Feb. 24, 2026

Carbon Emission Life Cycle Assessments 101, 102, and 103. Schools in session with John Beath

Sean Grady interviews John M. Beath, P.E. (TX), LCA-CP, CEO and founder of John Beath Environmental, LLC, on the Environmental Transformation Podcast. Beath explains life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprints and how companies evaluate emissions across raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and product use.

In this episode, Beath breaks down LCA basics for beginners, including emission factors, primary vs. secondary data and environmental databases. He also discusses LCA 101, LCA 102 and LCA 103, transparent Excel-based modeling, EV vs. internal combustion trade-offs, grid impacts, charging and temperature effects, EPDs, and why plug-in hybrids can be a practical near-term solution for reducing combustion-related air pollution in daily driving.

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The advantage to the plug in
hybrid is that you get the best

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of both worlds.
You don't have to build all

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those charging stations
necessarily, just charge it at

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home.
When your charge runs out, you

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run off gasoline, but the
advantage to it is you're

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addressing the air pollution
problem from combustion while

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you're driving around town on
your battery.

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Welcome to the Environmental
Transformation Podcast, where we

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bring you interviews with
industry leaders, climate

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champions, sustainability
practitioners, EHS and hazmat

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professionals making an impact
in their businesses today.

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Each leader solving complex
challenges and delivering

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solutions within their areas of
expertise.

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I'm your host, Sean Grady, and
thanks for joining us today.

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Before we jump in, make sure to
follow us on your devices and

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Now let's get started.
Welcome to the Environmental

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Transformation Podcast.
I'm your host, Sean Grady, and

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today's guest is John Beeth.
He is a Life Cycle Assessment

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certified professional and a
registered professional engineer

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in Texas.
He's also has more than 20 years

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of experience in the
sustainability industry as a

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consultant.
He currently serves as CEO of a

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sustainability environmental
consulting company.

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He's got a bachelor's degree in
Chemical Engineering from

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Georgia Tech and has authored 3
short books on the various

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aspects of sustainability he
currently serves.

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As a member.
Of the board of directors of the

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American Center for Life Cycle
Assessment.

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So, John, welcome to the show.
Thank you.

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Really excited to be here and
good, good set of topics that

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you had picked out for us here,
I think.

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Yeah, No, we're really happy to
have you on and and you know, we

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connected through I think one of
your marketing teams were

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looking to maybe get you on the
show and and we're always

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looking for good guests.
And so for those listeners out

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there that you've got an
interesting topic you'd like to

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bring to the show, always
interested to maybe interview

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those, those potential
candidates and bring them on

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and, and educate our listeners.
So John, before we get in, could

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you give us a little background
on how you get started in life

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cycle assessments and or
analysis and and also the

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sustainability business that
you're running today?

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Yeah, sure.
It's been quite a journey for

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me.
I tell people that I'm

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recovering process engineer.
I got tired of designing things

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that were not destined to be
built quickly, and that's what

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junior engineers and refinery
do.

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I found out, and they never told
me that when I moved into the

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profession to begin with.
So I found a way to escape the

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environmental department and
they convinced me that that

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wasn't where they sent old
soldiers to die, that in fact

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you actually could have a role
in the world.

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And it happened that that was
back in the 80s and things were

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beginning to take shape in the
environmental sector in in a

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bold new way.
And I was able to do a lot of

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first of its kind sort of
activities.

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And Fast forward, I was the guy
who turned out the lights of the

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refinery and sort of moved on
into the consulting world and

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joined a big box consulting
company, was there for quite a

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while.
And while I was there, I had a

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client one day that called me
and asked if we could do a life

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cycle assessment for them.
And like most eager consultants,

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I accept the job.
And then right after the call I

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called my colleagues in the UK
and said what the heck is a life

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cycle assessment and how do I do
1 And that was, you know, that

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was in like 2006.
So, you know, that was 20 years

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ago and a lots happened since
then.

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I left that company at some
point and founded my own company

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now just almost exactly 11 years
ago.

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And that company was just me at
the time.

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And now it's a lot more than
that.

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I wanted to focus on
sustainability and life cycle

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assessment and carbon footprints
and that sort of thing.

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And so that's what this company
has enabled me to do.

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So that's.
Great.

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That's good.
I mean, yeah.

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So.
So the punishment ended up being

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kind of like your passion.
Yeah, absolutely.

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It's true.
And maybe just a few more words

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on, you know, what happened with
that experience, just to sort of

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round that out.
So they told me that they wanted

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to prove that their solar panels
that they were making were

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green.
And I said to myself, well, of

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course they're green.
And they said no, no, an

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investor told them the only way
to do that was to do a life

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cycle assessment.
So I rounded up a team, we went

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to the plant, we cataloged the
raw materials, the utilities,

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the emissions, the waste, the Co
products, the yields, all that

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stuff.
And that's the kind of data you

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need to assess a product across
its life cycle, from the removal

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of raw materials from the earth
all the way through

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transportation, manufacturing,
distribution, installation, use,

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maintenance, all that stuff.
And people do carbon footprints

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as a streamlined version of that
for lots of reasons.

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But what's driving that business
now is customer requests,

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investor demands in an effort to
make claims to try to increase

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market share.
So that's how the game has

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evolved over time, and that's
the kind of exposure we get

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through our client work.
Well, so, so let's break down

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for the, the novice here,
because there's a lot of

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listeners who follow the podcast
and join along who, you know,

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they, they may be practitioners
in this space, but there's a lot

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who aren't, They're just kind of
casual interested parties.

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They, they, they work in the
environmental industry, but they

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maybe not in be involved in
sustainability type activities

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where life cycle analysis is, is
required.

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So let's break this down.
What's the process?

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How does this concept work, you
know, in, in real practice?

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And and let's let's break this
down so we can get them prepared

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for the rest of the
conversation.

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All right.
Well, you know, it is, it is a

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little bit complicated, I'll
admit.

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But at the basis what you're
really trying to do is take a

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flow rate of material and assign
it to an emission factor and

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then end up with a result.
So I call that A * B = C, and

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it's no different than in
traditional environmental world

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how you would do an emissions
inventory.

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What's different about this
though is that if you're doing a

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carbon footprint, at least what
you're chasing really is those

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instances where whatever you're
doing creates a CO2, methane or

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N2O emission to the atmosphere.
And most often that's

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combustion, unless you have a
pipeline of methane and then

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methane is going to leak out of
the pipeline directly.

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You know, you don't need
combustion for that.

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For most other things it you
know, it's about combustion.

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And so if you're a manufacturing
plant, it's pretty

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straightforward.
You have fired process heaters.

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You can understand what that is.
But when you look across the

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life cycle now, it's not just
what you're doing inside your

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plant.
Instead, I'm including the raw

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materials that are coming to you
and how they were made.

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And so there's energy.
Say you've got a bulldozer and

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it's going to mine that material
out of the ground.

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Well, there goes some CO2 from
that.

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And the next thing I'm going to
do is I'm going to grind it up

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maybe, OK, there's some
electrical energy that goes into

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that at the power plant.
There's CO2 for that.

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Now I'm going to put it in the
truck and I'm going to haul it.

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And so guess what the the truck
is burning some sort of fuel or

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it's electric, one or the other.
In either case, it's energy.

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It ties back probably to
combustion at some point.

