Locus Technologies’ Customer Exelon Corp. to Present at the NAEM EHS and Sustainability Software Conference Feb 24-25

Exelon’s Eric Schwarz to Discuss “Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 17 February 2015 — Locus Technologies, a leader in environmental compliance and sustainability management software, today announced that Exelon Corporation’s Radiochemist/Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator, Eric Schwarz, will present at The National Association for Environmental Management (NAEM) conference as part of the EH&S and Sustainability Software conference on Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. The presentation and demonstration will focus on his experience and insight on water quality management at Exelon’s nuclear facilities. Exelon is one of the largest U.S. power generators that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 7.8 million customers and distinguished as one of the nation’s cleanest and lowest-cost power generating organizations. At the conference, Locus will host its corporate booth, booth 12, located in Ballroom I, at the Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center.

Title: Succeeding in Managing Water Quality and Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities
When: Two sessions – Wednesday, February 25 from 3 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Where: Westin Tampa Harbour Island Conference Center, Ballrooms I & II
Exelon to Discuss and Demonstrate: Radiological groundwater protection program operations and monitoring data management is critical for 11 nuclear facilities in the U.S. and Canada. The demo will show how Locus EIM, ePortal, and Locus Mobile provides enterprise tools for proactive trending, analysis, visualization, and reporting from massive data aggregation from varied sources.
Who: Eric Schwarz, Exelon’s Radiochemist/ Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program Administrator. Schwarz oversees the radiological environment monitoring and radioactive effluent controls for Exelon’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania. Schwarz’s nuclear radiochemistry career began in the U.S. Navy where, for more than 14 years, he gained technical expertise in several disciplines and specialties to ensure regulatory compliance and safety.

NAEM empowers corporate leaders to advance environmental stewardship, create safe and healthy workplaces, and promote global sustainability. Locus Technologies is a Gigabyte sponsor at this event.

US-China Deal on Carbon Emissions to Potentially Impact Climate Talks

In 1997, the world’s first climate change treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, failed to stop the rise of plant-warming pollution. Nearly two decades later, there is new hope for the impending climate change negations that are to occur in Paris next year.

Earlier this month, Obama and Xi Jinping, China’s president, came to an agreement to commit to lowering their nations’ carbon emissions. The ramifications of such a commitment from two of the world’s largest emitters has many environmentalists excited for a shift in global politics.

As David B. Sandalow, Obama’s former assistant secretary for energy policy and international affairs, comments, “For the world’s biggest emitters to be coming together and announcing concrete numbers, serious numbers, sends a signal to the world.” One of the many reasons the Kyoto Protocol is not considered a success is due to a standoff between the two nations who refused to sign the deal in 1997.

The Kyoto plan was meant to force developed countries, such as the United States, to cut fossil fuel emissions, while developing countries like China were exempt. Due to these conditions, the United States refused to ratify the treaty. Since 1997, China has grown to become one of the world’s largest carbon polluters. The standoff between two of the world’s superpowers caused many other governments to refuse to cut emissions as well.

Despite these negotiations, many experts claim that these emissions reductions are not enough to reduce the global atmospheric temperatures. Scientists expect the atmospheric temperature to increase by at least 2 degrees Celsius, tipping the planet into a trend of dangerous warming. Such conditions will result in the loss of large areas of arable land, melting Arctic sea ice and rapidly increasing sea levels, among many other dreadful climate changes.

These Scientists have concluded that in order to avoid such catastrophic conditions, the world’s largest economies must commit to a much more extreme plan of emission reduction, in a much shorter amount of time. Additionally, many Paris deal-negotiating experts claim that in order for significant change to occur, the final deal must include a tax on industries for their carbon emissions.

Although many are hopeful for the upcoming Paris negotiations, others are taking a more pragmatic stance. Laurence Tubiana, France’s climate change ambassador to the United Nations, states that she does not believe the Paris deal will result in a traditional treaty. Tubiana envisions a “Paris Alliance” which she anticipated will resemble a collection of targets pledge by individual countries, as well as governmental pledges to follow through with domestic action.

The opinions on how the Paris deal will pan out are varied; many are not convinced how the agreement between the United States and China will influence other major emitters. Despite these concerns, negotiators can all agree that if the treaty fails to stave off a 2-degree temperature increase, the 2015 deal must include provisions to assist poor countries deal with the resulting climate change.  Rich countries will meet in Berlin to formally announce their pledges for such provisions, with hopes of reaching their $100 billion goal.

