Carbon credit payoff for HVAC upgrades

When most people think of carbon credits they think of tree planting, renewable energy and other forms of offsets. However, emissions reductions resulting from energy efficiency can also deliver an abatement win, something a Japan-based climate tech start-up aims to monetise.

Tokyo-based company Linkhola has developed a methodology for translating energy efficiency gains from real-time HVAC optimisation into carbon credits. The innovation sits under the company’s AI-enabled Earthstory monitoring and reporting platform.

The tech platform will monitor energy savings following installation of AI controls on new or existing building air conditioning systems. The technology will compare energy use before the use AI controls to energy use after, and once the local energy grid carbon factor is accounted for, the energy saving can be converted into units of carbon emissions reductions.

According to reporting by Eco-Business Asia-Pacific, the company is potentially looking to align its measurement, reporting and verification outputs with the best practice principles of the ICVCM (Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market).

Eco-Business says that Japan has been “actively promoting carbon pricing and credit mechanisms as part of its broader decarbonisation strategy, while companies in the country are increasingly investing in digital solutions to improve energy efficiency.”

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Could it work for Australian buildings?

Under Australia’s industrial and commercial emissions reduction method managed by the Clean Energy Regulator, Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) can be created from activities including upgrades to HVAC equipment.

The energy efficiency improvements must comply with specific requirements including a stipulation that the activity is only eligible if it would not occur in the absence of ACCUs. In other words, energy efficiency and performance upgrades that are part of a broader program of asset improvements or electrification may not be eligible.

HVAC&R News notes that Linkhola’s technology if used by Australian building owners would not at this point be able to generate ACCUs, as only projects and methods approved by the Clean Energy Regulator can participate in the scheme.

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