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Can you translate that into layman’s terms? EPA updates emissions equivalency calculator

By | December 24, 2009, 11:34 AM PST

One of the most challenging aspects of any green technology or sustainability program is figuring out how to translate something you’ve done into a sound bite that is meaningful to all the people who would care — from shareholders to employees to customers.

In the case of switching to alternative energy, or green power as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency likes to call it, the EPA has updated an equivalency calculator you can use to translate the impact of your green power purchase into a statement the general public can relate to. For example, if you’ve managed to cut your carbon emissions by 15 percent by going solar, what’s the equivalent number of cars you have effectively taken off the road. (That seems to the example that most businesses use the most, I guess because Americans are so closely associated with their automobiles.)

The updated equivalency calculator can be found at this link.

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Heather Clancy

About Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy

Contributing Editor, Business

Heather Clancy has written for United Press International, ZDNet, Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times. She holds a degree from McGill University. She is based in New Jersey.

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Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy
Writing publicly about what the high-tech industry is actually doing to help itself and the world get greener or more sustainable is one way I figure I can contribute more meaningfully to said effort. I'm also a big OMG-kind-of-fan of smart leadership, which is why the goodly folks who publish this blog let me go on about this topic and why I am always on the hunt for forward-looking business management ideas.

My daily writing is focused on looking for topics for my blogs, GreenTech Pastures and Business Brains. I also write often about emerging technology trends such as mobile computing, unified communications and cloud computing. Occasionally, I will pop up at an industry conference in some sort of speaking capacity. In cases where a speaking engagement involves a sponsor that may be covered in this blog, that fact will be disclosed in coverage as appropriate.

My corporate writing work usually consists of crafting research white papers about some aspect of technology. In the event that my commentary (in written, audio or video form) mentions a company for which I have provided consulting advice, I will disclose that fact. However, there is no connection between these projects and the topics that I'm covering in my blog.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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RE: Can you translate that into layman's terms? EPA updates emissions equivalency calculator
The aquaculture industry in Canada is emerging at a time when the
traditional logics of industrial and resource development are being
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Posted by dhug
26th Feb 2011
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