Small World Consulting, Gordon Manly Building, Lancaster Environment Centre, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, United Kingdom.
Sci Total Environ. 2011 Feb 1;409(5):883-91. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.11.023. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
To mitigate anthropogenic climate change greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) must be reduced; their major source is man's use of energy. A key way to manage emissions is for the energy consumer to understand their impact and the consequences of changing their activities. This paper addresses the challenge of delivering relevant, practical and reliable greenhouse gas 'footprint' information for small and medium sized businesses. The tool we describe is capable of ascribing parts of the total footprint to specific actions to which the business can relate and is sensitive enough to reflect the consequences of change. It provides a comprehensive description of all emissions for each business and sets them in the context of local, national and global statistics. It includes the GHG costs of all goods and services irrespective of their origin and without double accounting. We describe the development and use of the tool, which draws upon both national input-output data and process-based life cycle analysis techniques; a hybrid model. The use of national data sets the output in context and makes the results consistent with national and global targets, while the life cycle techniques provide a means of reflecting the dynamics of actions. The model is described in some detail along with a rationale and a short discussion of validity. As the tool is designed for small commercial users, we have taken care to combine rigour with practicality; parameterising from readily available client data whilst being clear about uncertainties. As an additional incentive, we also report on the potential costs or savings of switching activities. For users to benefit from the tool, they need to understand the output and know how much confidence they should place in the results. We not only describe an application of non-parametric statistics to generate confidence intervals, but also offer users the option of and guidance on adjusting figures to examine the sensitivity of the model to its components. It is important that the user does not see the model as a calculator that will generate one truth, but as a method of gaining insight and informing management decisions. We describe its application in tourism businesses in North West England as a demonstrator for the service sector remote from simple primary production, with brief case studies. We discuss its success compared to traditional approaches and outline further development work.
为了减轻人为温室气体排放（GHG），必须减少温室气体排放；其主要来源是人类对能源的利用。管理排放的一个关键方法是让能源消费者了解其影响以及改变活动的后果。本文针对为中小企业提供相关、实用和可靠的温室气体“足迹”信息的挑战。我们描述的工具能够将总足迹的部分归因于企业能够关联的特定行动，并且足够敏感以反映变化的后果。它全面描述了每个企业的所有排放情况，并将其置于当地、国家和全球统计数据的背景下。它包括所有商品和服务的温室气体成本，无论其来源如何，都不会重复计算。我们描述了该工具的开发和使用，该工具利用了国家投入产出数据和基于过程的生命周期分析技术；一种混合模型。使用国家数据集可以使输出具有背景，并使结果与国家和全球目标保持一致，而生命周期技术则提供了反映行动动态的手段。我们详细描述了该模型，以及其基本原理和有效性的简短讨论。由于该工具是为小型商业用户设计的，因此我们非常注重将严谨性与实用性相结合；从客户现成的数据中进行参数化，同时明确不确定性。作为额外的激励措施，我们还报告了切换活动的潜在成本或节省。为了让用户从该工具中受益，他们需要了解输出并知道应该对结果有多少信心。我们不仅描述了应用非参数统计来生成置信区间的方法，还为用户提供了调整数字的选项和指导，以检查模型对其组件的敏感性。用户不应将模型视为生成一个事实的计算器，而应将其视为获得洞察力和为管理决策提供信息的方法。我们描述了它在英格兰西北部旅游企业中的应用，作为远离简单初级生产的服务业的演示，还提供了简短的案例研究。我们讨论了它与传统方法相比的成功之处，并概述了进一步的开发工作。
