Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsetting can be best described as a method of indirectly reducing individual and organisational carbon footprints by investing in projects around the world which help replace enviromentally harmful sources of energy, such as the burning gas. Therefore a carbon offset is special unit (measured in tons) which theoretically decreases the amount of carbon dioxide which needs to be pumped into the atmosphere by one equivalent unit (again, measured in tons). For example if an individual or company wants to reduce their carbon footprint by 1 unit then they'll buy 1 carbon offset unit, and by two units they'll purchase 2 carbon offset and so on. Carbon offsets come in two distinctive categories, namely the compliance market, where companies, governments or other organisations are forced to purchase these carbon offsets in order to complete greenhouse emission producing ventures. For example a chemical company may be set a ceiling, of say 1,000 tons of greenhouse gases for a certain project, but initial calculations may predict that they will in fact pump out 1,500 tons, thus breaching the set ceiling. Therefore, in order for the go-ahead to be given they will have to purchase at least 500 tons worth of carbon offsets, in order to comply with the standards set. The second category - in which we'll be dealing with throughout the remainder of this article - represents the voluntary market; which, as the name suggests deals with individuals, companies and governments who volentaraly purchase carbon offsets in order to reduce their personal carbon footprints, which may have been produced by transportation, electricity consumption and other sources. Specifically - form now on - we'll be concentrating on the carbon offsets purchased by individuals and familes as a whole. Burning Farm Waste - Farms produce millions or even billions of tons of waste every year, which can and is put to better use in order to produce electricity. Many commentators suggest that methane - which is pruduced by cows, pigs and other animals - collectively represents a bigger danger to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide. A method of turning the methane into electricity or heat is by processing it in a machine known as a anaerobic digester. Therefore the less methane which is wasted the more beneficial it'll be for the envoronment. Here you'll be subsidising projects which turn the harmful methane into useful energy. Enviromentally friendly buildings - Making buildings more enviromentally friendly are good method of carbon offsetting. Many homes and other types of buildings waist far too much energy through heating, electricity and cooling. Therefore by improving insulation, installing new heating controls and purchasing energy efficient appliances will go someone to reducing our own carbon footprints. Fuel efficiency - Using fuel which gives you more energy when it is burned than another, means you'll waste less energy, for a desired outcome. What you put into your automobile to make it run and what energy source you use to heat your home are both essential in carbon offsetting. In order to help the environment, where possible and within reason we should all strive to use the most efficient energy sources we can. Fuel substitution - Moving nicely on from the above school of thought, switching to a fuel which produces less carbon - as you know by now - will reduce carbon footprints. People usually refrain from switching from one fuel to another, even though the one they are currently using produces far more carbon than is neccesary. The biggest gripe is usually in regards to the price; however the cost of the switch can be reduced by purchasing a carbon offset. Geothermal power - Geothermal power is a technique of producing energy and power from naturally occuring underground sources. As some of you may be aware of the earth holds a great deal of power as heat. In order to tap into this rich source of energy geothermal power plants have been built around the planet. These plants drill holes into the earth. Water is pumped down one of the massive pipes, which in turn causes steam to surge up the other pipe(s), a turbine is then turned by this action, which produces electricity. This is a particularly clever way of producing electricty without pumping vast anounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Heat-electricity congeneration - This is a technique of creating both electricity and heat together. Most usually, when electricity is produced the heat which is created along with it is generally treated as a byproduct and therefore wasted. In order to put the heat to better use a congeneration system is put into place to capture it and put it to better uses. Typically this type of system has a pretty high initial cost so the purchase of a congen carbon offset will make it a more feasable prospect. Hydroelectric power As the name suggests this action - in order to reduce carbon footprints - uses the energy produced from flowing water to generate electricity. At this current juncture hydroelectric power accounts for roughly 1/5 of the world's electricity. The typical method of conjuring electricity in this way is by building a dam in a large tributary, such as the hoover dam on the Colorado river. The methodology behind this is that the river is held back and then the water - which builds up - is forced through purpose built holes in the dam, as a result powerful jets of water are created, which in turn drive massive turbines, which then produces the electricity. When you go on to purchase carbon offsets, you're inadvertantly reducing your personal carbon footprint as you're helping to reduce a plant's start-up costs. Lighting - As fluorescent lightbulbs are more efficient than standard ones then replacing these with their more efficient counterparts will save energy. Where the procurement of carbon offsets come in, is that doing so will allow people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them do so. Public transport - In terms of purchasing carbon offsets, doing so will help in the subsidisation and encourage the use of public transport. This helps reduce carbon footprints because transportation acounts for around 15% of the the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Which means if buses, trams and trains are used instead of cars it'll mean that there will be less vehicles on the road (because public transport means that more people can travel together), with the obvious benefit of less carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere as a result. Reforestation - Reforestation is more of reactive rather than a pro-active approach to combatting