Understanding the ABC of Carbon Offsets

We understand carbon offsetting as the procedure of curbing greenhouse gas emissions through particular projects to offset the impact of harmful gases emitted in the past. The motivation behind buying carbon offsets is to balance those emissions that we are unable to prevent during the course of our daily lives. If someone generates emissions when another sustainable alternate is available, it is usually frowned upon by eco-conscious people. For ease, one offset is measured as the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide.

Several European countries have made nationwide legislations that permit businesses to emit up to a particular volume of emissions. If a business releases more than the assigned limit, it needs to buy carbon offsets to settle the equation. While this compulsory necessity to sustain a low carbon footprint is the main driver of offset trading, there is also a smaller voluntary marketplace. People who are eco-conscious buy offsets to decrease their personal carbon footprint even though they are not required by law to do this.

In simple words, the demand for carbon offsets is largely driven by environmental regulations on official state level and then by eco-conscious people feeling guilt when they release greenhouse gases. But how are carbon offsets ‘manufactured’? Companies that offer you offsets typically buy them from large projects carried out to cut GHG emissions anywhere in the world. Genuine projects ensure that the overall emissions released on earth get controlled so the exact site of these projects is not a big concern.

Greenhouse gases blend into the atmosphere and spread all over the earth rapidly; it doesn’t make any difference in the long run if you emit CO2 in United States, Asia or Europe as the overall effect will be the same for the global environment in each case. For the same reason, many carbon credit projects are set up in China even though majority of carbon credit buyers are located in Europe and North America. Because everything from labor to construction materials is cheaper in developing cities, the final cost of producing one carbon offset is considerably less if compared with European nations.

This small article won’t enter the debate of carbon offset scams. It’s sufficient to say here that carbon offsetting does help the planet if done according to established standards.

Technorati Tags: Carbon offset, Carbon Offsets, CarbonFootprint, environment, Greenhouse gas

Info About Carbon Credits

Carbon Credits

Carbon credits are measured in units of certified emission reductions. Each CER is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide reduction. Carbon Credits are going to hold the same value where ever you are because CO2 has a global impact. Carbon credits provide a way to reduce climate change and greenhouse effects by capping annual emissions. The credits let the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading and are a key component of both national and international emissions trading schemes available to prevent global warming.

Carbon credits for sequestered carbon are not an annual payment. In order to receive further credits, the level of soil carbon would need to be further increased. Carbon credits are a part of international emission trading norms. They incentivise carbon credits companies or countries that emit less carbon. Carbon credits involve calculating one’s emissions and then purchasing offsets from emission reduction projects. These projects have either prevented or removed an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere, or promise to prevent or remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide in the future.

Companies or other groups that emit the pollutant are given carbon credits or allowances which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Companies or other groups are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances (or credits) which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of allowances and credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to that level. Companies that sell carbon credits also have vastly different business models. Some function as little more than middlemen—buying up credits and selling them at a markup.

Companies for home energy solutions who will be emitting more carbon than they have permits to emit must therefore buy additional credits on the open market, while those who will emit less can sell their credits.

Project developers can then sell these offsets to finance their projects. Projects involving solar, wind and hydroelectric power generate energy from renewable sources instead of fossil fuels. Others reduce fuel use by increasing efficiency, switching fuels, or generating heat and electricity together .

Countries within the EU ETS have granted their incumbent businesses most or all of their allowances for free. This can sometimes be perceived as a protectionist obstacle to new entrants into their markets. Countries that did pass the Kyoto treaty now have set caps on greenhouse gas emissions. If a country emits less greenhouse gases than the cap calls for, it receives carbon credits that it can turn around and sell on worldwide carbon exchanges.

Technorati Tags: Carbon credit, Climate change, Kyoto Protocol

Carbon Footprint Awareness Is Important

Carbon Footprint Awareness

There are still many people who have no concept of what a carbon footprint is or how it is produced. The impact we all have on global warming is reflected not only in our personal production of greenhouse gases but in the products we use. This isn’t surprising, it’s just a fact of life that there are many distractions that take place and we take for granted the imprint we are leaving on the world, just by living.

I’ll give you a simple personal example of how my family takes energy use for granted. In our house we have multiple digital clocks and they all run 24 hours a day, one in each room – the microwave, the conventional oven, the CD player, the stereo and in each bedroom all has a clock and each one is sucking up passive energy we could be saving, and we don’t give it a thought. It’s just one of the assumed “rights” of living in a modern affluent society, we may not use it but we don’t mind paying for it regardless. Some people might be a little bit shocked if they were to find out exactly how much carbon emissions they are producing per year, not to mention an indication of the cost and how simple it might be to save a few bucks and the environment at the same time.

You Can’t Change What You Don’t Know

The previous heading sums up a whole range of human instincts and precisely describes one of the roadblocks in front of those trying to educate people on the importance of reducing our carbon footprint. It only takes a gentle reminder that there are consequences for the actions taken on a daily basis that people begin to realise that there is a need to change.

It’s only when you find out that the yearly average carbon dioxide production for running a car stands at two and a half tonnes that it hits home that there may be a problem. It also allows you to then set a goal to lower your number for the next year. Suddenly you have a goal – a quantifiable goal – that you can set for yourself and aim for with real purpose. There will be no way of definitively knowing the damage you are doing with your carbon footprint without some means of calculation. Trying to produce less in the future would be next to impossible to gauge.

The fact that we each stand to get a direct benefit in terms of cost to reducing our carbon footprint should have people more than a little interested.The cost benefit in question is an actual dollar saving! The word will continue to leak out while, hopefully, carbon dioxide doesn’t.

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Footprint Awareness, environment, Global Warming