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Locus Technologies obtains accreditation as verification body for Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)

Locus staff continue to prove expertise in this emerging compliance area with accredited staff throughout California and the Midwest.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 27 January 2020
Locus Technologies, (Locus), industry leader in water quality, EHS, sustainability, and compliance management software, is pleased to announce they are among the first accredited verification bodies for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program administered by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Locus verifiers were accredited for fuel pathway applications, alternative fuel transactions, and petroleum-based fuel reports.

Originally adopted in 2009, the goal of the LCFS program is to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of the transportation fuel pool. The LCFS is one of the key AB 32 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California, while reducing petroleum dependency and achieving improved air quality. The program has grown in scope, and certified third-party verifiers can now review both applications and routine reporting.

Locus Technologies has been a certified third-party reviewer of GHG verifications for CARB since 2010 under the Mandatory Reporting Rule and maintains an unmatched track record. Not one of over 500 GHG verifications by Locus has been overturned, a standard the company intends to match with LCFS reporting.

Locus has staff and expertise to review Tier 1 fuel pathway applications and annual reports under LCFS as well as other LCFS projects, with verifiers located in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and in the Midwest. Locus also offers software products designed to assist reporters in complying with the LCFS program.

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program

Last week Locus attended the first training session offered by California Air Resources Board (CARB) for verifiers under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program. The California LCFS program has been ramping up over the past several years, and is now ready to start certifying third-party verifiers to review both applications and routine reporting.

The LCFS program is part of California’s initiative to meet the AB32 requirements of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and 40% lower than that level by 2030. LCFS is specifically intended to address emissions from transportation fuels in California, which are approximately half of the overall emissions statewide. Like the Greenhouse Gas Mandatory Reporting Rule and Cap-and-Trade programs that preceded it, the California LCFS program uses a market-based approach to incentivize innovation and new approaches to reduce emissions.

LCFS Expert Seth Lalonde at the California Air Resources Board Training

Seth Lalonde, Locus Environmental Scientist, at the California Air Resources Board Training

The program covers a wide variety of projects, including production of alternative fuels (e.g. renewable diesel and biogenic compressed natural gas), innovative approaches to fossil fuel production and refining, and direct carbon capture and sequestration. Fuels are assigned a carbon intensity based on overall carbon dioxide emissions over the entire life cycle, from production to processing to shipping to consumption. The carbon intensity is essentially a measure of the emissions from the fuel per unit of energy. The lower the carbon intensity value, the less impact the fuel has in terms of carbon emissions. Certain fuels can even have a negative carbon intensity, which essentially means the fuel production process is absorbing more carbon than is eventually emitted to the atmosphere (such is the case for compressed or liquefied natural gas produced using biomethane from manure collection). The program also has impacts well outside the California border. After all, fuel that is eventually used in California can originate anywhere in the world, and the LCFS program allows for these projects to obtain credits regardless of their location.

Unsurprisingly, California was the first state to adopt and implement a LCFS program, and the first to establish a third-party verification program specific for LCFS. Although it was clearly the first presentation of this training material, staff from CARB as well as the Climate Action Reserve and The Climate Registry were on hand to assist in addressing questions and topics that weren’t covered in the prepared materials. And considering the wide variety of LCFS project types and the disparate backgrounds of attendees for the verification training, they did a great job of getting everyone all the information they needed to understand and verify these projects.

For those participating in the LCFS program or considering projects under the program, there are a few key things to keep in mind.

First and foremost, like any market-based emission program that includes a verification or auditing requirement, transparency is critical. The verifiers are trained to dig deep into your data, and not to take ‘no’ for an answer. Be prepared to have your metadata and documentation assembled and easily made available to the verifier. (For more on Transparency in Reporting, view this webinar)

Second, the LCFS program includes requirements for continuous or near-continuous monitoring for many parameters, and instrumentation capable of electronic data archival. Manual data records and transcription are still acceptable under other carbon offset programs, but under LCFS these options are no longer allowed. Be sure that your instrumentation is consistent with the specific LCFS requirements, or you’ll be seeing a non-conformance from your verifier.

There were many other tips and common pitfalls highlighted during the training for specific LCFS project types. Overall, I’m very excited to see how the LCFS program evolves in California, and how the energy industry takes advantage of these incentives to provide new options for transportation fuels that will reduce carbon emissions.