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And so again, CO2, so we're an
inventory that adds up all those

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steps down the line, even
through the end of the

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manufacturing to distribution.
Again, we got some trucks.

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Maybe it goes into the use
phase.

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And if it's something simple
like a plastic bottle, you might

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say, well, this doesn't really
have a use phase, does it?

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Well, in reality it does because
guess what?

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A lot of people like their
drinking water and they like it

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cold.
So what do they do?

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They put it in the refrigerator.
Well, now that's part of the

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life cycle for your product as
well.

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Yeah.
You know, when you think about

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that, Oh my gosh.
I mean, all the actual inputs

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that you need to consider to
assess a full, I guess, complete

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picture of the life cycle
analysis, that could be pretty

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daunting just trying to
understand all the inputs.

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And then how do you derive, you
know, emission factors for all

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that work?
Well, if you had to go get a CO2

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meter and meter every single one
of those things I just

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described, you'd bankrupt
yourself.

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So the way it works is that
people have already been there,

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done that.
And so they're creating a

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library of information you can
draw from.

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And so there are environmental
databases that store that kind

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of experience based data that
you can then draw on.

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Probably the largest one of
those is is called Eco Invent

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and they have thousands of
factors in there for things you

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can't even imagine that you
might need a factor for.

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And and that's not by any means
the only place where you go and

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that's behind the paywall.
So not everybody gets to use

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that.
But the idea is you're, you're

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adding to some experience and
you have what's called primary

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data because in some cases, you
know how much what, what's the

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electric bill for your plant to
make these plastic bottles?

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Well, OK, I know what my
electric bill is.

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I know how many of these I made.
So now I can give you what's

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called, you know, a really
accurate primary database

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estimate of what my emissions
for this was.

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But if I'm a company and I don't
make the polyethylene beads that

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are used to blow mold the
plastic, then I have to trust

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some secondary data probably for
that.

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And I might go to this database,
I might go to the company and

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say, have you got a carbon
footprint?

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And by the way, if you want me
to buy your product, you know, I

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really want you to share that.
Otherwise, I'm going to find

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somebody else who's willing to
share that.

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And you know, I'll buy their
product.

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Are you, are you when you're
doing these assessments for

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clients and you're, and you're
going through this process, are

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you finding that a lot of these
suppliers of these raw materials

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are providing their carbon
emission factors or input that

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for the impact of the product
they're selling?

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So that way every metric ton or
whatever they're gallon that you

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can use that as an input.
It's a mixed bag and I think it

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depends a lot on what industry
sector you're in.

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In the building product space,
you find a lot of people are

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embodying that into what's
called an environmental product

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declaration or an EPD.
Some of the building trades are

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more and more are beginning to
see a requirement for you to not

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only share the data, but share
it in that form.

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But in lots of other sectors,
it's a lot more random in terms

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of, well, if I'm selling a
product to another business, you

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know, they may make it
conditional that you have to

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provide some data to me or or
I'm not going to buy your

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product.
As we move into consumer

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products, it's even more squishy
there.

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The reason people will do these
kinds of studies is because they

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they maybe have an investor that
wants to get data about that, or

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maybe they want to make a market
claim.

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So if they're going to make a
market claim, they're going to

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try to get as much primary data
as they can, but they are going

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to find those firewalls that
that you mentioned, you know, is

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the supplier willing to share?
Well, that's a changing

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environment.
And what you're finding is

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people that are outside the US
where the regulatory environment

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environment is pushing faster.
Yeah, more likely, like Europe

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and Asia as well.
You'll find that much more

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likely to share that information
because they've been conditioned

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by companies that are in those
locations that that's how things

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are done.
Right, right, right.

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Well, that's, that's awesome.
I mean, so when we look at, you

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know, your journey here, the
catalyst of you starting of this

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business, you've been in the
environmental, you know,

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business over 40 years as an
engineer.

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What was the specific gap where
the problem you were trying to

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solve in the industry that drove
you to write these books that

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you you you wrote, you wrote
three books.

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And once you share a little bit
about your books and talk about

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that, and then, you know, what
was the lack of understanding of

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the process or the prohibitive
cost of the existing tool that

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was like you were trying to fix?
Like what was?

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Tell us a little bit about this.
Well, I, I won't try to pretend

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that I have the universal
solution to that problem, but I

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took some steps down that
highway.

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And so, yeah, the, the thing
that was in my mind was that

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one, I piled up a lot of
experience.

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My company's piled up a lot of
experience.

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I, I felt like, you know, I'm
moving on in my career, it's

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time for me to start sharing
some of that stuff.

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So that was definitely a
motivator.

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But more importantly, a lot of
the information that's out there

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is pretty hard to digest.
You know, it's written for R&D

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engineers and nerdy science
types.

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And if you want a nerd out and
go to those detailed elements,

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that's great.
But for people who aren't

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working in that space every day,
they need a bit of a translator.

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And so that's the rule A.
Little bit so the average guy

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who knows math can do some
stuff.

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Exactly.
And so there were three books

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that ended up coming.
And Full disclosure, I did them

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in part because that's how I
continue to remain certified as

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a certified professional is you
have to publish or parish to a

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certain extent.
And so that was part of my

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pathway to, to holding on to my
credentials.

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But I also wanted to do the
things that I told you.

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So it's it's a balancing act.
Anyway, three books.

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One was a specific need for a
friend that we had who was an

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organic farmer.
And I felt like all the things

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that have been written about how
to footprint a farm were really

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hard to, to get your arms
around.

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And so written so that a farmer
could actually do their own

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footprint and need a master's
in, you know, environmental

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engineering to be able to walk
through that.

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So it's very simplistic.
It's very, pardon the pun, down

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to earth, but you know, that's
the sort of thing that I felt

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like was really neat.
So let me.

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Let me generate a direct real
quick.

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Do you get any interest from,
say, universities, agricultural

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universities that come and talk
about this in a class or course

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or anything?
Probably because not many of

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them go browsing around on our
website and try to find that it,

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it is something that I'd love to
be able to do.

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But frankly, no, that hasn't
been an issue.

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We're kind of in our little
silo, you know, we're, we're the

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00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,040
company that nobody knows
anything about and that's one of

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the reasons we're trying to
change that is to get some of

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00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:31,560
this information out there.
So.

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Well, we'll help you do that,
yeah.

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People will know who the
translators are and and who they

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00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,480
might be able to rely on.
So that leads me to the second

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effort.
And these are numbered by the

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way, LCA one O 1, LCA one O 2
and LCA one O 3.

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00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,760
Kind of tongue in cheek, but.
It's like going taking my

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00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,160
college courses, you know?
Yeah, exactly.

288
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,000
And that's that's the intent
except college, not College in

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00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,000
this case.
SO1O2 is a little bit more of a

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00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,320
heavy duty nature.
And this was inspired because of

291
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,000
the fact that there's so many
come people that are coming into

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00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:12,000
the electric vehicle space that
have an agenda and they gather

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00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,920
up some data and they try to to
convince people that they're

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right and that here's why you
should move in a certain

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00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,200
direction.
And I got really tired of that.

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00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:25,520
And so we got hired by an oil
company and by trade association

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00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,000
to really look objectively into
that.

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00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,480
And we did and we learned an
awful lot about that.

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And so the book is a
methodology.

