ABOUT
GREAT FOREST |
Improve Environmental Performance, Reduce CostsWith over 20 years of experience, Great Forest is a leader in sustainability consulting, providing project management expertise to clients nationwide.
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GREAT FOREST GIVES BACK
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Great Forest is a proud supporter of the nonprofit Blacksmith Institute, which works to clean up life-threatening pollution problems in low and middle income countries.
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Harnessing A Valuable Resource From Your Commercial Kitchens
Now that one of the biggest cooking days of the year is behind us, have you ever thought about what happens to all that used cooking oil?
 Across the country, municipalities are increasingly mandating the proper disposal of used cooking oil to prevent clogs and millions of dollars worth of damage to water and sewer systems. Waste oil can solidify and cling to pipes, limit water movement, cause unsanitary backups and damage expensive equipment. In some cities, the law requires businesses to recycle used cooking oil or face fines of up to $10k.
The good news is that complying with local regulations for the proper disposal of used cooking oil is not only easy and good for your CSR reporting, but you might even get paid for it! Read below to learn more.
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NYC Gas Conversions Proceed Despite Hurricane Sandy Disruptions
Great Forest has learned that despite recovery from historic service disruptions, efforts to switch
customers to cleaner heat continue with
three fast-approaching deadlines to file initial applications with Con Edison under NYC's Clean Heat program.
The NYC Clean Heat Program is a free outreach effort from the Mayor's Office to help your building comply with local laws requiring the elimination of #4 & #6 heavy heating oil - the dirtiest grades, which release more soot pollution than all the cars and trucks on the city's streets combined. Currently, about 9,500 buildings in NYC use dirty heating oil from the bottom of the barrel.
Conversions from #2 (Distillate) fuel oil and from Con Ed Steam to natural gas are not currently subsidized.
Con Ed has identified 12 zones in Manhattan and the Bronx for possible expansion of their existing natural gas infrastructure. Buildings within these zones may be eligible to connect at a reduced cost for firm gas service.
Clients who are interested in taking advantage of this should note the timeline for submitting conversion requests - Dec. 14, 2012, and Jan. 11 and Feb. 8, 2013 - depending on location. Among other items the applicant should have a contractor estimate in hand for work to be performed on-site. Great Forest has been working with clients to assess and monetize the benefits of switching to natural gas (see chart below), which include efficiency and emissions gains and cost savings. A #4 conversion to natural gas avoids over 90% of particulate matter and nearly 100% of the SO2 emissions previously released.
 Actual savings will vary widely according to when the facility is connected and how much oil is typically burned in a normal winter.
Contact your Great Forest representative to learn more or to find out if your building is in a priority zone.
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D.C. Benchmarking Update
While there is still no official confirmation of benchmarking reporting deadlines for D.C., we want to remind property owners and managers in the nation's capital to begin planning now. As we mentioned in our last update, deadlines could fall as early as Jan. 2013 for buildings larger than 150,000 sq. feet. Fines for missing reporting deadlines could be as much as $100 a day. Reporting must be completed using EPA's Portfolio Manager tool. Because utilities in D.C. have not been required to provide data to customers, property owners and managers will have to have to spend time on data collection. By next year, buildings should automatically receive data, although data entry and reporting will still be necessary. Your Great Forest representative can help if you have any questions about these upcoming deadlines. |
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Turning Waste Oil Into Liquid Gold
 Many industrial kitchens and restaurants can generate 30 to 40 gallons of used cooking oil in just one month! And with the holiday season now in full swing, you can expect the amount of oil used to go up. So buildings with food service tenants or large cafeterias should take note -- like many types of waste, your used cooking oil is valuable because it can be recycled. Biodiesel pirates realized the value of waste oil early on. In 2008, they made headlines with a rash of used cooking oil thefts across the country. Today, biofuel production has evolved into a multimillion dollar industry. Biofuels can run diesel engines and blends of alternative fuels are now sold at thousands of gas stations nationwide. Last year, an estimated 1.07 billion gallons of biodiesel, a type of biofuel, was produced in the U.S. alone. Vehicles are frequently being retrofitted to accommodate biofuels, and there is an emerging market for vehicles that can run on both traditional as well as biofuels. In NYC, a catalyst for the increase in the collection of waste cooking oil from restaurants, cafeterias and industrial kitchens is the introduction of Local Law 43 in October 2012, which requires all heating oil sold within the city to contain at least 2% biodiesel. As a result, many waste haulers will usually pick up your waste oil for free, and some innovative companies will even pay you for it. All you need to do is collect your waste oil in covered containers, which are often provided by the hauler or biofuel manufacturer you are working with. Best of all, recycling used cooking oil into biofuels is good for the environment -- biofuels are cleaner burning, which means less pollution. Used cooking oil can be recycled into a valuable renewable energy source that you can harness, whether or not you are required by law to do it. Check this EPA site for waste regulations in your area, or ask your Great Forest representative if you are in compliance. |
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Did You Know... Sustainability Issues Among Top 10 Concerns
 | | Photo credit: GreenBiz.com |
A recent survey of academic, business, and government leaders found that they believe sustainability issues are among the top ten issues facing the world today.
The report - entitled the Global Agenda Survey - was released by the World Economic Forum Network of Global Agenda Councils. Participants were the 900 attendees at the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai.Political and economic concerns such as the unstable global economy dominated the top of the list, but resource scarcity and sustainability clocked in at numbers 4 and 9 respectively.
It is interesting to note that the survey took place before hurricane Sandy occurred in October. The issue of climate change, especially among government leaders, might be rising to the top of the list if the survey were re-administered this month.
Have a question for our Q&A or a tip for Did You Know? Contact us! |
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