How to Calculate Your Carbon Emission

Want to determine how much your daily activities impact the environment? Understanding your carbon footprint is a great way to be more conscious about the things you do and the lifestyle you lead. Greenhouse gas emissions are a hot-button topic, but it's important to discuss.

Everyone impacts the planet in some way, and greenhouse gases are responsible for some of the biggest environmental issues our home faces today. That includes climate change, global warming, pollution and more. Using a carbon emission calculator will help you understand where you stand today and what you can do tomorrow.

The Carbon Emissions Formulas

There are many ways to comprehend your carbon emissions. Companies typically use an advanced carbon emission calculator for data emission management. But you can do a few easy calculations at home for more insight into your lifestyle.

These calculations aren't an exact science. Emissions management is a complex beast! However, these equations can give you a rough estimate of your impact.

Start by looking at your monthly gas, electric and oil bills. Those are your biggest contributions to greenhouse gases. They're indirect emissions, but they count nonetheless. Once you have those figures:

• Multiply your electric bill by 105
• Multiply your gas bill by 105
• Multiply your oil bill by 113

Set those figures aside and move on to your travel habits. Planes and automobiles are some of the worst offenders in the fight against reducing greenhouse gases. If you have an electric car, you can skip this part! But for most people who run traditional internal combustion engines, you'll need to look at your yearly mileage.

Multiply that number by 0.79.

Now, think about the flights you've taken in the last year. Multiply the number of flights that lasted less than four hours by 1,100. For flights that were over 4 hours, multiply by 4,400.

Do you recycle? If you don't recycle paper, add 184. If you don't recycle aluminum or tin, add another 166.

Now, add all those figures up to get your total carbon emissions. Ideally, you want to be less than 16,000. A total of up to 22,000 is normal; anything above that means you're a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Read a similar article about tools for downstream oil and gas here at this page.

What are Capital Allocations in The Energy Industry?

In business, capital is the money that a business has to work with, and allocation means to set aside. Capital allocation in business essentially means the process of directing a company’s capital to various places, including investments, to achieve a specific purpose.

In the energy industry, capital allocation is no different. As an example of capital allocation in the energy industry, an energy company may allocate capital toward the purchase of an emissions inventory platform that will be used to help reduce carbon and methane emissions.

The emissions inventory platform can be looked at as a business expense, but it can also be seen as an investment into the future health and success of an energy company in an era of changing regulations regarding carbon emissions. This justification will generally be needed if an energy company answers to investors or a board of directors.

Keeping Up With Trends

As demonstrated above, capital allocations in the energy industry are important for keeping up with trends. This is particularly true as there is a growing shift toward electric vehicle technology from traditional internal combustion engine technology. Automakers and oil and gas companies are all having to rethink strategies, and this often involves allocating capital toward new projects and investments as trends come and go.

Hybrid-electric vehicles were the first iteration of commercial electric vehicles, but as technology has evolved, all-electric vehicles are now a reality and are becoming more accessible to everyday drivers. This has meant that automakers and oil and gas companies have had an ongoing shift in trends that have required capital to be allocated for different projects over the last decade.

Budgeting is Crucial for Capital Allocating in the Energy Industry

For capital allocation to run smoothly in the energy industry, budgets need to be in place. Allocating capital without a budget can be dangerous since various projects will need some form of investment throughout each fiscal year. Energy companies generally create budgets for the upcoming year at the end of each year, and within these budgets, capital allocation is planned out with additional capital set aside for overages.

Read a similar article about GHG reporting requirements here at this page.

What Percentage of the Global Economy Is the Oil and Gas Drilling Sector?

Oil is one of the most important commodities in the world. When transformed into petroleum, it is a key energy source used in vehicles, planes, heating, asphalt, and electricity. Outside of being a crucial energy source, petroleum is used in plastics, paints, chemicals, tape, and so much more. It's hard to imagine a world without oil read more

What are the Basics of Upstream Oil and Gas?

In the oil and gas industry, many moving parts work together to get oil from the ground to transform it into the gas that goes into your vehicle. While all of these parts involve complex systems and lots of coordination, the basic breakdown of producing gas involves three sections: upstream, midstream and downstream production.

Of these three, upstream oil and gas production is one of the most important because it is where oil is discovered and removed from the ground. Before any extraction processes can even begin, upstream oil professionals must search for supplies in the ground, obtain the necessary licenses and permits to extract the oil and then put in place all the equipment needed to pull raw materials from the Earth. Without upstream oil and gas operations, no other parts of the process can function.

What Tools Are Used in Upstream Oil and Gas Operations?

Tools for upstream oil and gas vary, but today’s technology factors heavily into these operations. Geological surveys, various testing tools and chemistry are all involved in determining whether a site is suitable for extraction. Professionals use tools for upstream oil and gas to test the quality of resources in the ground so that operations don’t get underway just to end up failing.

Working With Environmental Regulations

Aside from tech tools, upstream oil and gas representatives also need to concern themselves with environmental regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with others requires that upstream oil and gas operations be handled in specific ways to avoid contaminating groundwater and spreading pollution. This is why virtually all oil and gas companies have upstream compliance officers whose job it is to make sure that regulations are adhered to.