3E Company and Locus Technologies Announce Strategic Collaboration

3E Company, a leading provider of environmental health and safety compliance and information management services, and Locus Technologies (Locus), a leading provider of cloud-based environmental compliance and EHS management software, announced a strategic collaboration today.

Link to Original Press Release

Alliance Combines 3E’s Product Safety Data and Global Regulatory Content with Locus Technologies’ Platform for Enhanced EHS Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management

Carlsbad, Calif., Oct 30, 2014 – (ACN Newswire) – 3E Company, a leading provider of environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance and information management services, and Locus Technologies (Locus), a leading provider of cloud-based environmental compliance and EHS management software, announced a strategic collaboration today. 3E Company is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business.

The alliance brings together 3E’s substance-level global regulatory content and product-level safety data sheet (SDS) data and Locus’s compliance and EHS software platform. The combined offering provides companies with a comprehensive, efficient, and affordable solution set for hazardous communication and workplace safety that can reduce risk and help streamline conformance with EHS regulations.

The collaboration highlights both companies’ respective strengths. These assets include 3E’s unique ability to research, source, aggregate, enrich, and maintain EHS compliance-related data and information and make it available in a customer-specific and easy-to-use format and Locus’s proven capability to build and maintain flexible, user-friendly software systems. Integrating 3E’s critical data with Locus’s software enables joint customers to manage EHS management and compliance obligations within a comprehensive cloud platform.

“As the industry-leading provider of EHS regulatory information and compliance management services, 3E has a diverse network of trusted companies with which we collaborate,” said Uday Virkud, president and CEO, 3E Company. “Our alliances with these companies enable our joint customers to better meet their regulatory and safety obligations. We’re delighted to collaborate with Locus and are confident that our customers will benefit from having seamless access to 3E’s data through Locus’s platforms.”

“We’re excited to offer our customers access to 3E data and to use the flexibility of our software platform to create an integrated solution with the industry’s most comprehensive and up-to-date data and content offering. This alliance stems out of Locus’s commitment to providing our customers with the most extensive tool set available to better manage their compliance and EHS requirements,” said Neno Duplan, president and CEO, Locus Technologies. “Collaborating with 3E offers our joint customers streamlined access to valuable data that can positively affect their compliance management strategies – improving their operations and data quality while reducing risk and associated costs.”

About 3E Company
3E Company, a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business, offers a comprehensive suite of data and solutions for environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance management. This solutions suite addresses the entire chemical life cycle and includes regulatory research; SDS authoring, distribution, and management; transportation; emergency response; training; regulatory reporting; and hazardous waste management. 3E provides an industry-leading combination of a 24/7/365 EHS mission-control call center and the world’s premier hazardous substance database of global regulatory and compliance information. 3E was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, with additional operations in Canton, Ohio; Bethesda, Maryland; Kingsport, Tennessee; Montreal, Quebec; and Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information on 3E Company, visit www.3ecompany.com.

The People’s Climate March Hits Grand Scales Worldwide

The streets of New York City, and of cities across the globe were taken over by protesters on Sunday, September 21st in what has become the largest climate change protest in history. The timing of the event was scheduled to make a statement to political leaders meeting on Tuesday, September 23rd. Today’s summit, hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has been described as the most high-profile global meeting focused on climate change in years.

Prior to the summit, an estimated over 300,000 people joined the New York march alone, in addition to reportedly over 2,800 events scheduled worldwide, with cities such as Perth, Melbourne, London, Dublin, and Johannesburg being among some of the largest demonstrations outside of NYC.

The march originated from an idea made public by professor and activist Bill McKibben as a way to push for grand scale actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Though there were no celebrity speakers, the marches were joined by some high profile individuals, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and former Vice President Al Gore.

“The stakes are the future of the planet,” Mckibben stated. “And so far, we’ve seen essentially no action from world leaders that matter on this question.”

This call for action has already been heard by New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio, who also joined in the march this past weekend. He then announced a plan for New York City to release 80 percent less greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

His plan will focus first on buildings, which are responsible for over half of New York’s emissions, and it will not be easy, calling for large installations and renovations to be made on existing buildings. The plan highlights economic benefits that will result from the target of “80 by 50” including hundreds of new jobs, and career growth opportunities. The reduction of energy use would also save New Yorkers an estimated $1.4 billion each year.