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00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,520
It's how do you analyze a
situation in a very objective,

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00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,920
scientific, comprehensive way
and draw some good conclusions

302
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:42,440
about the trade-offs that
happened there.

303
00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:43,920
So that's what that book is
about.

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00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,680
The third one, LCA one O 3 was a
horse of completely different

305
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,040
color.
This was I'm tired of people

306
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,960
coming to me and saying, you
know, I can't do carbon

307
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,880
footprints because I I can't
afford the the price of a big

308
00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,040
database, but I really want to
have something I can roll around

309
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,840
in and try some things.
So one day the idea popped in my

310
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,960
head that there's a database
that's free from the government,

311
00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,760
that is environmental emission
factors for all of the things

312
00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,280
that go into a car.
And if you think about a car,

313
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,640
it's plastic, there's metal,
there's wire, there's glass,

314
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,880
there's all this cool stuff.
And all those factors are in

315
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:22,320
that database.
So I said, well, why don't I

316
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,520
just extract those that
information out there, put it in

317
00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,760
a table, put a nice little front
end in it and create some

318
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,280
examples where you actually
footprint some comparisons and

319
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,160
roll that into a book.
And so that's what I did.

320
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,480
And so not only is the book out
there, but also you have the

321
00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,640
ability to download the the
workbook itself and actually

322
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,520
play around with it yourself.
Well, so how many companies can,

323
00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,680
you know, view the LCA as a
black box and handle it by, you

324
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:51,960
know, expensive specialist now?
I mean it seems like there's a

325
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,520
little big business in this
space for that.

326
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,280
How does your hands on approach
solve the problem of

327
00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,280
accessibility for the average
engineer or small business

328
00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,680
owner?
Yeah, that's, that's a subject

329
00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:05,240
that's really near and dear to
my heart.

330
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:06,960
You really struck A chord when
you got that.

331
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,960
So the, the simple solution that
I just described to you, LCA one

332
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,000
O 3, the the little workbook I
have only focuses on raw

333
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,319
materials.
It's a piece of that supply

334
00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:20,440
chain.
But what we find is a lot of

335
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:25,400
products that are made might
find 90 or even more percent of

336
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,920
the overall footprint might be
in the raw materials.

337
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,280
So if you want to do
comparisons, that's a good place

338
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,160
to start.
It is by no means a tool that's

339
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,200
going to replace an LCA database
because it's only looking at the

340
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,720
front end of your problem.
But it allows you to get in,

341
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,840
roll around, understand the
process.

342
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,480
Now parallel from that, I, I am
extremely concerned about

343
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,080
working with black spot, black
box LCA databases because I've

344
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,600
been working with them
throughout my career.

345
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,840
And I don't like the, the way
you can't really see the work.

346
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,040
You can't really understand what
it's doing.

347
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,720
And so for the last 10 years,
we've been working to develop a

348
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:08,880
parallel solution.
Basically, it's an Excel

349
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,760
workbook that does everything
that the Open LCA model does

350
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,600
with a couple of restrictions,
OK, But it does those

351
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,880
calculations in the same
detailed way, not just for for

352
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,160
carbon, but for other
environmental impacts like

353
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:27,160
sidification, ozone depletion,
energy toxicology, all the

354
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,600
things that are part of these
environmental impact factor

355
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,480
sets.
So we did that because we really

356
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,040
wanted to be able to answer the
question for our clients that

357
00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,880
say, OK, you got this answer
from your database.

358
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,000
How do you know it's right?
How do you check that?

359
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,960
And so we said, OK, well, you
know, what do you do normally

360
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,000
when someone says to check that,
well, you get a piece of paper

361
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,800
and you write down some numbers
and you look up the factors and

362
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,360
you basically do manually, you
know, a, a set of calculations

363
00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,760
for, you know, one of the
elements, say a raw material to

364
00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,360
see if it looks like the box is
doing its right way.

365
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,240
Well, or you might use Excel to
do that.

366
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,360
And so that led to the leap of
faith.

367
00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,120
Faith that was OK.
Well, why don't we just do all

368
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:13,120
those calculations and then
we'll know for sure.

369
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,560
We've checked everything.
And then we said, well, if we're

370
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,040
going to go to the trouble to do
that, maybe there's a reason why

371
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,880
our clients may want to do that.
Because then it becomes a what

372
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,840
if tool that's transparent.
They can see all the activities,

373
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,200
they can QA it, and they're
going to get a huge amount of

374
00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:35,200
benefit from it by people using
it who aren't people that are in

375
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,440
the LCA database tool every day.
Because that takes to be

376
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,760
effective with those things.
Any kind of complicated

377
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,240
software, any kind of modeling
software, if you're not working

378
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,000
with it regularly, you're going
to struggle.

379
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,640
But the nice thing with Excel is
you can look at it, you know, I

380
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,400
don't care what you were working
on 30 minutes ago or for the

381
00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,080
last two months, you can look at
that Excel and kind of go, yeah,

382
00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,120
I see what's going on here.
OK, that's great.

383
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,880
And by that transparency, it's
also a really good QA tool on

384
00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,200
your data.
So as you're looking at it and

385
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,360
we have a tie to some graphs and
tables so that when you put in

386
00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,800
the results, you can see right
in front of you what's

387
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,080
happening.
And if you see things that you

388
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,960
aren't expecting, you can you
can drill down into them and

389
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,440
then obviously you can make
changes to it and see how the

390
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,000
results play out.
So we're really excited about

391
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,080
it.
We're doing our second project

392
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,880
now to use that tool and we
have.

393
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:31,760
Cross checked it against the
open LCAA to see if we could get

394
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:33,800
exactly the same results and we
did.

395
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,680
So that's where we are.
Hello ET Nation, I want to thank

396
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,400
you for listening to the podcast
if.

397
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,240
You're enjoying the interviews.
We bring you Consider supporting

398
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,280
the program by visiting my
website at seankgrady.com and

399
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,960
buy me a cup of coffee.
Proceeds will go towards helping

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00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:52,360
me continue producing timely
content and offset production

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00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:55,280
costs.
I'd also like to take a moment

402
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,800
and recognize a few of our
sponsors of the show who have

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That's cascade-env.com.

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Well, I mean, so why is this,

442
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,600
why is the transparency of, you
know, in formulas and the

443
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,200
ability of the user to, you
know, basically see the guts of

444
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,800
this, this actual process and
all the calculations that you

445
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,800
put into the, you know, into the
formulas there inside the Excel.

446
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,320
Why is that so important and so
vital for the credibility of the

447
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:36,440
sustainability claims and so?
You know, it is, it is just

448
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,040
that.
And what's interesting is that

449
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,760
when you do a life cycle
assessment, if you're going to

450
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,720
share the results and make a
claim, you're supposed to have a

451
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,960
third party reviewed, which
means theoretically someone's

452
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,040
looking over your shoulder.
Well, additionally, what has

453
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,000
happened with that in large
measure, and I have done third

454
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,400
party review myself.
So I speak from a little bit of

455
00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,240
experience, This centroid of how
those reviewers tend to approach

456
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,520
things is there's a list of
things that ISO says have to be

457
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,720
in your life cycle assessment,
you know, has to have go and

458
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,520
scope, has to have system
foundry, has to have functioning

459
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,640
and all these things that are
supposed to be in your report.

460
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,960
And so it becomes a checklist.
Got this, got this, got this,

461
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,720
got this.
OK, great.

