System and method for residential emissions trading

• US 6,904,336 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2002
• Issued: 06/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Co2e.com LLC (CantorCO2e Ltd.), COE. Com, LLC, Fannie Mae
• Original Assignee: Co2e.com LLC (CantorCO2e Ltd.), Fannie Mae
• Inventors: Lesmes, Scott, Desiderio, Michelle, Raines, Franklin D., Sahadi, Robert J., Berlin, Kenneth, Cavey, Elizabeth Arner
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahta, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US10/290,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20040015454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 700/291, 700/286, 700/297, 700/292, 700/226, 700224-227, 705/412, 705/7, 705/37, 705/1, 702/64
• US Class Current: 700/286
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/70 Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method of residential emissions trading and a residential emissions trading commodity. In particular, an embodiment of the present invention is a method for identifying, quantifying, and aggregating reductions in residential emissions into a tradable commodity. The step of quantifying the emissions reduction may further comprise the steps of measuring an energy savings resulting from the energy savings opportunity and calculating the emissions reduction resulting from the energy savings. The method may further comprise the steps of verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction and monitoring the residential energy savings opportunities and the quantification of the emissions reduction.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a residential emissions trading program, comprising the steps of:

identifying an energy savings opportunity in a residential property;

quantifying an emissions reduction produced by the energy savings opportunity,

wherein quantifying the emissions reduction further comprises measuring an energy savings resulting from the energy savings opportunity and calculating an emissions reduction resulting from the energy savings, and wherein calculating the emissions reduction further comprises qualifying a technical confidence factor for the energy savings opportunity; and

aggregating the emissions reductions into a tradable commodity.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the step of aggregating the emissions reductions into a tradable commodity further comprises the step of converting the emissions reductions into at least one tradable credit.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the step of measuring an energy savings resulting from the energy savings opportunity is selected from the group consisting of conducting one or more of:

on-site inspection;

metering;

sub-metering;

utility bill analysis; and

engineering modeling.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the step of conducting on-site inspection is selected from the group consisting of conducting one or more of:

report review;

visual inspection; and

device rating verification.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the step of conducting utility bill analysis further comprises conducting one or more of the steps of:

analyzing samples of measured data of the energy savings from the residential property;

analyzing at least one sample of control data of residential energy use;

analyzing raw data;

analyzing data normalized by weather;

analyzing stratified data; and

analyzing data that are both stratified and weather-normalized.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the step of conducting engineering modeling further comprises the step of utilizing energy software.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the engineering modeling is selected from the group consisting of conducting one or more of:

degree day analysis;

bin analysis;

hourly analysis; and

time-step analysis.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the step of aggregating the emissions reductions into at least one tradable commodity further comprises the steps of:

identifying a tradable portion of the emissions reductions;

assigning a technical confidence factor to the emissions reductions to quantify the tradable portion of the emissions reductions; and

converting the emissions reductions into a non-monetary consideration.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction; and

monitoring the identification of the residential energy savings opportunity and the quantification of the emissions reduction.

11. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction.

12. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of monitoring the identification of the residential energy savings opportunity and the quantification of the emissions reduction.

13. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10, wherein the step of verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction further comprises the step of calculating a measured emissions reduction.

15. The computer-implemented method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of comparing the measured emissions reduction to a forecasted emissions reduction to verify that the emissions reduction predicted in the forecasting phase is achieved.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 10, wherein the step of monitoring the identification of the residential energy savings opportunity and the quantification of the emissions reduction further comprises the steps of:

compiling the quantified emissions reductions; and

assessing the emissions reductions potential for a plurality of the energy savings opportunities.

8. A computer-implemented method for providing a residential emissions trading program, comprising the steps of:

identifying an energy savings opportunity in a residential property;

quantifying an emissions reduction produced by the energy savings opportunity; and

aggregating the emissions reductions into a tradable commodity, wherein aggregating the emissions reductions further comprises identifying a tradable portion of the emissions reductions;

assigning a technical confidence factor to the emissions reductions to quantify the tradable portion of the emissions reductions;

converting the emissions reductions; and

monetizing the emissions reductions.

14. A computer-implemented method for providing a residential emissions trading program, comprising the steps of:

identifying an energy savings opportunity in a residential property;

quantifying an emissions reduction produced by the energy savings opportunity;

aggregating the emissions reductions into a tradable commodity;

verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction, wherein verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction comprises calculating a measured emissions reduction, and wherein calculating the measured emissions reduction further comprises;

estimating a measured baseline energy use for the energy savings opportunity;

estimating a measured baseline emissions factor for the energy sayings opportunity;

calculating a measured baseline emission by multiplying the measured baseline energy use with the measured baseline emissions factor;

estimating a measured program energy use for the energy savings opportunity;

estimating a measured program emissions factor for the energy savings opportunity;

calculating a measured program emission by multiplying the measured program energy use with the measured program emissions factor; and

calculating a measured emissions reduction by subtracting the measured program emission from the measured baseline emission; and

monitoring the identification of the residential energy savings opportunity and the quantification of the emissions reduction.

16. A computer-implemented method for providing a residential emissions trading program, comprising the steps of:

identifying an energy savings opportunity in a residential property;

quantifying an emissions reduction produced by the energy savings opportunity;

aggregating the emissions reductions into a tradable commodity;

verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction, wherein verifying the quantification of the emissions reduction further comprises calculating a measured emissions reduction;

monitoring the identification of the residential energy savings opportunity and the quantification of the emissions reduction; and

comparing the measured emissions reduction to a forecasted emissions reduction to verify that the emissions reduction predicted in the forecasting phase is achieved, wherein comparing the measured emissions reduction to the forecasted emissions reduction further comprises calculating the forecasted emissions reduction, and wherein calculating the forecasted emissions reduction comprises;

estimating a forecasted baseline energy use for the energy savings opportunity;

estimating a forecasted baseline emissions factor for the energy savings opportunity;

calculating a forecasted baseline emission by multiplying the forecasted baseline energy use with the forecasted baseline emissions factor;

estimating a forecasted program energy use for the energy savings opportunity;

estimating a forecasted program emissions factor for the energy savings opportunity;

calculating a forecasted program emission by multiplying the forecasted program energy use with the forecasted program emissions; and

calculating a forecasted emissions reduction by subtracting the forecasted emission the forecasted baseline emission.