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In order to become the first U.S. enterprise to eliminate its entire greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Shaklee first had to demonstrate its commitment to reducing its emissions internally. After evaluating Shaklee's outstanding performance results in reducing its on-site GHG emissions, the next stage of the certification process was to invest in offset projects that would achieve a net zero GHG footprint. With assistance from Trexler and Associates, an Oregon based consulting firm specializing in climate change mitigation, Shaklee determined the appropriate combination of projects for its offset portfolio. The offset portfolio includes the following projects:

Project 1
Boiler Replacement
Location: Portland, Oregon

In 1990, Portland Public Schools launched the District Energy Program with the goal of maintaining "energy usage and costs at the lowest level that is reasonable and consistent with an efficient learning environment." (Portland Public Schools Energy Policy 3.30.080).

As part of the Energy Program, district management wanted to make investments in heating plant upgrades in the schools, which total 105 schools and 230 boilers. Due to budget cuts resulting from statewide property tax cap legislation, operation and maintenance activities have been reduced; already, small capital expenditure budgets are shrinking further or disappearing in some cases.

This offset project involves change out of several existing oil steam boilers to a high efficiency natural gas-fired steam boiler and a change from oil burners to natural gas burners. The operating characteristics of the new boilers drive an overall reduction in fuel use, and therefore CO2 emissions, beyond the simple fuel switch from oil to gas. The emissions offset from the fuel switch and high efficiency boiler retrofit would not have happened given the financial limitations of the school district.

Additional project benefits: the proposed retrofits will save the district thousands of dollars per year in energy costs, money that can be better used for purchasing texts and supplies. The switch from oil to gas creates additional emissions savings from the elimination of electricity needed to pump and heat the oil, and compress air to atomize the oil, prior to combustion. This project will also help to improve the general air quality in the Portland metropolitan area.

Project 2
Rural Solar Electrification through Photovoltaics
Location: India, Sri Lanka

The transfer of renewable energy technologies to developing countries is commonly advocated as vital to any long-term resolution of the climate change issue. Seventy percent of the developing world's population do not have electricity and rely on candles, kerosene, and other liquid fuels for power. Many people live in rural areas far from the nearest electricity transmission grid. In India, only 25 percent of the rural population have access to electricity; in Sri Lanka, only 18 percent have access.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) offer an immediate alternative to kerosene lamps, diesel generators and batteries in rural areas. Solar rural electrification is also an alternative to expensive (and sometimes impossible) extensions of the power grid or construction of new fossil-fueled power plants.

Solar PV systems can provide the power people need for their homes without producing greenhouse gas emissions. Over the lifetime of one household 35 watt solar PV system, more than twelve tons of CO2 that otherwise would be emitted through kerosene lamp and battery use will be avoided. Displacing kerosene use in millions of rural homes would have a significant cumulative impact on national and regional CO2 emissions. Slowing the growth and expansion of centralized power grids, which would result from the promulgation of alternative mechanism of electrification in rural areas, would have even greater indirect CO2 benefit over the long term.

Additional project benefits: solar rural electrification has significant non-CO2 economic, social and environmental benefits. Successful deployment of rural PV systems will over time reduce the need for new power plants, avoiding not only the societal cost associated with their construction, but also the fuel consumption and air and other pollution associated with operation. Additionally, numerous houses using kerosene lamps in rural areas are reduced to ashes each month by kerosene-related fires. Homes using PV systems will eliminate this fire risk. Parents will no longer live in fear of their children knocking over kerosene lamps.

Children will no longer have eye disorders and irritations or respiratory problems associated with reading by dim, smoky, kerosene lamps.

Project 3
Coalbed Methane Utilization
Location: Ohio, Pennsylvania

Large quantities of methane are vented to the atmosphere from coal mines with no or limited use being made of the released energy. This project involves using vented methane gas from abandoned coal mines to produce electricity. Few mines vent methane at sufficient concentrations to allow its direct use for power production. By utilizing methane that would otherwise be vented (rather than flared), the emissions reduction benefits of the project are particularly significant.

The project's targeted resource is small-scale methane sources that have not previously been exploited due to insufficient economic returns and because the methane involved is not pipeline-quality. The project will take advantage of operational knowledge developed by an energy company that can exploit these methane sources more cost-effectively than in the past.

Additional project benefits: the methane-offset projects will have several important ancillary benefits beyond the CO2 emissions reductions resulting from the methane capture. One such feature of the methane projects is the potential technology transfer implications. Another is the cost-effective use of off-the-shelf internal combustion engines for projects at coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants in developing countries; it holds considerable potential as an economic development and greenhouse gas mitigation tool.

Project 4
Green Power Purchases
Location: United States

It was decided that a fossil fuel displacement project through landfill methane recapture and utilization (or similar means) would be a valuable addition to Shaklee's offset portfolio. The resulting electricity will essentially be zero climate emissions power. This project will be fully developed and implemented in year two of Shaklee's portfolio.