sean sabre [33]
Hello All
So, what do photovoltaic investment tax credits have to do with greener packaging? Well, quite a bit. If you have been using the Wal-Mart scorecard you will have noticed that ever since the beta there has been a question regarding the use of renewable energy. While everyone has placed a considerable emphasis on biopolymers, recycled content and recovery (very important topics) I haven't seen a lot of dialogue on renewable energy.
Photovoltaic (solar), wind and geothermal investment tax credits have been around for a while. Unfortunately a lot of firms either aren't aware of existing and pending legislation along this front or they feel a realistic ROI is beyond reach.
Believe it or not there are heavy incentives out there for material OEM’s, converters and co-packers to harvest up to 30% state credit and 35% federal credit for renewable energy system investments. There is also a slew of state and federal legislation pending to modify the feedback rate a firm can get for selling renewable energy back to their local grid which could bring 50-100% premiums on their buy rate. These fiscal incentives can yield an ROI of <3years in some cases.
What is really interesting is the legislation on the books that would shift from tax credits to grants and pushing the energy conglomerates to increase the % of renewable energy they procure from its base.
We are coaching our packaging suppliers on what incentives are available and asking them to consider the sustainability benefits in addition to vetting system investments around the globe within our own footprint. Are you building a knowledge competency within your firm regarding the viability of renewable energy investments to communicate to your suppliers?
Regardless of whether you subscribe to the 7 R's concept or the SPC definition of sustainable packaging, a sincere approach to renewable energy within your facility or your supply base is and has always been there.
Maybe it's time we build a dialogue on best practices regarding learning about and promoting renewable energy within the packaging community.
Great post Sean -
I'd like to add one thing, especially specific to the United States. With the current federal government in place a huge emphasis is being placed on renewable energy. President Obama has actually listed that as one of the areas that can help lift the country from the recession and making huge investments in the creation of renewable energy as well as jobs around it.
It would be a mistake for any major company (or minor one for that matter) to ignore the current political environment in the U.S. It is currently a great time to take advantage of something that could truly help.
Renewable energy is always a good idea. Lest you forget, fossil energy yields not only climate change, but also acid rain, toxicity, smog, eutrophication (a kind of water pollution) and fossil fuel depletion.
Renewable energy has some of these impacts, too, but typically 40 to 1000 times less than a fossil fuel source. It does not take great brainpower to conclude that renewable energy is a better bet no matter what you are using it for.
The Wal-mart situation is a special case-- the only life cycle indicator in the packaging scorecard is climate change. Hence the additional points for renewable use.
I keep waiting for someone in the plastics industry to make plastic out of methane from an anaerobic digester-- that would make bio-based plastics that really bring the carbon footprint down, and without any of the issues related to agriculture.
My company has just recently started a wind study program for our building, we have not received all the data yet but we understand the benefits both financial and environmental so we are pursuing alternative energy ideas. For our area and many areas across the U.S. there is not one answer in terms of Solar or Wind. In Winter months wind is usually best and in Summer solar is, as the angle of the sun is important in how much solar energy you can harvest. Our main building is 110k sq ft and we have hundreds of manufacturing and packaging machines so we will need to take advantage of both alternative energy resources. I doubt we will be able to create enough energy to sell back to the local grid but that will not derail us from continuing with this project. Unfortunately I have recently heard the local power company is running out of money in their incentive programs and am hoping this will be resolved. It's good that both the state and federal incentive programs are continuing and possibly growing over the next couple years. These programs will help get the Alternative energy projects at commercial buildings going, creating many jobs in the process, all while helping the environment. It's a win win situation.
Its interesting that people continue to think that renewable energy and energy independence will cost you money. We did a detailed study in the Pacific Northwest that showed that conservation plus renewables not only could get you to energy independence, but also would save you money over time. This formula works at the individual building, the neighborhood and the community level, even when energy is cheap, and renewable resources are few.
Check it out at
http://www.iere.org/documents/EnergyIndependentCommunities-10yearplan.pdf [35]
If you need economic engineering or social analysis.