Blockchain meets natural gas : a case study of the University of British Columbia and Xpansiv from an operations research perspective
department or school: Business, Sauder School of
department or school: Operations and Logistics (OPLOG), Division of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Mumcular, Aylin
issued: 2020-03-27T00:34:37Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Master of Science in Business - MScB
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The University of British Columbia (UBC) has set itself aggressive sustainability targets. In order to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its Vancouver campus, UBC has been consuming natural gas (both renewable and non-renewable) due to its relatively lower emissions compared to other fossil fuels. This practice has resulted in most of UBC’s campus wide GHG emissions coming from natural gas consumption. UBC is considering various alternatives to reduce its GHG emissions to achieve the 2020 sustainability commitment. Using more renewable natural gas may be a viable solution, but it is scarce and expensive. Xpansiv, a software start-up company, uses blockchain technology to capture and store data about the production and distribution attributes of natural gas. This can allow for differentiated natural gas units based on their environmental impact. In this way, the sustainability features such as GHG emissions, production techniques, or leak rates can be commercialized as environmental attributes. This study aims to understand the potential benefits that Xpansiv’s blockchain technology platform can create for UBC’s natural gas procurement in its Vancouver campus. Can this technology have an impact on total GHG emissions, total costs, and UBC’s success in achieving its sustainability goals? To answer these questions, a fit-gap analysis is performed, and a simulation optimization model is built by using operations research (OR) tools. The fit-gap analysis has shown that the decommoditization of natural gas through the differentiated gas units can increase UBC’s procurement options and the usage of environmental attributes as a market instrument can help UBC potentially save costs. To quantify the impact, a simulation optimization model is created. According to the simulation optimization model results, the average total net GHG emissions are estimated as 258 tonnes, the average total cost of procurement and GHG emissions is calculated as $1,304,737, and UBC can…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/73812
note: 1 BLOCKCHAIN MEETS NATURAL GAS: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND XPANSIV FROM AN OPERATIONS RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE by Aylin Mumcular B.Sc., Bilkent University, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Business Administration) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) March 2020 © Aylin Mumcular, 2020 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Blockchain Meets Natural Gas: A Case Study of the University of British Columbia and Xpansiv from an Operations Research Perspective submitted by Aylin Mumcular in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Business Administration Examining Committee: Prof. Harish Krishnan Supervisor Prof. Robin Lindsey Supervisory Committee Member Prof. Anming Zhang Additional Examiner iii Abstract The University of British Columbia (UBC) has set itself aggressive sustainability targets. In order to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its Vancouver campus, UBC has been consuming natural gas (both renewable and non-renewable) due to its relatively lower emissions compared to other fossil fuels. This practice has resulted in most of UBC’s campus wide GHG emissions coming from natural gas consumption. UBC is considering various alternatives to reduce its GHG emissions to achieve the 2020 sustainability commitment. Using more renewable natural gas may be a viable solution, but it is scarce and expensive. Xpansiv, a software start-up company, uses blockchain technology to capture and store data about the production and distribution attributes of natural gas. This can allow for differentiated natural gas units based on their environmental impact. In this way, the sustainability features such as GHG emissions, production techniques, or leak rates can be c…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0389638
language: eng
degree discipline: Business Administration - Transportation and Logistics
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/73812