Update: Locus is now an approved verification body for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Learn more here.

Infographic: 6 Benefits of EHS on AWS

In this infographic, we have outlined a few of the ways EHS programs benefit from having an AWS-hosted solution. Locus customers recently received these benefits as a result of moving our entire infrastructure to Amazon Web Services—the world’s leading cloud. Learn more about the move to AWS.

Make your O&M mobile apps work harder for you!

Mobile apps for water and wastewater operation and maintenance (O&M) activities have been around for some time now. Most users are familiar with the benefits such as instant data collection and access to reference information for better, more reliable O&M monitoring. However, as new software tools are consistently becoming more powerful and more accessible, that “ground-breaking” mobile app that you purchased five years ago may now be looking a little dated. When you are ready to upgrade, here are some of the features that are the new “must haves”.

Unique and custom forms

For many O&M programs, you may have your own data collection needs that are specific to your facility or industry. Mobile O&M apps now allow you to tailor your input forms to add new data fields, remove unwanted fields, change some of the logic like making certain fields required, and make certain fields tied into established pick lists. Even better, you can match the mobile form to the original paper form, making the transition to mobile simple and intuitive for staff. And, the more the merrier, as modern mobile apps let you have multiple forms on the same app so you have everything you need in one place.

Real-time entry validation

It is not enough to just enter your O&M information into a mobile device. You also want to make sure you are entering correct data. Current O&M mobile tools can check your entry as you enter it and validate against whatever criteria are established for that data. So you make sure that you’re entering a pH reading of 7.2, rather than 72. You can also use configurable pick lists to limit data entry to your specific desired entries and not have to correct misspellings or 16 different ways to say “out of service”. Make sure that pick lists are configurable and can be shared with each of your company’s devices.

Barcode and QR code scanning

You are probably already using your phone to compare prices at your local store. It is amazingly easy to simply scan a product’s barcode and instantly see the best available price locally or online. Since virtually every phone/tablet now has a built-in camera, you can use that to scan barcodes or QR codes to associate data entry with a tagged sampling port or asset. This can save you from possible mismatch errors that can occur when simply selecting from a list or typing in data.

Use your voice

We are starting to use voice recognition technology in our mobile devices to quickly send out text messages. Why not use it for recording inspection/audit comments or field issues? Voice recognition is improving every year, and can provide your comments onto a data collection form much faster than typing and can be especially useful for conditions where gloves are required and typing or stylus input is not practical. Using the phone’s native abilities, take advantage of voice feature to streamline note taking, knowing that you can always fix up any issues back in the office.

Review, Sync, Repeat

Mobile apps should have a summary screen to review your data before sending it back to your database, such as a summary form for all data collected during a shift. And once you do sync your data back to the main database (you have a main database right???), instantly reset the form for the next day data collection event so you are always ready.

No Internet? No Problem!

Mobile apps that won’t function when there is no connection should be abandoned. You need to be able to collect data no matter the location and the signal strength. Look for mobile apps that function with zero connectivity, and save the data until a signal is found. Not every location at modern water and wastewater facilities has a hot spot, so be prepared with the right app.

Learn more about Locus Mobile.

Oil companies agree to reduce methane emissions

A coalition of the world’s oil companies agreed to reduce methane emissions from natural gas extraction—part of an effort to shore up the climate credentials of the hydrocarbon.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative said it would target reducing methane emissions to less than 0.25% of the total natural gas the group of 13 member companies produces by 2025.

Methane is the main component of natural gas. During extraction, transport, and processing, it often leaks into the environment. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. In the short term, it traps more heat although it stays shorter in the atmosphere. According to the International Energy Agency, one ton of methane is equivalent to as much as 87 tons of carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame.

Natural gas production is growing. Many big oil companies are increasing production of natural gas to offset higher emissions from other hydrocarbon and coal sources. The switch makes the oil-and-gas industry look better when demonstrating emission reduction to limit climate change.

For that reason, some oil companies, Shell, in particular, has tilted its production mix toward more gas output.

According to 2018 report by the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, as much as $34 billion of global gas supply is lost each year through leaks and venting. That is another valid reason to limit those methane escapes and park the proceeds to the bottom line. That in itself could fund part of the effort to stop or reduce the leaks.