Coordinating With Other Operations

Upstream oil and gas professionals must also coordinate with the other sections of the entire production operation. Once oil is pulled from the ground, midstream logistics professionals need to transport the resources to downstream refineries. All of this requires good communication and access to planning tools to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Read a similar article about oil and gas NESHAP here at this page.

3 Benefits of Using Software in The Oil and Gas Industry

Although electric vehicles are some of the hottest things in tech right now, the oil and gas industry is still considered to be pretty technologically advanced. Long gone are the days of dirty drilling operations where oil from the ground spilled wantonly.

These days, software is used to ensure oil and gas operations operate safely, efficiently and with more precision than ever before. An oil and gas software company can develop proprietary applications for specific oil and gas producers; however, you can also look for pre-developed SaaS solutions from an oil and gas software company online.

While improved safety and efficiency are some of the biggest benefits of using software in the oil and gas industry, there are others you may not have considered, including:

1. Software Saves Money on Logistics

Routing oil and gas costs a lot of money. Due to the nature of volatile compounds, the transport of these resources must be handled very carefully.

Oil and gas companies can save money on these costs by introducing logistics software that intelligently routes shipments. Instead of having tanker trucks idling on a lot waiting for pickups, intelligent routing software ensures that shipments are ready to go upon arrival for faster loading and delivery.

2. Software Promotes Wellbeing

Software in the oil and gas industry can also promote employee well-being through the use of company wellness apps. An oil and gas company can use software to provide workers with access to health and nutrition counseling, but software can also be used to track fitness while on the job. This results in healthier employees, and it may also help reduce insurance premiums paid by oil and gas employers.

3. Software Offers Greater Productivity

Software can also increase productivity by allowing workers to focus on more tasks at once through automation. For example, an employee who is tasked with monitoring equipment readings can use software to receive automated alerts if values exceed normal ranges. These notifications can be sent to a smartphone, meaning the employee is free to handle other tasks on a drill site or at a refining facility without being tied to a desk or a certain area of the property.

Read a similar article about oil and gas software companies here at this page.

Why Oil and Gas Companies Should Focus on their Methane Reduction Efforts

There’s been a lot of focus on the effect of pollutants in the atmosphere over the last decade, and the oil and gas industry has taken notice. In addition to attempts at reducing carbon emissions, companies that serve the oil and gas industry have also taken to efforts to reduce methane.

Methane is a gas that can be released through several processes in the oil and gas industry, and it tends to stay in the atmosphere for about a decade if it is not directly remediated. On top of that, methane is believed to contribute to ground-level ozone, a known contributor to the entrapment of environmental heat. All told, methane can be considered a threat to the planet in that it can cause temperatures to rise by stopping the disbursement of natural heat. This can result in a dangerous warming effect, and as heat builds up, it can be detrimental to climates around the globe.

What is Being Done About Methane in the Atmosphere?

To reduce the amount of methane in the atmosphere, it must first be measured. A midstream oil and gas platform can help in this effort since a midstream oil and gas platform can provide companies with information about how much actual and estimated methane has been produced within a given time period. These platforms may also help to integrate equipment used to directly remove methane from oil and gas production processes.

In addition, equipment used to remove methane may be able to monitor the amount of methane currently in the atmosphere. This gives oil and gas producers a better understanding of what will be involved in reduction efforts going forward.

Methane and the Future of Oil and Gas

While it doesn’t appear that oil and gas are going anywhere anytime soon, advances in electric vehicle technology may curb the need for oil and gas in the future. Additionally, new fuel mixtures and additives can potentially reduce the amount of methane and carbon produced by internal combustion engines.

Read a similar article about platform for oil and gas operations here at this page.

What are Commodity Exports?

As transportation and communications technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 100 years, the world’s economy has shrunk. While the importing and exporting of goods has always been part of most countries’ economies, the Internet and advanced cargo shipping capabilities have changed how countries buy and sell commodities.

Definitions vary somewhat, but a commodity is usually considered to be a raw resource. Food ingredients, oil and gold are all commodities, and these resources are broken down into two or three categories. Hard commodities usually include resources that are mined, and soft commodities include resources that are harvested, such as grain. A third category, energy commodities, is sometimes included in either category, but it is also in its own category.

Exports as a Means to Support GDP

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of a country’s economic health. GDP is made up of a country’s total economic growth or shrinkage during a given period, and in most cases, GDP is measured annually. Commodity exports factor into GDP since they represent a good portion of most countries’ economic activity.

Commodity exports can also be a predictor of GDP growth. Stronger export activity for the year typically means higher GDP. 2023 energy industry predictions for the United States show strong favorability for energy storage investments as government forces push for private enterprises to move toward solar and wind. This may mean fewer energy exports as energy is captured and stored at home.

Upon further examination of 2023 energy industry predictions, data indicates that the conflict in Ukraine will continue to have an impact on energy imports and exports for years, even once a resolution has been reached. The disruption caused by Covid-19 will likely continue to play a part in energy and other commodity exports as well.

Commodity Exports and the Stock Market

Commodity exports are also watched closely by those invested in the stock market. Buying and selling commodity stocks can be a way to make a lot of money, but to be profitable, brokers and investors need to monitor export activity closely to react quickly.

Read a similar article about downstream oil and gas platform here at this page.