462
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,480
Therefore you have a great LCA
report.

463
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,840
I'm your reviewer.
You met all the requirements and

464
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,360
ISO.
Have a nice day, right.

465
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,840
I got a fundamental problem with
that because you didn't say and

466
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,520
by the way, I checked all the
numbers to make sure that you

467
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,920
really did the calculations in
in a comprehensive and effective

468
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,760
way.
And the problem is when you have

469
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,440
a model, the only way that you
could really have a way to do

470
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,520
that would be to literally take
every step that the person who

471
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,880
set up the model did.
Well, who wants to pay for that

472
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:47,600
twice?
No one, right?

473
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,680
So that's why having this
transparent thing allows the

474
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,120
auditor, the reviewer, to
actually say, yeah, I actually

475
00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:57,160
checked the math.
I can see what's going on.

476
00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,760
I know that it's doing the A * B
= C and it's got the right A's,

477
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,960
it's using the right B's.
And yeah, the C answer

478
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,000
benchmarks.
It looks effective.

479
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,800
You know it it, you know it's
the right answer, or within some

480
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,280
range of accuracy anyway.
Sure.

481
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:13,680
Sure.
No, that's good.

482
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,440
I mean, and I think you, like I
said, it just elevates the, the,

483
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:20,760
the, the power of the tool and,
and the credibility of the

484
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:24,240
calculations and the outcome.
So that's, that's excellent.

485
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,040
If we talk about the, the, you
know, selecting factors, you

486
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,840
know, I think a lot of people
are trying to always figure out

487
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,400
where do I get this factors
emission factor for a typical

488
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,240
type of product or, you know,
raw material.

489
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,560
But that seems like a major
hurdle for for beginners and

490
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,720
knowing which emission factor to
use.

491
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:48,720
So why do you anchor in your
books the Argonne National Labs

492
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:53,480
Greek model as as kind of like
your main source of, you know,

493
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,280
factors that you, you know, have
the readers translate to the

494
00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,880
most complex data sets?
Well, it doesn't hurt that I've

495
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,400
been working with the people at
Oregon lab for ever since Greek

496
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,400
was, you know, first developed
frankly.

497
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,400
And we've actually contributed
to some of that content.

498
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:15,520
We created some tools that are
are that slave off of the

499
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,280
information that's in Greek that
they have made part of their

500
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,760
package actually.
So we're extremely familiar with

501
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,360
that.
But that being said, you know,

502
00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:26,200
it's run by the government.
It it's based on a lot of

503
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,160
publicly available government
data like from EIA and other

504
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,840
government agencies.
And it gets updated every year.

505
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,960
And it also gets peer reviewed
fairly well.

506
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,600
And so I have a lot of
confidence in what's in there.

507
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,720
Now the bad news is if this is
not a material that goes in your

508
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,240
car, then you're not going to
find it in there.

509
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,200
So you're going to have to go
somewhere else to find those

510
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,280
factors.
And so a lot of what many people

511
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,000
do is they just in today's world
of AI, you just go to your

512
00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:01,200
computer and you say carbon
footprint for shampoo and you're

513
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:05,400
going to get some studies for
that and trust but verify.

514
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:10,360
It's amazing now how AI is going
to be used to if for some of the

515
00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:13,000
work that we're doing in the
environmental space.

516
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,360
And yeah, you just prompted with
a question.

517
00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:18,640
It's going to give you kind of
like, oh, here's all the raw

518
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,960
materials that go into, you
know, shampoo for a carpet and

519
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,880
bam, you.
Know yeah, and you'll get some

520
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,080
answers too but the most
important thing is it's going to

521
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,360
point you to the sources.
And so then then we do as

522
00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:31,920
scientists is we're going to
open up that source by the way,

523
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:36,000
if it's actually there every now
and then you will find that it

524
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,920
tells you that a source exists
and it doesn't actually we have

525
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,000
had that experience but if you
open it up you're looking for

526
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:43,880
things like was it peer
reviewed?

527
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:48,040
How did they do their what sort
of assumptions do they make What

528
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,960
sort of credentials even do the
people have that that worked on

529
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,840
that those are all things that
you can do and then if you're

530
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,520
like most people you want to try
to benchmark that as well.

531
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,000
So I don't want just one study.
I really want 2 studies that I

532
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,640
can compare against each other.
Now I'm feeling really good

533
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:04,680
about it.
And the third thing I might do

534
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:09,000
as a practitioner, you know I, I
have these in eco event factors.

535
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,800
I have access to them all you
know they're behind the paywall.

536
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,680
I can use those to benchmark the
study so that way the the client

537
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,800
doesn't have to pay for the eco
invent factor because here it is

538
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,840
it's publicly available in this
study you know and yeah, quietly

539
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,520
I told the client by the way.
I checked it against Eco Invent

540
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,920
and I probably am not going to
be able to say that in the

541
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,120
report, but that gives the a
little bit more confidence,

542
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:33,200
yeah.
Right, right.

543
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,880
Absolutely.
Well, you know, there's been a

544
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:40,800
lot of going on in in the
environmental world these days.

545
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:46,280
EPA has, interestingly enough,
pulled back some new, you know,

546
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,720
rules.
The endangerment clause of air

547
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,120
emission was recently rescinded,
You know, so if we look at,

548
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:59,160
let's say your LCAA one O yeah,
one O 2, which is around the

549
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,320
electric vehicles, you know, in
your book in the in the electric

550
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:07,000
vehicles, you challenge
one-size-fits-all narrative in

551
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,920
in electrification.
So what are the most critical,

552
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:14,080
often overlooked variables such
as grid intensity, battery

553
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,480
weight, you know, and what you
know, can that completely be

554
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:23,640
flipped with the results of you
know, of the EV versus the the

555
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,200
internal combustion engine
comparison now or you know that

556
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,240
we're these new rules are going
to be affecting.

557
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,640
Well, first of all, the
endangerment finding situation

558
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:36,840
really doesn't impact much of
anything.

559
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:41,640
That said, in the book that we
wrote, the fact that some people

560
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:44,320
in the government have decided
that greenhouse gases don't

561
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,880
threaten, you know, human health
and therefore they're they're

562
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,400
not endangering us.
You know, it's a completely

563
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,640
separate issue.
If if you're still interested in

564
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,040
making an impact on carbon, then
you still want to study the

565
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:58,960
electric vehicle.
You still want to figure out,

566
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,080
you know, where it makes sense
and where it doesn't.

567
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,320
And not just with electric
vehicles, but anything that is

568
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:09,800
powered by a fuel source that's
not fossil fuel.

569
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:11,920
You know, these are the kinds of
things that you may want to

570
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,800
think about.
But for the for the EV in

571
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,080
particular, one of the things
that struck me right on the head

572
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,080
when I first started looking at
it is the temperature impacts.

573
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,800
And people have always talked
about them, you know, in terms

574
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,280
of that being, you know, a
strong part of the process.

575
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,480
And it absolutely is, however,
in ways that you might not think

576
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,040
about directly.
So people think about how the

577
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,200
battery performs when it's hot
outside.

578
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,800
OK, that's great.
But that's not really the the

579
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,160
big effect that's that, you
know, an internal combustion

580
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,240
engine is heating up your cab
when it's hot out or when it's

581
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,560
cold inside, you want it to be
hot inside.

