American Home Furnishings Alliance. Introduces Carbon Calculator

August 12, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Green on August 13, 2010

The American Home Furnishings Alliance has introduced a new tool to help home furnishings companies calculate their carbon footprint.

The Carbon Calculator is designed to simplify those calculations and help companies compare their results against industry averages.

The AHFA Carbon Calculator was developed in partnership with Verisae, a sustainability resource-planning firm that helps companies measure, manage and reduce equipment and energy costs. Verisae's Carbon Calculator has been used in other industries to give manufacturers and retailers with a basic understanding of their carbon impact.

Verisae worked with AHFA Vice President Bill Perdue to customize the calculator and make it applicable for furniture manufacturers. The Web-based tool allows companies to measure their carbon footprint, establish a baseline and find potential energy efficiency and emissions reduction opportunities that can save money. The calculator helps companies set goals and measure progress.

The AHFA Carbon Calculator will be available free through a link on www.sustainablebydesign.us beginning Sept. 1. Companies do not need to be participants in AHFA's Sustainable by Design program to make use of the calculator.

In addition, companies that are not members of AHFA can access the calculator any time prior to Oct. 1 by e-mailing bgrubb@ahfa.us and requesting a temporary user name and password.  

"The AHFA Carbon Calculator is a great starting point for companies that aren't necessarily ready to take action," Perdue said. "It can give them a basic understanding of their environmental impact and provide some 'what-if' scenarios to highlight the possible bottom-line cost savings associated with various energy reduction options."

Verisae will offer a webinar at 10 a.m. EST on Tuesday, August 31, to help companies understand how to use the Carbon Calculator. Register for the webinar from the AHFA Events page at www.ahfa.us.

Verisae has a variety of offerings within its Sustainability Resource Planning platforms that can help companies improve operational efficiency, ensure regulatory compliance and measure, manage and reduce their negative environmental impacts. As part of its partnership with AHFA, Verisae is offering member companies a 10 percent discount on all environmental management solutions and consulting services. In addition, members who enter their data in the Carbon Calculator by Oct. 1 will receive customized data analysis from Verisae that ranks their company against their AHFA peers.

For more information, contact Jeff Phillips at jphillips@verisae.com.