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Not Just Your Footprint, But also what you step in!

Not Just Your Footprint, But also what you step in!. Proven Solutions and winning with Life-cycle strategies. Carbon Offset Initiatives. Hadi Dowlatabadi Canada Research Chair Institute for Resources Environment & Sustainability The University of British Columbia & Offsetters.ca.

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Not Just Your Footprint, But also what you step in!

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  1. Not Just Your Footprint,But also what you step in! Proven Solutions and winning with Life-cycle strategies Carbon Offset Initiatives • Hadi Dowlatabadi • Canada Research Chair • Institute for Resources Environment & Sustainability • The University of British Columbia • & • Offsetters.ca

  2. Footprints • Conscientious academics have a mighty struggle on their hands. • “What can I do that is actually useful rather than adding “another book on the shelf.” • The idea of the ecological footprint has been tremendously helpful in communicating why the Western lifestyle cannot be sustainable.

  3. Footprints in a complex integrated system • So, how can we make ours smaller? • sprawl: ended • meat: banned • mayor: turfed out!

  4. Goal: Minimise TransLink Emissions! Minimise harmful impacts of meeting transportation needs

  5. Sure winners for GHG reduction • In transit: • bus-lanes not light rail • hybrid-diesel buses • fuelled with 20%+ biodiesel • right size vehicles • hybrids for everyvehicle in urban stop-go traffic for 40,000 km/yr or more

  6. Fuel Tank Heaters & Offsets

  7. Blankets, Hybrid Economics

  8. Not a cost but a cost savings • Improve road maintenance • road surface affects fuel efficiency by up to 10%. • HIR can recycle bitumen cement, repave roads to a higher quality, and costs at least 40% less. • same budget can pay for more resurfacing. • no waste from road building or new gravel pits • 15,000 tons of CO2 savings per year from operations • 50,000 tons of CO2 savings from more efficient driving

  9. Not a cost but a profit centre! • Enforce speed limits • Aerodynamic cars hit their stride at higher speeds 80-90 kph, • SUVs and trucks closer to 60-80 kph depending on how brick-shaped they are.

  10. 5.0 0.75 The Darwin Awards

  11. Sure winners for GHG reduction? • U-pass: a mandatory bus-pass • Students at UBC and SFU pay $20/m for the pass instead of $60+. • Build Canada Line! • Given expected use pattern, The cement and steel alone will take more than a century to pay off.

  12. http://www.startsandfits.com/images/eighth_avenue_no_lane_yet.jpghttp://www.startsandfits.com/images/eighth_avenue_no_lane_yet.jpg June is Bike to Work Month

  13. http://www.truewheelers.org/cases/vassarst/images/DSCF0093bus%20in%20bike%20lane.jpghttp://www.truewheelers.org/cases/vassarst/images/DSCF0093bus%20in%20bike%20lane.jpg Even Bike Lanes Can Kill

  14. Less GHGs is NOT Less Criteria Air Pollutants • UK’s great experiment started in 2001. • Tax cars according to GHG emissions. • people flocked to diesel cars (13% to 45% in 4 yrs) • GHGs reduced by 400,000 tons per year. • Added air pollution leading to 90 extra deaths per year... • First they needed to wait for clean fuels and engines. • We will have these in NA for 2008 model year.

  15. More Emissions ≠ More Harm • Ozone is produced as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) mix in the atmosphere. • Nitrogen oxides come burning fuels. • VOCs have both human and natural sources... • NOx both makes and destroys ozone. • Greening up Calgary means more VOCs • more trees more ozone • more auto emissions less ozone!

  16. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/imager/imager-web/Photos/vancouver1.jpghttp://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/imager/imager-web/Photos/vancouver1.jpg There you go!

  17. Beyond Transportation • Groundsource Heat Pumps for the average Canadian home has a payback (at 7%) of 10 yrs or less. • Saves more than 40 Million tons of CO2 • If implemented at the municipal scale, pay-back is closer to 5 yrs. • We need building codes of COP3 or better. • The net cost to medium & high rise developers is negative. 17

  18. Conclusions • Footprint analysis helps us understand how big our feet have grown. • What’s underfoot analysis allows us to avoid stepping on... • The technical part is relatively easy - the more challenging issue is stuck-in-the-mucks & lifestyles. • Environmental, economic and social systems involve a complex ring of interactions...

  19. The new Frodo hadi.d@ubc.ca 604.822.0008 www.offsetters.cawww.cooldrivepass.ca

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