Top 10 cool features in Locus Mobile

Maybe you’re already using Locus’ iOS app for field data collection, or maybe you’re just curious about how it integrates with Locus’ cloud software. Either way, we’ve put together a list of the ten coolest features of Locus Mobile.

1. Locus Mobile works with both EIM and Locus Platform applications

The full-featured version of the Locus Mobile iOS application works for either Locus EIM or Locus Platform. This means that customers using both our key products can manage their work in a single, unified mobile application.

2. Get temporary coordinates for new sampling locations using the mobile device’s GPS

Locations can be added to EIM without coordinates (Latitude/Longitude or Northing/Easting). If a location without coordinates is used in a Provision File, the location will have a symbol associated with it (a symbol if coordinates are known). When a location with a triangle is selected, the user is prompted with the option to ‘Set Location’ – capture the current coordinates (Lat/Long) of where the user is located. When the provision file is loaded to EIM, the data manager will have the option to update the location in EIM with these coordinates. The accuracy of these mobile captured coordinates are below survey grade, but can be updated another time.

3. In EIM, more than one user can be assigned to a provision file– the data synced (uploaded) to EIM is separated based on the user that collected the data

If you’re not sure who will be sampling on a given day, you can assign multiple users to your provision files. Later, you can easily see who is responsible for certain sample collection data.

4. Locus Platform’s custom data type icons are displayed in Locus Mobile

Has your Locus Platform been customized to use specific icons and colors? These icons are also used in Locus Mobile, so if you use both Locus Platform and the mobile app, you’ll instantly recognize your data types while out in the field.

5. Check your sampling progress at any time during the sampling event, without having to search through your locations to see what locations you sampled and when

Although you can see the status on your map and location list, sometimes those lists are very long, and the map gets crowded when large field events are taking place. Tap the icon to see a log of the collected samples for the day.

6. You can set valid field data ranges with warnings or validation stops to help ensure you have not entered bad data

For EIM Locus Mobile users, when you’re collecting a lot of field data, the “fat finger” problem can make for some colorful data entry errors. That’s why we built in the ability to specify valid data ranges for any parameter— and provide a warning when you’re about to enter a bad value during field data collection.

7. Locus Mobile works offline

We know that not every field location is served by wireless or a strong cell signal, so Locus Mobile is built to keep working whether you’re online or offline. This gives you the flexibility to collect field data from anywhere, then sync back to Locus EIM or Locus Platform when you can.

8. You can configure default fields in Locus Mobile that will track with the dataset, but won’t show up in the field forms— making your forms less cluttered but still capturing all the information you need

Choose which required fields you want to be visible in Locus Mobile. You also have the option to include your optional field information without displaying them. This gives you control over which fields you see while in the field.

9. Search and filter for locations in a provision file

Dealing with a long list of locations? The search field above the location list lets you start typing the Location ID or Location Description to filter the list. Even better, the extent of the map will adjust to zoom to the matching selections!

10. Switch locations quickly with the QR code scanner

Locus Mobile can access your device’s camera and scan QR codes for quick and efficient retrieval of individual locations included in a given provision file.

Our product teams are constantly working to improve and add new functionality to Locus Mobile. If you’re a current user, please let your Locus Account Manager know if you have any ideas for how we can make your field data collection workflows faster and easier. If you’re not using Locus Mobile yet, please ask them for a free demo!

Can your EHS software vendor share SaaS system performance statistics in real time? Across all customers?

EHS SaaS Multitenancy explained and why it matters.

There is a considerable degree of (intended) confusion in the EHS software space when it comes to cloud computing and multitenancy. If your software vendor cannot share statistics in real time like shown in the figure nearby, most likely they do not run on a multitenant SaaS platform.

The real-time information on system performance and security of SaaS cloud platform is the most important element that frequently gets overlooked during EHS software selection process. Success in the cloud is built on trust. Trust starts with transparency.
Our real time status monitoring (ran by an independent provider of web monitoring services) provide transparency around service availability and performance for Locus’ EHS SaaS products.
Just as with airlines that fly through clouds, our entire business is built on trust and security of our cloud offerings. Over 700,000 locations around the globe trust Locus to safeguard their data in the cloud.

Cloud Computing
Since the turn of the millennium, cloud computing has revolutionized the landscape of the computing world because it provides enterprise-grade computing resources that are affordable and instantly available. Clouds provide straightforward access to IT resources—you just access as many resources as you need when you need them, and never have to deal with the complexities of managing all of the underlying infrastructures that provide those resources. EHS manager job is suddenly a lot simpler and easier with cloud computing. You don’t even need help from IT department (if you don’t want it).

