Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets are based on the fact that global warming is a global problem. The size of your carbon footprint, no matter where in the world you live, will impact everyone on the planet. This means that a reduction in carbon emissions in your backyard has the same effect as a reduction that happens on the other side of the world.
No matter how hard we may try, we will never be able to reduce our carbon emissions to zero, so buying carbon offsets is a way to negate the impact of what is left in your carbon footprint.
Many people believe that carbon offsets are the first step toward a regulated carbon tax on the principle that everyone should be held responsible for their carbon footprint.
There is already a long list of people, groups, and events that are going carbon neutral by purchasing carbon offsets.
The Super Bowl, the city of Vail, Colorado, the World Bank, and the Rolling Stones are all carbon neutral.
Major conferences and conventions are using carbon offsets to cancel out their carbon footprint.
The UK government, while not yet completely carbon neutral, now offsets the flights of their employees.
Carbon offsets are becoming more and more common among celebrities, where actors and musicians, including the Dave Matthews Band, and Coldplay are carbon neutral.
While not the same as Carbon Offsets, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are another way to support renewable energy projects.
What Are Carbon Offsets
A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon emissions that is funded by the person or group buying the offset. Carbon offsets are commonly from renewable energy projects, energy efficiency, and tree planting projects. Each of these methods has their own merits and drawbacks for your carbon footprint.
Tree Planting
Particularly, the lack of permanence of tree planting projects, and the fact that it doesn’t address our reliance on fossil fuels has made this method fall out of favor, although it is still an important part of the fight against global warming.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is usually wind, solar energy, and thermal projects. These energy sources do not result in any carbon emissions once they are up and running.
Energy Efficiency
The most used method of energy efficiency is methane capture and combustion. This is a process that converts methane to carbon dioxide. While releasing carbon dioxide will still contribute to global warming, methane is 23 times worse for global warming so converting it to carbon dioxide is a big improvement.
Benefits of Carbon Offsets
The obvious benefit of buying carbon offsets is that something is done to reduce carbon emissions in the world. For people who want to be carbon neutral, buying carbon offsets is really the only way for them to completely eliminate their carbon footprint.
Another important benefit that comes from buying carbon offsets is that it provides much needed funding to renewable energy projects. Things like wind farms or solar panels can require a large investment to get started, or to expand. If not for carbon offsets, many existing renewable energy projects would never have happened.
See Renewable Energy Certificates
|
Share This Story: |
