By Warren Brown
Sunday, December 16, 2007

Robert Mackasek, chief executive officer of Valera Global, had a green headache. The condition stemmed from the public's expressed desire to reduce tailpipe pollution coupled with its unwillingness to give up much in terms of comfort or convenience to help shrink the carbon footprint of automobiles.

For Mackasek's New York-based company, which operates the 14th-largest chauffeured vehicle fleet in the nation, the condition was acute. Valera's lineup of 215 limousines and sport-utility vehicles, including models such as the long-wheelbase Lincoln Town Car, the Mercedes-Benz S-550 sedan and the GMC Yukon Denali, were decidedly non-green in a world where green was becoming hip -- even among Valera's well-heeled clientele.

"We had a general concern about our fleet because some rival services were beginning to buy Toyota Prius models," Mackasek said about the little gas-electric hybrid car, popularly hailed as the automotive definition of "green."

Mackasek considered moving Valera in the same direction. But he then discovered that the Prius-green movement of his rivals wasn't all it seemed to be.

"They would have a few Prius models on display at their stands at conventions" of livery service providers, Mackasek said of his competitors. "But it was mostly for show . . . sort of like what happens in Hollywood when celebrities are going to an event."

The stars "are chauffeured in their limousines, or they drive their luxury cars and Hummers to a certain drop-off point. Then they get out of those vehicles and into Prius cars" and arrive at the red carpet looking green, Mackasek said.

But maintaining a fleet of showoff Prius cars or other hybrids is an expensive ruse in a business where most clients still demand all of the amenities of luxury limo service -- plush comfort, rear-cabin work desks and entertainment systems, and liquor bars to help reduce the stress of travel for the mobile elite.

Valera scoured the globe for plush, green rides. "But there wasn't really much available in terms of what our clients wanted to use," Mackasek said.

Also, there was Valera's accounting department. To put it simply, going gas-electric did not add up for the company's bean counters.

"We'd have the extra purchase cost involved in buying hybrids. How could we justify that extra cost in vehicles that would go mostly unused?" Mackasek asked.

Valera also was uncertain about the pace of development in hybrid technology. Would today's gas-electric have the market appeal and, thus, the relative resale value of yesterday's laptop? And what about maintenance costs? Valera, a privately held company, estimated that it would cost $7,000 each to replace the nickel-metal hydride battery packs used in current-generation gas-electrics. The company's bottom line: Going bust in an attempt to go green was not an option.

"But we still wanted to make a statement," Mackasek said. "Our clients also wanted to make a statement in support of green initiatives."

What to do?

Valera staffers came up with the idea to join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), which bills itself as the world's first and North America's only voluntary but legally binding greenhouse gas emissions registry, reduction and trading system. Valera joined CCX as an associate member in October.

That means Valera now is legally bound to inventory and report its company's carbon emissions to CCX for verification and audit. Reporting requirements include vehicle fleet emissions, as well as those associated with the company's air travel and its general operations.

After completion of the carbon emissions tally and verification of totals, Valera is required to purchase and retire CCX Carbon Financial Instrument contracts.

Put more simply: Valera reports its carbon emissions. CCX, using United Nations and other standardized verification and crediting protocols and procedures, approves the report. Valera is then required to pay for CCX-approved programs, such as reforestation and the development of wind and solar energy projects, designed to offset the carbon emissions Valera described in its annual report.

It's complicated. And there are many critics who say the carbon offset program is as much of an environmental ruse as putting little gas-electric hybrid cars in the service of a luxury limousine company. But Mackasek said the program has definite value for his firm and its clients.

"It means we spend hundreds of dollars annually instead of thousands to make a green statement," he said. "It's a way for us to show our concern" for global warming and related environmental problems "and to educate our clients without inconveniencing them," Mackasek said.

Ruse or not, it is a classically American approach to an environmental problem -- as American as baseball, Mom and apple pie.