Multitenancy

Multitenancy is the fundamental technology that clouds use to share computing resources cost-efficiently and securely. Just like a bank—in which many tenants cost-efficiently share a hidden, common infrastructure, yet utilize a defined set of highly secure services, with complete privacy from other tenants—a cloud uses multitenancy technology to share IT resources securely among multiple applications and tenants (businesses, organizations, etc.) that use the cloud. Some clouds use virtualization-based architectures to isolate tenants; others use custom software architectures to get the job done. The multitenant design of a cloud service can have a dramatic impact on the application delivery and productivity of an IT organization, yet most CIOs, CTOs, system architects, and developers who use clouds don’t give it a second thought because it’s all magic that transparently happens behind the scenes.

Locus Platform is the proven cloud application development platform that powers popular Locus cloud EHS and Sustainability applications as well as custom applications that customers build to satisfy their specific EHS+S requirements.

Top 10 cool features in Locus Platform (that you probably didn’t know about)

1. Create a custom view of any data with the click of a mouse

Users can create their own views to filter their data the way they need to without impacting others. Just click on “Settings” on the main app screen to create custom views for yourself or your team.

Pick which columns to display and how to filter or order the data. This is an easy way to see all the records that you need to address and filter out other users’ records, or look at records from a certain date or location.

2. Quick exports from the application view screens

Export your view data to Excel to share with colleagues who may not have access to the system, or if you or someone else might need to review or analyze the data offline.

3. Easy edit tracking

Track user edits to any record based on a workflow process in the transaction log. Users can see which person edited the workflow of a record or made updates, and exactly what they edited. Now you won’t ever need to ask “who made that change?!”

4. Bookmark anything in Locus Platform

You can bookmark any page in the system— an app, a dashboard, etc. Now when you log in, you go directly to the app you want without needing to navigate.

5. Search really works across all applications

The Applications > Search Records function works across all applications. For example, you can do a single search for any records added within the past week, and you can see incidents, tasks, permits, waste containers, etc.

6. Use intelligently auto-named records to make searching and reporting very easy

Ask your configurator to auto-name records. This makes it incredibly easy to find records in search and saves the time of creating record names. You can use any of the fields in the entity to create a unique, yet meaningful auto-name without any additional work on your part.

Then, if you want to search for “all equipment purchased in 2016”, for example, it’s very easy to grab the data and download a report.

7. You really don’t need Locus to create special apps for you— you can do it yourself!

Yes, it’s true— you can build your own apps if you have access to the Configuration Workbench tools in Locus Platform.

Locus provides tools, documentation and training to let you access the Workbench, make dashboards, create entire custom apps, build forms and rules, and make edits to existing apps. It takes a bit of learning, but for those that like to dabble in software configuration, it’s a great set of tools to build exactly what you want at your own pace and schedule.

8. Any form in any application can be mobile-enabled

That’s right— any form can be mobile-enabled. So all your custom or off-the-shelf forms can be instantly sent to your mobile device for mobile data collection, then sent back directly to the Locus Platform with the push of a “sync” button.

9. Integration with other databases is built-in

When Locus built the Platform, we included into the base product a quick and easy way to link to other data systems (either ours or someone else’s). This means we can hook into your SAP system with our incident data, or we can grab regulatory updates from other service providers.

10. Get notifications when scheduled reports are automatically generated

You can schedule reports and get notified with a report link once the report is run, so it’s easy to keep up to date on your information without manually running reports every time. You can send reports to yourself or to groups of users, which makes keeping your team up to date a simple as a one-time setup.

Top 10 cool features in EIM (that you probably didn’t know about)

1. “Show locations on map” from a grid

In many locations in EIM, you can make a map directly from your query results. Click on the “folded map” icon on a results grid anywhere in EIM to open the GIS application, where you can then view and save your results as a map query layer.

So if you’re looking at TCE in specific locations, you can quickly map them and see what other parameters are present.

2. Save custom grid configurations

When you see a pushpin icon below a grid, that means you can name and save your current configuration in the grid, including column visibility, column order, sorting, and column width.

So if you use certain grids all the time, and prefer to view the data in a specific way, just click the pushpin and save your configuration for future use.