De Blasio’s huge announcement sets high hopes for the impact the march will have on leaders attending the summit on Tuesday. Jessica Hellman, a professor at Notre Dame stated the march “sends a strong message that everyone is affected by climate change.”

“We can still avert catastrophic change if we act quickly to reinvent our economy and our relationship to the Earth, but we must also find ways to live with the climate change that has already started,” she states. “Corporations and the development community are already helping the world to adapt, but these efforts are not enough.”

The actions already announced by de Blasio have Hellman and other protesters hoping for similar reactions by attendees of the summit on Tuesday.

Companies Make Strides Toward Enforcing Oil Spill Prevention Plans

In recent years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become much more vigilant about oil spill regulation—regardless of the spills origin. After a series of inspections over the past two years, the EPA announced seven New England companies who have all created or updated their spill prevention plans to be in compliance with federal oil pollution prevention laws.

The companies, who all store or distribute oil, agreed to pay fines under an expedited settlement program, their penalties ranging from $3,000 to $9,500. This expedited program allows companies to pay reduced penalties if they quickly correct violations against the Oil Pollution Prevention regulations. These companies also were required to have a certain minimum storage capacity with no accompanying spill in order to qualify for these reduced fines.

The EPA’s Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules designate certain requirements for oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response to prevent oil discharges into navigable waters and adjoining shorelines. These rules call for facilities to adhere to guidelines pertaining to their ability to prepare, amend and implement SPCC Plans.

For many companies, complying with these regulations created by the EPA requires an additional focus on detailed actions in SPCC procedures.  Often times tracking and reporting spills if and when they occur—along with the root causes and inspection findings—can be a significant challenge without the appropriate management tools. However, when properly prepared, abiding by these necessary SPCC rules will ensure that organizations stay within compliance, thus avoiding fines and penalties and any harsh effects on our environment.

Locus Recognized as a Top Environmental Firm in Silicon Valley

Read about the top environmental firms in Silicon Valley, ranked by the number of professionals in Silicon Valley. Learn more about their specialities, 2013 FY revenue and the number of employees each firm has locally and firm wide.

China and U.S. Sign Climate Change Deals

This past Tuesday, the United States and China signed eight partnership pacts in an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. These pacts involve multiple companies and research bodies and bring the world’s two largest carbon emitters into closer agreement on climate policy.

One memoranda of understanding (MOUs) calls for the sharing of information on clean coal power generation technology between Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute in China and the Summit Power Group based in Washington. Huaneng is expected to share information with Summit as they begin to initiate a similar project in Texas in the near future. In turn, Summit will share information and technology for recovering oil from captured carbon.

According to Laura Miller, who currently manages Texas Clean Energy Project, “We will be sharing expertise, years of development experience and non-proprietary technology on both projects, all while making giant steps forward for the world’s environment.”

While some pacts were signed by both nations, negotiators on each side recognize the need for more communication between the two in order to come to an agreement in areas of technological cooperation, as well as domestic and international policies, among others. In a recent interview, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the two sides remained committed to continuing the “close dialogue” of negotiations on climate change.

China and the U.S. coming to agreement would majorly impact climate change policy across the globe. Both nations also confirm the need for policy decisions implementing aid for developing countries in controlling their emissions in order to create a significant global impact.

These ongoing discussions and changes in climate policy place an emphasis on the need for accurate emissions data collection and reporting. The implementation of new policy and regulations could also lead to an increased demand for emissions data processing and analysis, to which cloud-based, big data management technologies are now available to supply.

Grain Processing Corporation Selects Locus Technologies Software for Environmental Management

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 8 July 2014  — As part of its environmental sustainability program, Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) has selected Locus Technologies’ (Locus’) software platform to manage a variety of environmental policies for two of its corn wet-milling facilities. GPC manufactures, distributes, and markets high quality, customer-specified food, pharmaceutical, and industrial grade products.

GPC will use Locus to identify, track, and respond to all environmental media affected by the operations of two of its facilities: one located in Muscatine, Iowa, and the other in Washington, Indiana. Both of these facilities have numerous air emission sources, wastewater treatment facilities, and both Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) requirements. With the assistance of Locus’ web-based software, GPC can manage all of its processes, such as tracking permit requirements and meeting recordkeeping and reporting deadlines, in one central, user-friendly platform.