582
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,080
So you get that benefit of the
internal combustion engine with

583
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,200
an EV.
Guess what, No combustion.

584
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,640
So now that's it becomes a tax
on your battery.

585
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,600
Part of your power that you're
counting on has to go into

586
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,040
heating the vehicle.
And that is a carbon footprint

587
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,400
balancing act issue.
But the one that I found even

588
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,520
more intriguing than that was
how you charge your car.

589
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,520
So that battery in order to
protect itself, has temperature

590
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,480
monitoring with it that says,
hey, you're only allowed to

591
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,440
charge me if the temperature is
within a certain range.

592
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,400
And if it's too cold, I'm going
to activate a heating element

593
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:25,840
and I'm going to heat up the
area around the battery so you

594
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,560
don't damage your battery.
On the other side of the coin,

595
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:33,240
if it's too hot out there in in
where your your battery lives,

596
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,280
I'm going to engage a fan and
I'm going to try to cool down

597
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,800
that battery.
And I'm not going to let you

598
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,840
charge it until I've cooled down
the cargo space enough to where

599
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:44,160
the battery is the right
temperature.

600
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,960
Well, you're not going to find
those results on your EPA

601
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,240
sticker for your EV.
They're not part of what happens

602
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,160
because they don't happen as you
operate the vehicle.

603
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,360
They're not part of your
efficiency, but actually they

604
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:58,960
are if you take a life cycle
approach to this.

605
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,440
So those are really important
things.

606
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,720
Where you charge your vehicle is
really important.

607
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,520
Say you live in Chicago and your
junks in your garage instead of

608
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:09,760
your car.
No one would ever let that

609
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,720
happen, right?
But if that's your case, then

610
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,000
you're going to pay a huge tax
for heating out this car

611
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:21,240
outside, whereas instead, if you
charge it in your car or in your

612
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,200
garage, get rid of the junk.
That would be a great place for

613
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,880
you to be.
And furthermore, if you really

614
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,720
want to up your game even a
little bit further, then you

615
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:33,880
might insulate your garage also
so that now you're not have to

616
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,280
having to take that head start
either when it's hot or cold.

617
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,480
Insulation will help you both
ways with respect to that.

618
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,080
So, but there are, there are
things that matter a lot that

619
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,320
were part of the study that we
did and they're part of the

620
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,480
book.
The key thing obviously is the

621
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,480
grid and what's going on in the
state where you are operating.

622
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,960
It's, it's no secret that as you
look at the say the Eastern

623
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,720
Seaboard state, so you can see,
you know that West Virginia,

624
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,800
Kentucky, they're a coal
weighted grid.

625
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,680
And so the, the electric
vehicles aren't going to do as

626
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,440
well there in terms of carbon
reduction, right.

627
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,760
And surprisingly, if you look at
EV sales, one of the biggest

628
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:17,360
places where EVs are selling
right now is in California.

629
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,960
And unfortunately in California,
the grid is really pretty good.

630
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:26,360
So the net benefit of putting
EVs, if you could pick wherever

631
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,040
you want them, you wouldn't put
them in California.

632
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,960
You would put them, you know,
every single vehicle you could

633
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,160
replace in West Virginia, you'd
try to.

634
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,080
The problem is we have customers
and customers have preferences

635
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,240
and they have geographic
locations.

636
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:45,000
So are you going to get demand
to line up with what is the best

637
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,920
for the environment overall?
Probably not.

638
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,520
But at least you can understand
what those forces mean and how

639
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,880
to put them in perspective.
And that's what the book tried

640
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:54,760
to do.
Yeah, cuz when you think about

641
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,760
the grid, I mean not like you
just mentioned, not all

642
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:04,000
utilities are the same when it
comes to delivering the power

643
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,720
and, and their source of power
and, and the emissions that are

644
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,840
involved with generating that
power for the utility.

645
00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:15,639
And I, you know, having a grasp
of that and where certain

646
00:34:15,639 --> 00:34:19,239
factors are going to play into
the equation versus, you know,

647
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,480
in a location that may be a
hydropowered company or, or, you

648
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,719
know, somewhere like that.
That's that's like you got to

649
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,560
really know your stuff.
And actually just as a side

650
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:32,239
note, I have to have to react to
your the use of hydropower there

651
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,920
because hydropower is uniquely
different from wind and solar.

652
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,239
They all have a burden that
caused that results from, you

653
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,360
know, the equipment part of it.
And I haven't mentioned capital

654
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,560
equipment, but that's also part
of the footprint.

655
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:49,480
Theoretically, it's typically a
minor player, but with those

656
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,199
people who are using
hydroelectric power, one of the

657
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:54,880
things that's been often
overlooked is the impacts from

658
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,600
the reservoir.
So when you create a hydropower

659
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,320
plant, typically there's a
reservoir that's associated with

660
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,640
it.
When you bring that reservoir

661
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,080
into being, what are you doing?
Well, you're flooding land.

662
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,880
And as you do, the biological
growth that was in that area

663
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,840
that you flooded is going to off
gas for years and years and

664
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,400
years.
And they are now starting to

665
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,600
measure exactly what that is and
therefore define the

666
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,120
hydroelectric power plant
footprint as not 0.

667
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,480
It's it's certainly not like
burning fossil fuels, but it's

668
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:31,640
not 0.
And so that's part of how the

669
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:35,400
life cycle assessment science
evolves over time as we learn

670
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,160
things and we get a broader
perspective, even more than we

671
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,960
had before, about what really
matters and what doesn't and how

672
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:42,440
much.
Well.

673
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,040
OK, so let's, let's, let's take
this other kind of interesting

674
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,560
question because I think a lot
of people are like, hey, it

675
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:55,080
takes as much carbon and impacts
to build an EV car as it does

676
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,560
like a gas combustion, internal
combustion car.

677
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,960
Or maybe it takes more, I don't
know.

678
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,600
But maybe through your
experience, could you kind of

679
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:09,240
shed some light on the pros and
cons of this just cuz maybe the

680
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:12,360
listener is just saying, I want
to do what's best to buy the

681
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:18,080
right car related to its carbon
emission impact, say over its

682
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,160
lifespan that I'm going to have
the car versus me buying a

683
00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:25,880
internal combustion car and just
buying fuel to power it, you

684
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:27,960
know, over time.
And then the cost benefit

685
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,200
analysis, I mean, what what's
your take on that?

686
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,000
Because I'm sure you're kind of
looking at that as well.

687
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,480
Well, it, it definitely is
complicated.

688
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,440
First of all, a lot of people
will raise their hand and say,

689
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,240
oh, it's the battery.
You know, that's the reason why

690
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,680
these EVs, their, their
footprint really isn't that

691
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:45,480
great.
And if you assess the battery,

692
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,120
you'll figure out that, you
know, whatever fuel savings

693
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:52,040
there is gets weighed out by how
carbon intensive it is to make

694
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,400
the battery.
Well, I, I think that's been,

695
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,040
that's been gas lit and proven
not to be the key aspect.

696
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,760
It, it is an important aspect,
but in terms of percentage, the

697
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:07,080
use phase and the use of the
power plant or internal

698
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,800
combustion is going to wet far
outweigh that element of it.

