C-Lock Technology streamlines greenhouse gas emission monitoring processes to help save the planet using an SOA solution from IBM and EIM

IBM Business Partner: Enterprise Information Management, Inc.

Enterprise Information Management, Inc. (EIM) is a global provider of information management solutions, leveraging its methodology and enterprise framework for what it calls the rapid automation of business processes. EIM is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio.

“From proposal to implementation, it took EIM and IBM less than a year to turn a vision that’s been worked on for nearly a decade into a reality,” said Patrick Kozak, director of operations at C-Lock™ Technology, Inc.

C-Lock Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of Evergreen Energy, Inc. and is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was established in March 2007 in response to the growing need for a standard, efficient method for organizations to monitor carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, an increasingly critical capability for compliance with environmental regulations and competitiveness in the global carbon market.

GreenCert™, a solution developed by Enterprise Information Management, Inc. (EIM), a Premier IBM Business Partner, fulfilled the vision of C-Lock Technology founders to provide science-based tools to accurately quantify, verify, document and market the atmospheric impacts of GHG management changes that can make a positive difference for the planet.

Solving a complex dilemma

“GreenCert is a solution to a very complex information management dilemma,” said Bruce Lyman, chief executive officer of EIM, “so when we wanted the best information management software solution to help address the planet’s global climate problem, we went to the company with the best software on the planet to manage the information -- and that was IBM.”

The GreenCert infrastructure is based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and runs on a platform made up entirely of IBM technologies. SOA is an approach that supports integrating business processes as linked, repeatable tasks, or services. IBM software components include WebSphere® Portal Enable, WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere Dashboard Frame Work, DB2® Universal Database™, DB2 Content Manager, DB2 Records Manager, Lotus® Forms, Lotus Sametime® and Lotus Quickr™. The current implementation is deployed on a combination of eight IBM System x™ 3250 and two System x 3850 servers.

Organizations that can show reductions of GHG emitted from their energy-related activities are awarded credits which can be monetized and traded worldwide on major energy commodity exchanges. GreenCert builds upon, integrates and provides an interface to the patented C-Lock procedures initially developed by Dr. Patrick Zimmerman, now chief technology officer of C-Lock Technology. It identifies, quantifies, certifies and aggregates GHG emission reductions, removals and avoidances, and packages the results as GHG credits that have maximum value for sellers and buyers.

Kozak said the SOA methodology and the processing power of the IBM platform were key factors in choosing IBM for C-Lock Technology’s development of GreenCert. The IBM and EIM solution fulfilled all of the company requirements for a seamlessly integrated, secure, reusable system that would be scalable to the enterprise level.

“From data entry to reporting, everything is done in one framework that we don’t need to redesign from the ground up for each customer,” Kozak said. “The backbone of the system remains the same, while we can plug in modules for different industry applications.” Therefore, GreenCert can be deployed easily throughout power plants, cement factories, steel factories or commercial buildings, quantifying outputs of GHG from coal furnaces, fluorescent lights, printers and just about any other source of energy output.

Kozak said that processing time is dramatically reduced with GreenCert, due to the capabilities of the IBM System x. It took about 32 hours to process a complete run of the C-Lock process on the former C-Lock Technology development system. It now takes less than a half hour.

“And, the system can be easily scaled to the necessary level of service,” Kozak said. “To further reduce processing time, or as new application modules and capabilities are added, we can just upgrade or increase the hardware without any change to the software infrastructure,” he explained.

GreenCert solution yields multiple benefits

C-Lock Technology cited these other key benefits over traditional, more manual methods of monitoring and reporting GHG emissions:

• The system returns real-time data and analysis that provides complete and immediate GHG status with up-to-the second monitoring.

• With the ability of GreenCert to manage data at even minute levels of detail, it allows for greater precision in results. In power plants, measurements can start at the individual sensor level and build to generate an enterprise view of the entire operation.

• Organizations gain scientific defensibility in reporting to regulatory agencies. The results it generates can be backed up by scientific fact.

• It is cost effective. The system not only measures GHG emissions, but also helps organizations determine where to make improvements that can reduce fuel costs and liability. Plus, the ability to quantify efficiency changes and improvements can have a huge return on investment for customers.

“The combination of the C-Lock engine with IBM software will radically change the way greenhouse gas emission reductions are quantified and certified,” said Ted Venners, chief strategy officer of C-Lock Technology. “Every market participant concerned with greenhouse gas emissions will benefit from the dramatic improvement of transparency and certainty of analysis this solution offers. Only by working with IBM and its Business Partner, EIM, were we able to accomplish this vision.”

Teaming for a cleaner environment

EIM participates in IBM PartnerWorld® Industry Networks. It is “optimized” in the government industry, which means EIM has optimized its applications with IBM technologies, achieving success with its own solutions and other criteria. The relationship also puts EIM in a prime position to leverage the technical resources, co-marketing support and collaboration that IBM offers its business partners.

“Thanks to IBM,” Lyman said, “we’re able to be a part of the global solution by helping to pave the path towards a cleaner environment.”