SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COMPUTING EMISSION VALUES

• US 20110099489A1
• Filed: 10/26/2009
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zerofootprint Software Inc.
• Original Assignee: Zerofootprint Software Inc.
• Inventors: Dembo, Ron, Glenn, Michael, Meyn, Oliver
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A system and method for computing emission values. In one aspect, a system and method is described to include an input module operable to receive raw activity data to define a record for an activity; a data provisioning module operable to compute standardized activity data using the raw activity data; a location module operable to compute a location hierarchy for a given location; a factor data module operable to compute factor data for a given location hierarchy and time period; a reference data module operable to compute reference data; and an emission engine operable to compute at least one emission value for the activity based on the optimal emission equation.

Claims

1. A computer system for computing emission values, the computer system comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions, the instructions being executable to configure the processor to provide:

an input module operable to receive raw activity data to define a record for an activity, wherein the raw activity data comprises;

an activity type;

a time interval;

a location;

a unit of measure; and

a consumption value;

a data provisioning module operable to compute standardized activity data using the raw activity data;

a location module operable to compute a location hierarchy for a given location;

a factor data module operable to compute factor data for a given location hierarchy and time period;

a reference data module operable to compute reference data;

an emission engine operable to;

query the reference data module for reference data;

query the location module for a location hierarchy corresponding to the location of the activity;

query the factor data module for factor data corresponding to the location hierarchy and at least a portion of the time interval for the activity;

determine at least one optimal emission equation; and

compute at least one emission value for the activity based on the optimal emission equation.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the input module is operable to interface with an application programming interface for a plurality of computing devices.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a bulk upload module operable to receive raw activity data as bulk data from an enterprise client and provide the raw activity data to the input module.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a question tree module operable to

compute a question tree comprising a root node, a plurality of branch nodes, and a plurality of question nodes;

provide a first question to a user based on the question tree;

receive raw activity data in response to the first question; and

provide the raw activity data to the input module.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the question tree module is further configured to:

re-configure the question tree using at least some of the received raw activity data;

provide a second question to the user based on the re-configured question tree; and

receive additional raw activity data in response to the second question.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an inventory and payment services module operable to:

manage emission credit inventory;

calculate a number of emission credits required to offset the computed emission value;

compute emission credit market values; and

initiate an emission offset transaction based on the number of calculated emission credits;

computed emission credit market values; and

emission credit inventory.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the input module is further operable to receive a user identifier;

and wherein the location module is further operable to customize a location hierarchy for a given user; and

wherein the emission engine is further operable to receive the user identifier and to query the location module for the customized location hierarchy using the user identifier.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the location hierarchy is a tree comprised of parent and children nodes;

wherein each node corresponds to a geographic location;

wherein each parent node corresponds to a geographic region at least as large as the aggregate of its children; and

wherein each child node has only one parent node.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one optimal emission equation is associated with a time period, an emission type and a protocol.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein factor data comprises emission factors and wherein the factor data module is further operable to:

associate each emission factor with at least one source, at least one location, a valid start date, and a valid end date;

determine which emission factors are valid for at least a portion of the time interval for the activity;

determine which emission factors are valid for locations defined by the location hierarchy; and

rank the valid emission factors from most accurate to least accurate to compute a list of ranked valid emission factors.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the factor data module is further operable to receive factor data specific to a user and associate the factor data with the user.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the data provisioning module is further operable to:

convert the time interval for the raw activity data into one or more sub-intervals of a standard time measure;

create a standardized activity for each sub-interval of the standard time measure;

convert the unit of measure and consumption value for the raw activity data into a standard unit of measure and a corresponding consumption value;

associate a portion of the corresponding consumption value in the standard unit of measure to each standardized activity; and

associate an input label with each standardized activity, where the input label is based on the activity type and defines how the emission value will be calculated.

13. A method for computing emission values, wherein the method is implemented on a processor and a memory storing instructions, the instructions being executable to configure the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving raw activity data to define a record for an activity, wherein the raw activity data comprises;

an activity type;

a time interval;

a location;

a unit of measure; and

a consumption value;

computing standardized activity data using the raw activity data;

computing a location hierarchy corresponding to the location of the activity;

computing factor data corresponding to the location hierarchy and at least a portion of the time interval for the activity;

computing reference data;

determining at least one optimal emission equation; and

computing at least one emission value for the activity using the at least one optimal emission equation.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

computing a question tree, wherein the question tree comprises a root node, a plurality of branch nodes, and a plurality of question nodes;

providing a first question generated using the question tree to a user;

receiving raw activity data in response to the first question.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

re-configuring the question tree in response to at least some of the received raw activity data; and

providing an additional question generated using the re-configured question tree to the user; and

receiving additional raw activity data in response to the additional question.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising traversing the question tree by dynamically repeating the steps of:

re-configuring the question tree;

providing an additional question; and

receiving additional raw activity data.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

managing emission credit inventory;

calculating a number of emission credits required to offset the computed emission value;

computing emission credit market values;

initiating an emission offset transaction based on the number of calculated emission credits, computed emission credit market values, and the emission credit inventory.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a user identifier corresponding to a user;

customizing the location hierarchy for the user; and

retrieving the customized location hierarchy using the user identifier.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the standardized activity data defines one or more standardized activities, and wherein the step of computing standardized activity data using the raw activity data comprises:

converting the unit of measure and consumption value for the raw activity data into a standard unit of measure and a corresponding consumption value; and

associating a portion of the corresponding consumption value in the standard unit of measure with each standardized activity.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of computing standardized activity data using the raw activity data comprises:

converting the time interval for the raw activity data into one or more sub-intervals of a standard time measure; and

defining a standardized activity for each sub-interval of the standard time measure.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein computing the at least one emission value for the activity comprises:

computing at least one emission value for each standardized activity.

22. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of computing standardized activity data using the raw activity data comprises:

associating an input label for the activity based on the activity type, wherein the input label defines how the emission value will be calculated.

23. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of determining at least one optimal emission equation comprises:

storing a plurality of emission equations in a database, wherein each emission equation is associated with a protocol and an activity type;

determining a set of emission equations from the plurality of emission equations, wherein each emission equation in the set of emission equations matches at least some of the standardized activity data, the computed reference data and the computed factor data;

ranking each emission equation in the set of emission equations, wherein the rank relates to the accuracy of the emission equation given the standardized activity data, the computed reference data and the computed factor data; and

selecting the at least one optimal emission equation from the ranked set of emission equations.

24. The method of claim 13 further comprising receiving one or more emission equations specific to a user and associating the one or more emission equations with a user identifier.

25. The method of claim 13 further comprising receiving factor data specific to a user and associating the factor data with the user.

26. The method of claim 13 wherein the factor data comprises factors, and wherein the method further comprises:

associating each factor with at least one source, at least one location, a valid start date, and a valid end date;

determining which factors are valid for the time period of the standardized activity data;

determining which factors are valid for locations defined by the location hierarchy;

ranking the valid factors from most accurate to least accurate to compute a list of ranked valid factors.

27. A physical computer-readable medium upon which a plurality of instructions are stored, the instructions for performing the steps of the method as claimed in claim 13.