3. Save and share maps and reports on the dashboard

You can share saved maps and formatted reports with your colleagues and team members on the Project Manager Console dashboard. Saved maps and quick reports will show up under the sections “Quick Reports” and “Quick Maps”.

See Tip #4 to learn how to make this dashboard your default homepage.

4. Set your homepage and your preferred default grid row count

EIM user options includes some very cool features. You can access your user options from the EIM menu: just click [your username] > Manage Profile.

Here, you can set your preferred homepage, enable filter options for easier login, and— our favorite— the option to adjust the default number of records to display in all EIM grids (20 is just never enough!)

5. Lab Invoice Tracking

Full invoice tracking down to the parameter delivered level, to help you confirm that the lab gave you what you ordered, and that they’re charging you for exactly what they gave you.

You can find these forms at Input > Analytical > Lab Invoices.

6. Simple or complex query building in a drag-and-drop interface

For users wanting to go beyond the standard “out-of-the-box” queries, EIM has an advanced query builder that lets SQL lovers go wild and share their results with other. You can even query data across multiple EIM sites to which you have access.

7. Easy data preparation for annual Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs)

If you have the Locus EIM Water configuration, you will be able to prepare data tables for the CCR reports that all water providers are required to prepare annually. This is a huge timesaver compared to manually preparing these data summaries that are required by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

8. Send your sampling plan directly to your mobile device

With EIM’s integration with mobile, you can create a sampling plan in EIM and send that plan to one or more people to perform field sampling. This saves mountains of time and ensures your field teams have the correct information they need to collect their field data.

The sampling team can sync anytime to have team members back in the office review the interim data.

9. Create NetDMR submittals directly from EIM

If you have to submit EPA NPDES DMRs, EIM can create the electronic NetDMR output, saving you time and effort and banishing (hopefully) those old, complex, and overly difficult paper forms.

10. Support menu alerts you when new user guides, cheat sheets, training videos, or FAQs are posted

Locus is always busy creating new guide documents and help materials for our users, but it was hard to know when we added some new content. Now, our Support menu itself will flag you as soon as something new is posted so you can check it out!

Locus Technologies performs a record number of GHG verifications in California

Locus takes the lead in GHG verification services for California Air Resources Board AB32 Program

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 8 February 2017 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in multi-tenant SaaS environmental compliance and information management software, performed 74 verifications for the reporting year 2015 for the California Air Resources Board AB32 Program — more than any other accredited verification body. With six full-time accredited verifiers, Locus has been providing verification services since 2010 for reporting entities across California. Even more notably, after completing hundreds of these verifications and complying with several routine audits by ARB, Locus has never had a single verification statement overturned. This means that facility operators using Locus’ verification services have high confidence that their participation in the cap and trade program will not be affected by potential delays related to questions on their verification statement.

The GHG verification services cover facilities in California that are regulated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) under the Mandatory Reporting Rule (AB32). Locus is accredited as a verification body through CARB and has Lead Verifiers certified in all reporting sectors, including process emissions, oil and gas, and transactions. Over the past eight years, Locus staff have completed verifications for several industries and have become experts on reporting for most covered product types which translate into emission allowances under the cap and trade program.

GHG emission reports are coming under increased scrutiny from regulators, stakeholders, and financial auditors. Choosing the right verifier plays a critical part in remaining compliant with these rapidly evolving requirements and regulations. Locus verifiers have noticed that many companies struggle with complex GHG calculations. Some ‘black box’ calculation tools in the market have not been sufficiently stress-tested and are generating errors that cause enterprises to fail their GHG verifications. Locus’ calculation engine addresses these deficiencies and capitalizes on the architecture of the highly scalable Locus platform. All calculations performed by Locus SaaS are viewable and traceable through the tool to the original data inputs.

“We are very pleased to lead the California verification program and that so many Fortune 500 firms selected Locus for verification services. Locus continues to expand its carbon practice at a rapid pace. Coupled with our software services and domain expertise in all three key AB32 reporting sectors, Locus is becoming a partner of choice for all companies wishing to be credible in their carbon reporting needs,” said J. Wesley Hawthorne, President of Locus. “Our growth in this market has been largely fueled by referrals from existing customers, and it speaks volumes about the quality of our service that so many of our customers speak highly of Locus to their colleagues.”