“When we were searching for a software management system, we needed it to be able to manage all processes for our two facilities, with the expansion option of up to 20 additional locations with differing recordkeeping, schedules, and reporting needs,” said Mick Durham, Director of Environmental Services at GPC. “Locus met these specifications, and will allow us to manage our environmental data so that we can improve our environmental compliance and ensure that our company’s business practices remain sustainable in the long term.”

“Our recent success in deploying our software to several customers in food and agricultural industries proves its versatile nature: Locus’ software goes beyond mission-critical compliance activities and provides a system for broader sustainability and resource management that ultimately leads to operating cost reduction,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies. “Locus provides a simple, integrated system, similar to ERP that manages all environmental, energy, water, and other sustainability needs under a single portal infrastructure and single sign-on online.”

 

ABOUT GRAIN PROCESSING CORPORATION
Founded in 1943, GPC is a privately owned company with a solid history of innovation and a vision for continued success in the future. Its mission is to manufacture, distribute and market customer-specified food, pharmaceutical and industrial-grade products of uncompromising quality. GPC’s substantial investment in the finest people, facilities, technology and customer support services reflects the seriousness of that commitment to quality. For more information about Grain Processing Corporation, visit www.grainprocessing.com.

Latest National Climate Assessment Reinforces Severity of Climate Change

The recently produced study, known as the National Climate Assessment, has found that the effects of human-induced climate change are being felt across the United States. The involved scientists found that an average warming of less than two degrees Fahrenheit over most areas of the country in the last century has resulted in a decrease in water in dry regions, an increase in torrential rains in wet regions, and an escalation in more severe droughts and wildfires.

The study was supervised and approved by a large committee representing a cross section of American society, and is the third national report of its kind in 14 years. “Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the scientists stated in the new report.

The National Climate Assessment was released by the White House in hopes to increase the sense of urgency among Americans about climate change, and strengthen the support behind the new climate change regulation that President Obama plans to issue next month.

In an interview following the release of the report President Obama declared “This is not some distant problem of the future. This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now. Whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wild fires—all these things are having an impact on Americans as we speak.”

The report stated that although many U.S. states and cities had begun to take steps toward limiting their emissions, these efforts were not yet enough. “There is mounting evidence that harm to the nation will increase substantially in the future unless global emissions of heat-trapping gases are greatly reduced,” the report warned.

An important element in addressing climate change will be collecting, aggregating and reporting emission sources data so that credible information can be generated to tackle the problem at its source—emissions. The good news is that technologies for dealing with this planetary challenge exist and start with big data management and cloud computing. As the old business adage goes, what is important must be measured, and what’s important enough to be measured must also be managed.

Locus Expands Software Functionality to Address City-Specific Reporting Requirements

Locus’ EIM software automates the generation of Self-Monitoring Report Forms (SMRFs) for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 22 April 2014 — In response to industry and customer requirements, Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management software, has expanded its award-winning Environmental Information Management (EIM) software to automate the generation of Self-Monitoring Report Forms (SMRFs).

Locus EIM solves the problem of expensive, labor-intensive manual SMRF generation by completely automating the process. SMRFs are required by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, and are meant to meet the monitoring and reporting requirements as set forth by each facility’s Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) or Reuse Permit. An example form may include data such as sample date, analysis date, lab ID, reported concentration or method, and can incorporate other extremely specific information.

Thanks to Locus’ new functionality, once arranged in EIM, companies can generate SMRFs within minutes in the approved formats, using validated data. Companies can set up EIM for all permitted facilities and realize immediate cost and time savings during each reporting period. Relevant data are directly uploaded to the system, reviewed and validated, then reported in the proper regulatory required formats. These new output formats can be easily modified to generate the exact format needed by other cities that are required to submit similar self-monitoring report forms.

“Incorporating the automatic generation of SMRFs within our EIM software is a testament to the true flexibility of Locus’ software platforms,” said Neno Duplan, President & CEO of Locus Technologies. “It is our goal here at Locus to automate reporting by providing as many off-the-shelf standard reports as possible. SMRF reports are just one of many examples. By automating reporting our customers streamline their management processes, so that they increase operational efficiencies and lower reporting costs.”