699
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,720
And we studied this in a very
detailed way for a bus

700
00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:16,920
manufacturer.
We built a, a carbon comparison

701
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:22,600
tool for them, which basically
compares diesel buses to CNG to

702
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:26,040
hybrid to electric buses.
And we did this because their

703
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,440
customers really want to know if
I'm if I'm buying a fleet of

704
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:33,800
buses and I had diesel buses
before and now I have CNG or now

705
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,400
I have electric, what exact
footprint am I going to

706
00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:41,400
difference am I going to make?
Because say I'm a city or a

707
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,840
university, they actually have
carbon reduction plans and they

708
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,680
have to literally fact factor
this kind of information into

709
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:49,200
it.
So we worked with the

710
00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:52,400
manufacturer of the space of the
year to collect a bunch of data

711
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,920
and try to come to, you know,
what's probably not the be all

712
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:59,560
end all, but it's a, it's a good
estimation tool to be able to

713
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,280
say, yeah, pretty clearly this
is and this is how it works out.

714
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:07,480
And as you might expect, the
electric buses are pretty much

715
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,280
always going to win the
equation, but it's by how much?

716
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,000
And it gets to, again, where,
where is the footprint?

717
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:17,000
But there's, there's another
important aspect which I haven't

718
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,040
brought in so far, but I will.
And that's the role of the plug

719
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:24,280
in hybrid vehicle, which is
where I've been living in my own

720
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:25,920
personal space for the last 10
years.

721
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,800
I have personally driven a plug
in hybrid vehicle and I believe

722
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,520
that's the ultimate solution to
the problem for the short term

723
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,840
because the challenge electric
vehicles have is the ability to

724
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,360
have cruise range based on where
the chargers are, the cost of

725
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:45,000
what charging is and the time it
takes to charge.

726
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,120
All those things are dramatic
issues.

727
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,760
And you know the IRA was going
to fix all of that.

728
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,600
Well, when that got rescinded.
Now where's the money going to

729
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,240
come from not only for the
charging stations that we might

730
00:38:56,240 --> 00:38:58,960
need ultimately, but also so for
the power plants.

731
00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:03,000
We're we're already competing
for power plant bandwidth with

732
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,240
the data centers and how AI is
driving that to a higher level

733
00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:10,360
of power demand.
That's the the EVs are going to

734
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,560
report are going to compete for
that.

735
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,760
The advantage to the plug in
hybrid is that you get the best

736
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,960
of both worlds.
You don't have to build all

737
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:19,640
those charging stations
necessarily.

738
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,680
Just charge it at home.
When your charge runs out, you

739
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,200
run off gasoline.
But the advantage to it is

740
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,760
you're addressing the air
pollution problem from

741
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,080
combustion while you're driving
around town on your battery.

742
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:36,080
And when you're out on the
highway, you run out of battery

743
00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,480
and now I'm on fossil fuel.
But guess what?

744
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,360
They're you're you're not
exhausting all that information

745
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,960
into the breathing zone of
people.

746
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,360
So it's a, it's a really good
trade off.

747
00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:49,960
So that's not going to get you
to the goal as fast as an EV

748
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,360
will, but it's going to put
points on the board that much

749
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:57,400
more quickly because we don't
have the charging, we don't have

750
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,880
the power plants to go all the
way to the end of the tunnel.

751
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,960
But we could pretty much convert
every new vehicle to a plug in

752
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,760
hybrid and we would get points
on the board way, way faster if

753
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,240
we did that.
So when you did, you also factor

754
00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:14,720
in the cost of the vehicles and
stuff we did because a lot of

755
00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:18,640
the EVs are a lot more expensive
in a lot of cases than a normal

756
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,240
internal combustion car.
And I'm thinking average Family

757
00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:25,000
Guy who just, you know, needs to
get a good, you know, $15,000

758
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,480
car to, you know, run for a
good, you know, 100,000 miles or

759
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,040
whatever, you know, until he's
ready, whatever it is.

760
00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:36,400
I mean, when I look at those
types of decisions versus an EV

761
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:40,800
versus like that, I start to go,
it doesn't make as much sense as

762
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:45,520
an EV versus that because I just
feel like it seems like it's a

763
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:49,280
better, more cost effective and
less impact since you've already

764
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,560
the car's already been built.
Like I don't not buying a new

765
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:52,680
car, I'm buying a used car,
right?

766
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,400
You know, type thing.
Well, there's a lot to unpack

767
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,560
with with that.
One of the things about electric

768
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:03,320
vehicles is the more the vehicle
weighs, and I'm not talking

769
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,760
about the weight of the battery,
we're talking about the vehicle

770
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,320
overall.
The more it weighs, typically

771
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,640
the the less well it's going to
perform.

772
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:16,520
So that the four door sedan,
really small electric vehicles,

773
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,840
which is kind of why Tesla went
down that road.

774
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,720
The smaller the vehicle, the
better it's going to perform in

775
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:23,400
all those categories you just
talked about.

776
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,600
But if we're talking a Suburban,
a Yukon, you know, even a pickup

777
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,240
truck, that's a more challenging
space.

778
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,040
And that's why people have been
really slow to conquer that

779
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:37,160
marketplace.
There's another really dramatic

780
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,440
force here, and I don't know
where that's going to happen,

781
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,440
but it could be a shockwave for
this.

782
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:47,720
And that is the price of
vehicles for electric in Asia is

783
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:51,680
shockingly low.
You can buy an electric vehicle

784
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:57,000
in China for a small fraction of
what things are here in the US,

785
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,520
and of course those those
Chinese vehicles are enjoying

786
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,280
from coming into the US at this
point.

787
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,600
If that were to change, this
whole discussion we had might

788
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,480
change dramatically.
Yeah, well, I mean, I just saw

789
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:15,040
that didn't didn't Ford going to
start building a smaller unit

790
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:18,800
type electrical car?
It's like AI don't know 2 seater

791
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,760
truck or something that's like.
Ford is really conflicted and

792
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,160
they they pulled away from the
electric F-150, Yeah.

793
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:30,280
And I was surprised to see that,
but you know, I think they're,

794
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:32,360
they're uncertain as a lot of
people are.

795
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:36,120
And and again, I I'm the voice
for the plug in hybrid as the

796
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,640
the hedge solution that will
that you can do while the

797
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,120
marketplace sorts itself out.
The hybrid to me is the best

798
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:45,040
choice.
I I would, I would totally agree

799
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,400
with you there, John.
I think that, and I was looking

800
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:50,240
to get a hybrid just recently,
but ended up going a different

801
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:55,000
direction, but I, I like the
hybrid because of all the

802
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,400
reasons you just mentioned.
I mean it, you know, you get the

803
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:02,600
benefit of battery charging and
then you know, when you run out,

804
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:06,120
you, you, you've got, you know,
you can, you know, fuel, but.

805
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,080
Do what you want and, and just
as an example, during COVID,

806
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:14,840
when I had my previous vehicle,
I went three months without

807
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,520
buying gas.
And that was really helpful when

808
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,960
you're in COVID and you really
didn't want to be roaming

809
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:22,720
around, being around other
people and so forth.

810
00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:26,360
So we could just run my errands,
do my thing, come back to my

811
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:29,240
house and I stayed within the
battery's limits.

812
00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:33,440
Now I upgraded, now I have a, a
Chrysler Pacifica minivan and it

813
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,600
will do 33 miles instead of the
23 that I had before.

