IBM software powers greenhouse gas meter

Computerworld - IBM, Enterprise Information Management Inc., and Evergreen Energy Inc. have developed a greenhouse gas meter that measures carbon output across various industries and devices, according to the companies.

GreenCert is an automated software tool that gauges and documents efforts to manage greenhouse gases and then transforms this data into Certified Carbon Emissions Reduction Credits (CCERC).

Until now, monitoring carbon emissions was a complicated manual process that was neither efficient nor scientific, the companies said in a statement. Because there was no technology to allow companies to adhere to a particular standard, they have been reluctant to invest in reducing carbon emissions.

GreenCert offers a standard method to collect and manipulate large volumes of information from numerous sensors and tools, then calculates and documents the reduction in carbon emissions, according to the statement.

GreenCert works by taking a snapshot of a company's carbon footprint, records it then re-records it after the company takes steps to reduce its carbon emissions, according to the statement. With the proof of carbon reduction, companies can get carbon emission credits, which they can then trade on the carbon market. Previously, companies had to figure out their own ways to measure emission reductions.

According to the companies, GreenCert will provide incentives to public and private organizations around the world to lower greenhouse gases.

Designed and built by EIM, the GreenCert infrastructure is based on a services-oriented architecture (SOA) that uses IBM Software.

The IBM technologies that make up the system include Websphere Portal, Lotus Forms, DB2 Universal Database, DB2 Content Manager, DB2 Records Manager, WebSphere Process Server and WebSphere Business Process Management software. A C-Lock-designed engine, based on patent-pending technology, will power GreenCert.

"The combination of the C-Lock engine with IBM Software will radically change the way greenhouse gas emission reductions are quantified and certified," said Ted Venners, chairman of C-Lock, a wholly owned subsiduary of Evergeen. "Every market participant concerned with greenhouse gas emissions will benefit from the dramatic improvement of transparency and certainty of analysis this solution offers."

GreenCert will be available from C-Lock in the first half of 2008. Pricing will be made public at that time, the companies said. The GreenCert application is available now as a trial beta at the company's Web site.

Read more about Applications in Computerworld's Applications Topic Center.