Are Carbon Offsets for Real?
April 4, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Green Living
Yes – Carbon offsets are totally real; if you get them from a reputable seller.
WHAT IS A CARBON OFFSET?:
Basically, a carbon offset is just like it sounds; it offsets your personal carbon, more indirectly than directly though. You buy a specific amount of offsets from say, a wind energy company and the money you give allows the company to work harder to create cleaner energy, thus offsetting your footprint in a way. If you put up solar panels or wind turbine at your home, you’d be offsetting your own carbon, but in many cases it’s less trouble for people to purchase offsets than make huge changes on their own.
Example: if you buy carbon offset credits from TerraPass, your money goes to cover various types of projects – farm power, landfill gas capture and wind energy. The credit makes up for some of the energy you use.
Wired did a nice little piece that can help you understand carbon offsets and offers a view from the other side. This article covers some good examples of airline credits – i.e. what it would take for a frequent (or even infrequent flier) to offset the emissions of a typical flight. It also covers why calculations for offsets and education about offsets needs to be better, more sound, and more comprehensive.
ARE CARBON OFFSETS REGULATED?:
No, and obviously, this is a problem. It makes it hard for consumers to make smart choices about carbon credits. Any old Joe can set up a program online that says they sell carbon offsets, but it doesn’t make it so. Also, as noted by Wired (in the above piece) calculations need to be accurate, yet there’s no across the board standard.
Next up – what to do if you’d like to purchase credits – how to choose a company and make sure they’re safe and actually doing good earth-friendly tasks with your money.
Have you ever purchased carbon offsets?
[image via stock.xchng]
I don’t like carbon offsets for the same reason that people didn’t like when the Catholic Church was selling indulgences. Because that’s what carbon offsets are — they’re “get out of Al Gore purgatory free” cards. They’re a way to mitigate your guilt over your comfortable lifestyle without actually changing it.
My advice: get over it, smile, and enjoy your life — or if you simply can’t overcome your sense of guilt, actually do something to change your lifestyle. Sell your cars. Stop eating meat. Buy renewable energy. Just don’t think that by sending a check to some shady organization in exchange for vague unmeasurable promises is going to do much for the enviornment or your guilt.
Purchasing carbon offsets is not about assuaging guilt, it is about taking responsibility for your carbon footprint. Everyone knows that the best, and cheapest, way to reduce your carbon footprint is to make simple lifestyle changes like driving less, eating less meat, changing your light bulbs, etc. But doing just that doesn’t get our emissions down to the science based reductions that we must be striving for.
It is an individual’s choice to offset their carbon footprint, and I view it as a responsible one to take. If all you want to do is reduce your emissions 30% by making lifestyle changes, that is commendable and I would encourage it — but don’t look down on the people that take responsibility for the other 70%.
Carbon Offset / Carbon Credit is also a way to promoite Renewable Energy / Clean Energy to save our mother earth. I think this incentive level must be increase to attract more and more energy consumers.
Ravi soparkar, Pune, India
Don’t ever pay for carbon offsets. Get all you want for free!
http://www.freecarbonoffsets.com
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