About the authorCap & Trade Impact?
For those who own and operate large ammonia refrigeration systems the consequences of this legislation may be far reaching.
Disregarding any political or environmental viewpoints on this subject one issue that should be interesting to discover is the impact of this legislation on associated energy costs, if the bill passes.
The available information on this subject is somewhat elusive at the present time. Some pertinent concerns may be how the legislation allows some to buy credits to offset their CO2 emissions. A second interesting set of questions are:
- How are the CO2 emissions calculated?
- What is their dependency on the source of your electricity?
If your electricity is supplied from a coal burning generation station your allowable emissions may be much less than someone who purchases power from a hydroelectric plant. Any resulting increases in operating costs from the utilities may be passed along to the consumers of that electricity.
As these cost increases are added to your monthly utility charges an owner of a cold storage warehouse or food processing facility will be faced with new paradigms. Do we buy carbon credit offsets or lower our energy costs?
Lowering utility charges through energy conservation projects may provide a cost-effective alternative to this legislation. Lower energy use should logically provide a reduced emission footprint. The extent of which may be dependent on how aggressive you are in reducing energy use.
Secondly, the investment to provide capital for energy reduction projects would allow you to retain the assets and resources from that investment. The only other option may be the carbon tax placed on your energy charges or the costs incurred to purchase carbon offsets.
Depending on the extent of this proposed legislation if it passes, owners and operators of large ammonia refrigeration systems will be faced with some interesting choices.
