
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verisae Inc (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Verisae Inc (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: McConnell, Robert S., Hepperla, Paul, Johnson, Daniel T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,930,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/845 Inventory and reporting systems for greenhouse gases [GHG]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/90 Financial instruments for climate change mitigation, e.g. environmental taxes, subsidies or financing

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods and systems of tracking enterprise gas emissions such as greenhouse gas emissions. The systems and methods relate to collecting or entering data relating to one or more emissions source of an enterprise or an enterprise location, calculating emissions totals, and, according to certain embodiments, generating emissions reports.

Claims

1. A network-based emissions tracking system for an enterprise, the system comprising:

(a) a central processor accessible on a computer network;

(b) an asset database in communication with the central processor, the asset database configured to store;

(i) asset information relating to a plurality of assets at a plurality of locations, wherein the plurality of assets comprises at least one emissions asset;

(ii) usage information relating to at least one of the emissions assets; and

(iii) carbon credit information relating to at least one of the emissions assets;

(c) emissions tracking software associated with the central processor, the emissions tracking software configured to calculate and track a calculated greenhouse gas emissions amount relating to at least one of the emissions assets based on the usage information relating to the at least one emissions asset;

(d) carbon credit tracking software associated with the central processor, the carbon credit tracking software configured to calculate and track the carbon credit information relating to at least one of the emissions assets, wherein the carbon credit information comprises at least one of a calculated carbon credit debt and a calculated carbon credit surplus relating to the at least one emissions assets;

(e) carbon credit transactional software associated with the central processor, the carbon credit transactional software configured to calculate the value of the calculated carbon credit debt or the value of the calculated carbon credit surplus based on a current market value of a carbon credit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is further configured to receive the current market value of a carbon credit via the computer network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is further configured to purchase carbon credits based on the calculated carbon credit debt.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is further configured to sell carbon credits based on the calculated carbon credit surplus.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is further configured to reallocate carbon credits based on the calculated carbon credit surplus and the calculated carbon credit debt.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is further configured to reallocate carbon credits from a first of the plurality of locations to a second of the plurality of locations.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is configured to calculate the value of the calculated carbon credit debt for at least one of the emissions assets or the value of the calculated carbon credit surplus for at least one of the emissions assets based on a current market value of a carbon credit.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is configured to calculate the value of the calculated carbon credit debt for one of the plurality of locations or the value of the calculated carbon credit surplus for one of the plurality of locations based on a current market value of a carbon credit.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the carbon credit transactional software is configured to calculate the value of the calculated carbon credit debt for the enterprise or the value of the calculated carbon credit surplus for the enterprise based on a current market value of a carbon credit.

10. A network-based emissions tracking system for tracking emissions of a plurality of assets located at a plurality of locations of an enterprise, the system comprising:

(a) a central processor accessible on a computer network;

(b) an asset database in communication with the central processor, the asset database configured to store;

(i) asset information relating to the plurality of assets located at the plurality of locations, wherein the plurality of assets comprises;

(1) at least one indirect emissions asset powered at least in part by at least one indirect emissions source; and

(2) at least one direct emissions asset; and

(ii) billing information relating to at least one of the plurality of assets;

(iii) usage information relating to at least one of the plurality of assets;

(c) billing software associated with the central processor, the billing software configured to

(i) receive at least a portion of a third party provider bill via the computer network from a third party billing system; and

(ii) reconcile and pay the third party provider bill based on the asset information and the billing information;

(d) emissions tracking software associated with the central processor, the emissions tracking software configured to

(i) calculate and track an actual greenhouse gas emissions amount relating to the at least one direct emissions asset; and

(ii) calculate and track a calculated greenhouse gas emissions amount relating to the at least one indirect emissions asset based on the usage information and a factor associated with the first indirect emissions source.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the third party provider is an energy provider.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the energy provider is a utility.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one indirect emissions source is the utility.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one indirect emissions source is the third party provider.

15. A network-based emissions tracking system for tracking emissions of a plurality of assets located at a plurality of locations of an enterprise, the system comprising:

(a) a central processor accessible on a computer network;

(b) an asset database in communication with the central processor, the asset database configured to store;

(i) asset information relating to the plurality of assets located at the plurality of locations, wherein the plurality of assets comprises at least one direct emissions asset; and

(ii) usage information relating to at least one of the plurality of assets;

(c) emissions tracking software associated with the central processor, the emissions tracking software configured to calculate and track an actual amount of CH₄ or N₂O emissions relating to at least one of the direct emissions assets; and

(d) CO₂ equivalents conversion software associated with the central processor, the CO₂ equivalents conversion software configured to calculate a CO₂ equivalent amount based on the actual amount of CH₄ or N₂O emissions relating to at least one of the direct emissions assets.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the CO₂ equivalents conversion software is further configured to calculate the a CO₂ equivalent amount using a GWP value.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of assets comprises at least one indirect emissions asset powered at least in part by at least one indirect emissions source, and further wherein the emissions tracking software is further configured to calculate and track a calculated amount of CH₄ or N₂O emissions relating to at least one of the indirect emissions assets based on the usage information and a factor associated with the at least one indirect emissions source.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising carbon credit tracking software associated with the central processor, the carbon credit tracking software configured to calculate and track the carbon credit information relating to at least one of the emissions assets based at least in part on the calculated CO₂ equivalent amount for the at least one of the emissions assets.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising at least one actual emissions sensor in communication with the central processor, wherein each of the at least one actual emissions sensors is operably associated with one of the at least one direct emissions assets, the actual emissions sensor being configured to transmit actual emissions information relating to the at least one direct emissions asset to the central processor.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising a client processor in communication with the central processor, the client processor configured to allow for inputting any portion of the asset information, the usage information, and the carbon credit information or to allow for accessing, querying, downloading, and requesting information relating to any of the asset information, the usage information, and the carbon credit information.