climate change. But the theory behind it is as trees absorb carbon dioxide, then planting more of them will reduce these ozone harming gases. Therefore when you purchase carbon offsets you're funding the planting of the said trees. Solar powerThis is the art of prodicing electricty and heating through the power of the sun's rays. This method is very affective as the enrgy created by the sun holds no bounds. If a solar carbon offset is purchased then this will help reduce the costs of installing the system. Wind power - As the name indicates this is a system which produces electricity by using the natural power of wind. Turbines are placeed in strategic places around the planet and the wind then drives them into creating electricty. Currently the systems put into place are deemed somewhat inefficient - in terms of cost - compared with the burning of fossil fuels; Therefore when carbon offsets are purchased wind power becomes more competitive with coal and gas. Many institutions provide carbon offsets. As with many organisations - when it comes to the environment - they usually do business under one of two banners, namely not-for profit and profit making. Therefore the answer is pretty simple. Just find a a carbon offset provider which you trust and trades ethically, and buy. A great website to visit if you're looking for reputable providers is Carbonoffsetproviders.org (opens new window). Before you go you choose whenof these companies you'll possibly want to consider the following points. Variances will generally occur between differnet compnaies due to things like cost of projects, overheads and efficiency. As an individual you can venture onto the websites of most carbon offset providers and use there carbon footprint calculators. These will let you combine how much energy you use from travelling by car, public transport and airtravel so you then have a lear idea of your personal carbon footprint. These websites will then allow you to submit your payment details and then purchase carbon offsets in order to reduce the said carbon footprints. There are many projects around the world which argue very strongly that the procurement of carbon offsets by individuals and companies do in fact create additional benefits for local populations, by increasing their quality of life. Therefore the benefits which are put forward by these projects should be evaluated by indivduals and companies before they choose a particular carbon offset provider. Additionally caution should be taken,because it is possible that projects will sometimes wax lyrical about the co-benefits which their particualr project creates, in order to secure extra funding, therefore judgement and the proverbial "pinch of salt" must be used here. A few of the benefits which have been put forward usually relate to the burning of wood for heating and cooking purposes in developing countries. Things like the air that the population breathes in will be far purer than before; Safety of women and children - who would often go into the wilderness to collect firewood - would increase; children would gain a better education because they would no longer have to spend hours collecting wood; forests won't be decimated by woodcutters and lumberjacks, which will allow wildlife to thrive inn their natural habitats. One of the the biggest arguments against the relevence of carbon offsets are those relating to reforestation projects. Critics argue that companies purchase these projects then sell the prescribed benefits up-front, many years before the predicted benefits come to fruition i.e. trees take a vast amount of time tom mature. Secondly, forests - as we know to well - are rather susceptible to being cleared, flattened, burned and mismanaged so it's very difficult to gauge - when they do finally mature - how effective they'll be in their initial goal. Counter productivity is another argument laid against reforestation projects. Activists argue that, in order to save money, carbon offset providers will sometimes plant fast growing trees which are more often or not detrimental prosperity of indigenous forests. It's not just indigenous forests which can suffer at the hands of reforestation projects, local populations may have to be rehomed as more land is needed on which to plant trees. This disruption may infringe the human rights of those who've been displaced. Finally, where reforestation and drawbacks of carbon offsetting are concerned it is said that projects sailing under the tree planting flag can fall foul of something known as "The albedo effect", this is a theory that suggests, trees planted outside the boundaries of the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn contribute little in tackling climate change, because the assimilation of sunlight produces a warming process which limits the amount of carbon dioxide the trees will absorb. Although this argument is interesting it remains a contraversial one. The final, and probably the biggest argument against the use of carbon offsets in order to reduce carbon footprints is the fact that there isn't much regulation of the voluntary market. Although many certificate standards are in motion their individual protocols are very much the same. The main problem where many standards exist is that it gives some organiations free reign to promote their particular standard to be better than the rest. Therefore as you can see it's difficult for customers to distinguish fact from fiction when dealing these groups. Next - as with most businesses - accustaions have been made that companies in the carbon offset sector often exaggerate and mislead customers where the benefits of their particular projects are concerned. It is clear that carbon offsetting is a positive step forwards in tackling climte change and clearing the environent of those nasty greenhouse gasses which are mostly responsible for global warming. But in addition it may be suggested that buying carbon offsets is just like passing the book, people can carry on using their gas guzzling range rovers safe in the knowledge that they can minimise their actions by purchasing carbon offsets, but with question marks surrounding their uselfulness it seems that any over reliance on these is dangerous game to play. It seems that the best way to account for carbon footprints is to take a more proactive role and look into how you can personally reduce your own carbon footprint, whilst indeed keeping an open mind in regards to carbon offsetting. In fact the best course of action is probably to combine the two as well look at the prospect of improving your recycling efforts. From carbon offsets, to recycling tips
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