814
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,200
So now when I'm in town, I
almost never end up having to

815
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:44,120
use fossil fuel.
And when I go to Houston to go

816
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:48,360
take a flight, I live in
Beaumont, TX, that's 80 miles to

817
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,000
that airport.
I'm going to end up using some

818
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,720
gas, but I don't do that all
that often, so it fits my

819
00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:58,520
lifestyle.
Well, I think the big challenge

820
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,760
with a lot of the people
adopting is the, the grid, the,

821
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:03,840
the charging grid that's out
there.

822
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,240
And and you know, I think that's
the biggest I think limitation

823
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:09,400
for growth right now is that.
Absolutely.

824
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:12,320
There's not enough charging
ports.

825
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,080
And I mean, just think of all
the people that live in like

826
00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:19,240
apartments, you know, or rental
things like they, they don't

827
00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:22,400
have the infrastructure to put
that stuff in their their, in

828
00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:25,240
their living spaces.
So you're just not going to get

829
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:27,160
the big adoption.
I don't think as much as we'd

830
00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:29,640
like to see, but.
Yeah, this is a suburban

831
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:31,600
solution.
There's there's no other way to

832
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:32,640
describe it.
Yeah.

833
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:33,560
Yeah, yeah.
That's good.

834
00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:35,520
That's good.
Well, let's keep going here.

835
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:38,280
When we talk about, you know,
this policy shift that's

836
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:40,880
recently happened, you know, the
greenhouse gas engagement

837
00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:44,240
finding being rebuild the
federal motor vehicle standard

838
00:44:44,240 --> 00:44:47,880
for the federal motor vehicle
standards, the regulatory

839
00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:51,760
landscape is shifting
significantly.

840
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:56,160
In your view, does this make
data-driven LCA more or less

841
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:57,720
important for automotive
manufacturer?

842
00:44:59,240 --> 00:45:02,400
I think the auto manufacturers
are going to continue to be

843
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:06,480
pressured by their consumers.
Focus factors like Europe and

844
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:08,600
others.
Well, not just that, but their

845
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,160
consumers focus.
So just because the government

846
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:15,080
thinks that climate change is
not an issue, that doesn't mean

847
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:17,000
the consumers feel that way,
right?

848
00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:20,640
And and so as long as there's
that universe of consumers that,

849
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,160
you know, are willing to be open
to the problem and open to the

850
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,200
solution, but want to use that
cost lens.

851
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,880
And that's a really important
part of LCA is it doesn't

852
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:35,600
actually provide that cost lens.
There was a phenomenon 15 years

853
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:39,520
ago called life cycle cost,
which basically was an LCA with

854
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,080
a cost layer on top of it.
And that never really caught on.

855
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:46,640
But at some point maybe it will
come back in because just

856
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:51,120
reducing carbon with a passion
without contemplating carefully

857
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:55,120
what the cost will be of that,
that's not really sustainability

858
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,800
because sustainability is, is
this something that you can keep

859
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:01,160
doing Well?
If it's something that is

860
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,120
hurting your lifestyle because
you're spending too much money

861
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:08,080
on it, then you went too far.
So the balancing act is to say I

862
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,560
want a carbon benefit, but I
want to pay a fair price for it.

863
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,400
And so that's, that's what the
consumer should be thinking

864
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,280
about, whether he's a business
consumer, you know, whether he's

865
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,040
buying a car or whatever.
It's cost and benefit.

866
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:21,800
That's how engineers are
trained.

867
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:23,520
That's how we should be
thinking.

868
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,160
Well, do you think this policy
policy shift is going to maybe

869
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:30,920
produce more hybrids versus
fully electrics?

870
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,320
I think what's going to produce
more hybrids is the fact that

871
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:41,040
you really can't make a trip
across the country in an EV

872
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:43,200
without it being extremely
inconvenient.

873
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:46,920
And I think most people that buy
cars have it in their mind

874
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:48,160
they're going to take a
vacation.

875
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:51,160
And do they really want to plan
their vacation around where the

876
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,040
charging stations are?
Some people will say, yeah, I'm,

877
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:56,160
I'm all in the car, but I'm
going to do that.

878
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,560
But that's really not even my
boat.

879
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:01,600
So, you know, I think that's
what's going to drive it more

880
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:03,760
than anything else.
And of course, the IRA was going

881
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,760
to put those charging stations
out there at a huge cost.

882
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,720
And for whatever reason, we
don't have that part of the IRA.

883
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:14,440
So that's not going to happen.
So how quickly will we get the

884
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,520
kind of charger density we need
to make EVs ubiquitous without

885
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:21,560
the government spend into that?
I think it's going to be a slow

886
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:26,560
process.
Well, you know, so with EPA

887
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:29,160
stepping back a bit on this with
the greenhouse gas standards

888
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,960
now, do you believe like
independent environmental

889
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:35,280
product declarations will become
of the primary way mark the the

890
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:38,160
market rather than the
government determines which

891
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:42,400
vehicles are truly green now?
That's a good question.

892
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:45,880
You know, only a few
manufacturers have so far gone

893
00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:49,800
down the EPD route.
In fact, they're, they're, I'm

894
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,440
not aware of really many US
manufacturers that have done it.

895
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:55,640
There are some foreign
manufacturers that have.

896
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,040
So will the EP DS become more
more prevalent?

897
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:04,400
I think as as people get more
comfortable with how they're

898
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,200
done and as we start to
streamline the process, which

899
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,800
there are efforts underway to do
that by both consultants and

900
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:15,440
program operators that are the,
are the places where these EP DS

901
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:18,520
are stored.
That process is evolving pretty

902
00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:22,720
rapidly in part because people
are using AI to streamline it to

903
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:24,960
a small extent, although trust
but verify.

904
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,440
That's my watchword whenever you
bring that up.

905
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,280
But it it's, it is a changing
landscape.

906
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,800
I think people are still going
to be involved with carbon for

907
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,720
quite some time to come.
And it's always been, you know,

908
00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:42,720
a roller coaster of up and down
based on different events, kind

909
00:48:42,720 --> 00:48:46,200
of like the stock market.
And I think that's going to

910
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:48,120
continue.
I, I don't think the

911
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:51,480
endangerment finding is changing
anybody's pulse, but maybe it

912
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:55,880
just does under score that
market face forces come and go

913
00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,880
all the time.
And, you know, there's, there's

914
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,240
a, an action reaction sort of
thing that happens with, with

915
00:49:02,240 --> 00:49:04,200
consumers.
The auto manufacturers

916
00:49:04,200 --> 00:49:09,600
definitely are are paying huge
attention to their customers and

917
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:13,960
they're paying attention to
their their bankers and the

918
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:16,720
private equities that control
their supply chain.

919
00:49:16,720 --> 00:49:20,280
And so it's a complicated
landscape, but no one is

920
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:24,080
completely closing their eyes to
the carbon world because it

921
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:27,000
impacts us, even if the
government doesn't have rules

922
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:30,000
for lots of reasons.
Yeah, no, I I agree.

923
00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:35,200
So where do you think we go next
with this whole, you know,

924
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:41,120
carbon, you know, footprint life
cycle assessment process,

925
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:45,000
especially given the nature of
your books being around, you

926
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:48,200
know, car emission factors and
and others.

927
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:49,280
What?
What do you think we're going to

928
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:53,120
be, you know, moving forward?
I think this.

