What are Carbon Emissions?
It is the total set of green house gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person. A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions – a new commodity
Parties with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol have accepted targets for limiting or reducing emissions. These targets are expressed as levels of allowed emissions, or “assigned amounts,” over the 2008-2012 commitment period. The allowed emissions are divided into “assigned amount units” (AAUs).
Emissions trading, as set out in Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol, allows countries that have emission units to spare - emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this excess capacity to countries that are over their targets.
Thus, a new commodity was created in the form of emission reductions or removals. Since carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas, people speak simply of trading in carbon. Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity. This is known as the “carbon market”.
Other trading units in the carbon market
More than actual emissions units can be traded and sold under the Kyoto Protocol’s emissions trading scheme.
The other units which may be transferred under the scheme, each equal to one tonne of CO2, may be in the form of:
- A removal unit (RMU) on the basis of activities such as reforestation
- An emission reduction unit (ERU)
- A certified emission reduction (CER)
Transfers and acquisitions of these units are tracked and recorded through the registry systems under the Kyoto Protocol.
An international transaction log ensures secure transfer of emission reduction units between countries.
Why should one calculate the Carbon emissions of a company fleet?
The benefits:
- One can offset the total emission by buying carbon credits on the voluntary market
- Reduce fuel emissions
- Cleaner air and less pollution
- Tax benefits for reducing the carbon footprint
- Marketing and sales driven by socially & morally responsible company that cares for the environment and all the other living life on earth
How to reduce fuel emissions:
- One can reduce the emissions by better maintenance
- Using the best fuel and highest octane fuel
- Good fleet management
- Advancing driver skills
- Staying within the speed limits
- Use of alternative fuels
- Using Ctrack Fleet Connect as a management tool
Fuel contributes to average 18% of South Africa’s carbon emissions. Balance in life is the key. At the moment to much carbon is released from the soil into the air via the burning of fossil fiels. Carbon is important key in humans and the life of organisms in the soil. Too much carbon in the air causes respiratory and other health problems to all. In order to rectify the imbalance we need to reduce CO2 emissions and plant more trees to capture the CO2’s out of the air.
Calculation of Fuel emissions
How can a litre of petrol produce 2.3kg carbon dioxide?
It seems impossible that a litre of petrol, which weighs about 0.73 kg, could produce 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. However, most of the weight of the CO2 doesn't come from the petrol itself, but the oxygen in the air. When petrol burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate. The hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O), and carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2).
A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has a weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen). Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a litre of petrol, the weight of the carbon in the petrol is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7. Since petrol is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a litre of petrol weighs 0.63 kg. We can then multiply the weight of the carbon by 3.7, which equals 2.3 kg of CO2.
How can a litre of diesel produce 2.65kg carbon dioxide?
1 litre of diesel typically weighs 0.83kg (the density range is 820-845kg/m3 in Europe and up to 860kg/m3 elsewhere). About 87% of this is carbon, so one liter of diesel contains 0.83 x 87% = 0.722kg of carbon, each atom of carbon weighs 12 atomic units. When it combines with two atoms of oxygen in the combustion process it becomes CO2 , which weighs 44 atomic units.
The 0.722kg of carbon in the original fuel then becomes 0.722 x 44/12 = 2.65kg of CO2, so one litre of diesel fuel produces about 2.65kg of CO2
Excess Carbon Facts
The average South African emits 9 Tons of CO2 a year
9 times +-50 million people
1 tonne CO2 = 556,000 litres or 556
m3 (about the volume of a 3 bedroom house)
The more people on earth the more pollution and that’s why we need to act now!
Global Population
1750 – 700 million
1800 – 1 billion
1900 – 1.6 billion
2009– 6.8 billion
2050 – 9 billion
Total SA carbon emissions = 440 million tonnes
- •Eskom = 220 million tonnes
- •Sasol = 61 million tonnes
- •SA Energy emissions = 90% of all African energy emissions
Pollution of the air causes Extreme Weather Events
- • More frequent and intense extreme events
- • Changes in rainfall (amounts and areas) Acid rain
- • Long days of dryness interspersed with heavy rainfall periods
- • Floods and Droughts
- • Heat waves
- • “Cold” waves
- • Violent storms, tropical cyclones and hurricanes
Health
Carbon pollution may cause many respiratory diseases, eye infections, skin irritation, cancers and many other illnesses.
6 Identified gases:
The GHG data reported by Parties contain estimates for direct greenhouse gases, such as:
CO2 - Carbon dioxide
CH4 - Methane
N2O - Nitrous oxide
PFCs - Perfluorocarbons
HFCs - Hydrofluorocarbons
SF6 - Sulphur hexafluoride
as well as for the indrect greenhouse gases such as SO2, NOx, CO and NMVOC.
- • All gases to be quantified as a single measure, and so converted to CO2 equivalents (CO2e)
Astoundingly, South Africa is the world’s 13th highest emitter of CO2 with a relatively high per-capita CO2 emissions rating of 8.59 metric-tons. Brazil, for example, is ranked 17th with a per-capita rating of only 1.86 metric-tons. If South Africa is to remain competitive in the global economy, it will have to begin implementing stringent emission-reduction strategies
Fuel
Petrol plays an important part of our lives at this point of time, and it needs to be used with great care until we move to other cleaner alternative fuels like Hydrogen.
Hydrogen Fuel for the car, lawnmower, bike, airplane etc
Fuel Regulation
Government regulates the pump price of petrol, which is adjusted on the first Wednesday of each month. The calculation of the new price is done by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) on behalf of the Department of Minerals and Energy.
The petrol pump price consists of a number of price elements and these can be divided into international and domestic elements. The international element is based on what it would cost a South African importer to buy petrol from international markets, transport the product to South Africa, insure against losses at sea and include the cost to land the product on South African shores.
To arrive at the final pump price in the different pricing zones certain domestic primary and secondary transport costs, government imposts, taxes, levies, retail and wholesale margins needs to be added to the international element.
Type of Fuel used
What is the effect of lowering the sulphur level in diesel on engine life and engine oil?
The main reason for the relatively short oil drain intervals for diesel vehicles in South Africa is the large quantity of contaminants that enter the engine oil via the combustion process. This is largely determined by the sulphur level in the diesel fuel, as the sulphur contributes to the formation of acids and soot. Use of Sasol turbodiesel™ ULS (0.005% Sulphur) can result in an 50% increase in engine life and three-fold increase in engine oil life.
Our Objectives:
- A complete fleet management solution
- A complete carbon analysis for each and every fleet
- A sustainable fleet management solution that enables the company to offset it’s carbon emissions
- Education on carbon management and saving the planet
- General costs savings
Bank Benefits
- A Bank can sell themselves as a sustainable company when they offset the fleet emissions
- Improve the corporate reputation in the market
- Grow the existing client base via sustainable management
- Educating staff on green environmentally friendly principals
- Monthly reports can be drawn from the database to see the emissions of each fleet
- Tax breaks form SARS for offsetting the carbon emissions