929
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:55,520
Because it seems like the market
is really kind of like, oh,

930
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:59,640
they're pivoting right now.
I, I think the science is, is

931
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,600
going to get better.
I think the accuracy and

932
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:08,800
defensibility and reliability of
this work is going to get better

933
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,120
because, you know, it is the
evolving science still.

934
00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:16,520
So that is going to change the
role of EP DS and how important

935
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,160
that's going to be is, is yet to
be defined.

936
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:23,000
And one of the things about EP
DS that people don't really get

937
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:25,880
is, is that that's only part of
the process.

938
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:29,680
So you quantify what your
emissions are and you basically

939
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:32,560
are checking a box saying, Yep,
here's my emissions, I have an

940
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:35,840
EPD.
That is not a reduction plan.

941
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:39,000
That is not a guarantee as to
what your performance is going

942
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:41,000
to be all the time.
It is.

943
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:44,480
It is a lot of different things,
but you know where that's going

944
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,080
to go exactly.
It's kind of hard to say.

945
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:53,520
Do you, do you feel like, you
know, down the road here we'll

946
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:59,000
see like cars, you know, like we
see in our cars now you're

947
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:03,160
driving and you get like, you
know, metrics like average miles

948
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,520
per gallon, you know, you, you,
you know where you know what

949
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,000
you're getting for your, your
trips and things like that.

950
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:12,120
Do you think eventually we're
going to start seeing CO2

951
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:15,960
emission factors pop up on your
screen on your car and then

952
00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:19,800
showing you like on a weekly,
daily, monthly, whatever yearly

953
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,960
assessment of your impact on
emission for by driving your

954
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:26,320
car?
I don't see any reason why that

955
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,640
couldn't happen because, you
know, in electric vehicles in

956
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,640
particular and in plug in
hybrids, all that data is there.

957
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,640
It's just a matter of actually,
you know, coding the the screens

958
00:51:36,640 --> 00:51:39,600
to actually display that, you
know, it's it's customer demand

959
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:41,200
driven.
Are the customers going to want

960
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:43,640
to see that?
Are they, are they interested in

961
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:46,480
carbon footprints for their meal
when they go to a restaurant or,

962
00:51:46,760 --> 00:51:50,040
you know, supplies they buy in
the hardware store That's,

963
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,400
that's not going to happen
tomorrow, the next day, you

964
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:56,160
know, you're seeing it in Europe
in increasing levels and to a

965
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:57,880
certain extent in Asia as well.
So.

966
00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:00,800
Calories on the back of your
your packaging.

967
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:02,640
It tells you exactly.
Exactly.

968
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:06,280
And there was a move afoot in
the UK to extend that packaging

969
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:09,480
to include carbon footprint.
And they got about 1/3 of the

970
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,160
way down that highway and they
just, they basically ran out of

971
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:16,640
money and they stopped.
So it, it is very costly to do

972
00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:20,280
that thing for, for some
products, you know, for sure.

973
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:26,320
But for EVs and, and even
conventional gas combustion

974
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:29,240
engines that have digital
displays, you know, pretty easy

975
00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:31,320
to, to make that sort of
information available.

976
00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:34,560
So, so yeah, I think, I think
it's coming and, and I think it,

977
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:38,480
it has a, a good place.
If you have an EV, it coaches

978
00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:41,520
you on, on, you know what's
equivalent to miles per gallon,

979
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:45,080
you get kilowatt hours per mile.
You, you get that readout.

980
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,280
I get that readout all the time
as I'm real time as I'm driving.

981
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:52,960
So it's not, it's not couched in
carbon, but in my brain I know

982
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:56,440
it, you know, if my efficiency
is poor, then my carbon is

983
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:58,680
higher.
You know, it's a pretty direct

984
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:01,280
relationship there.
Well, you know, and then when I

985
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:04,200
look at it and I think of it,
there's a lot of companies that

986
00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:07,120
are putting their sustainability
reports together and they, they,

987
00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:11,040
they track, you know, what's my
carbon impact from my, you know,

988
00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,960
vehicle fleet that we have in,
in the, in the, in the company.

989
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:17,920
Well, how cool would it be if
they could just like run the

990
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:19,880
metrics right off the darn
vehicles because it's already

991
00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:21,760
there.
They don't have to go figure it

992
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:23,200
out.
They, you know, they actually

993
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:27,760
get the actual number because
they know how much was burned

994
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:29,760
and they can pull that telemetry
right out of there.

995
00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:33,080
There there are some truck firms
that are that are working with

996
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:34,840
software that do that sort of
thing.

997
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:38,480
I believe Walmart has a pilot
program in place where they're

998
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:41,720
trying to do that with their
company owned trucks at least.

999
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:44,400
So yeah, that's that's
definitely coming.

1000
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:47,520
Yeah, no, that's good.
Well, John, what?

1001
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:49,360
What?
What can How can listeners get

1002
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,680
copies of your books and learn
more about your services?

1003
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:55,600
Yeah, well, there's there's
several ways.

1004
00:53:55,800 --> 00:54:02,600
The easiest is you can look for
LCA 101-1021 O3 in Amazon.

1005
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,720
They're self published there for
a ridiculously low price.

1006
00:54:06,240 --> 00:54:09,920
But if you want to get them even
cheaper or like for free, you

1007
00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,920
can also go to our website if
you can navigate through and

1008
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:14,680
find where the forms you fill
out are.

1009
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:18,880
Our website is beef dot US and
you'll find a place where you

1010
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:22,920
can see downloads there.
The the the third book is in a

1011
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:24,880
different place, which I'm
trying to get moved.

1012
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:28,960
That's if you look under the LCA
section and go all the way down

1013
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:31,000
to the bottom of the page.
You'll see the links for that.

1014
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:35,000
And if you follow that link, the
advantage to that is you get a

1015
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:38,800
zip file download of not just
the the book and PDF form, but

1016
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:42,320
also the XL.
The XL is there as well.

1017
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:44,360
OK, great.
That's awesome.

1018
00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:47,480
That's really good.
Well, John, thanks for coming on

1019
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:49,560
the show today.
We really appreciate you coming

1020
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:54,520
and talking to us about the life
cycle analysis and what the

1021
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:58,440
great work you've been doing
around developing this Excel

1022
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:00,480
calculation spreadsheet that can
be used.

1023
00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:03,480
To to help people understand
what their carbon impact is and

1024
00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:05,840
I really appreciate that.
Thanks for listening and

1025
00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:08,160
watching the show.
If you enjoyed the show then

1026
00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:10,880
please share it with your
friends and Co workers on social

1027
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,000
media and tell somebody in
person.

1028
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:15,360
Thanks for being with us, ET
Nation.

John Beath Profile Photo

CEO

John Beath is a life cycle assessment certified professional and registered professional engineer in Texas. He has more than 20 years of experience as a sustainability consultant, currently serving as CEO of a sustainability and environmental consulting company. He has a bachelors’ degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech and has authored three short books on various aspects of sustainability. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment.
His consulting experience includes serving as a partner for a large consulting company for 14 years, and forming his own consulting company (JBE) ten years ago.
His industrial experience includes serving as a refinery environmental manager, and corporate regional manager for a major oil company.
His contributions to client sustainability have included developing numerous product carbon footprints, life cycle assessments and tools, serving as a third-party reviewer for life cycle assessments, and developing a comprehensive LCA training program.