Send your question to Umbra!
Q. Dear Umbra,
I’ve been hearing about carbon offsets for awhile and even have purchased some for my car emissions through Terrapass. But I just got an email from my local power company saying that I can pay to offset my own carbon emissions at the low rate of just $8 per month. Is this a good idea? I hear such conflicting stories about the “greening” of coal power plants. How do I know what they are doing with the money?
Mary B.
Winston-Salem, N.C.
A. Dearest Mary,
Is your power company partying in the tropics thanks to you?If a utility is offering carbon offsets or “green power” to their customers, details are usually available on the utility’s web site. A customer must then wade through the self-congratulatory text on the site and determine whether or not the utility is actually taking Acapulco vacations with their $8 a month.
Don’t put too much emphasis on this being a power company issue, though—carbon offsets are a puzzle no matter how and where you buy them. There are a variety of “certifiers” and ratings for offsets, and some generally accepted ideas about what makes an offset project acceptable, but as of yet no overarching body with one stamp of approval.
Offsets themselves are an interesting and contentious issue, as you may have seen in these pages. (Check out our recent special series on offsets for a taste.) I got a bit harrumphy about offsets this past weekend, as I drove past a car with a boasting bumpersticker. Not that I could throw any stones (though we did have five people in the car, hooray). I ranted for a while, but am now prepared to offer a calm assessment of how we might all view offsets: Purchasing an individual carbon offset from a company, which then supports renewable energy development, is great. It is a wonderful chance to financially support projects that would not otherwise be able to get up and running. It does not erase whatever emissions we are emitting. So driving around in an SUV with a “My emissions are compensated for” kind of bumpersticker is ... is ... is—ooh! I’m getting agitated again. Let’s just say I think it misleads the uninformed.
If we think of our offset purchases as a charitable contribution to renewable energy development, then the question about whether we purchase them gets a little clearer. Without worrying too much about the financial logistics of green power credits (though they are clearly explained here by moi) we can simply ask: Will my money help create new, long-term projects that otherwise would not have happened (also called “additionality”), and are these projects approved and vetted by somebody? There are other questions, too (a good introduction can be found at CORE) but these are the basics. The answer should be yes.
In North Carolina you have an unusual opportunity to support renewable power generation in your very own state. NC GreenPower is your statewide non-profit green power program, supported and created by your state government, power companies, and fellow citizens. Utilities can offer offsets to consumers such as yourself, then pass the fees over to NC GreenPower, which then uses about a quarter of the money for administration and gives the rest as production incentives to renewable power producers. The idea is to slowly build up North Carolina’s renewable energy capacity through what amounts to a small grant system. I found all this out by following the trail from Duke Energy. It all looks legitimate. And if you hate your power company and their coalish ways, you can support NC GreenPower directly.
Locally,
Umbra
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Comments
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07 Oct 2009
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amazingdrx Posted 8:22 am
07 Oct 2009
It's kind of similar for cap n' trade. Set up a system where we can buy permits to pollute (through our local utility adding it to our power bill), then we can use plausible deniability to justify coal electricty.
As far as the 8 bucks per month mentioned for the offset, would it be possible to drive a giant SUV 40 miles less per month and have the same GHG-saving effect?
I think that shifting the 8 dollars from agri-chem food purchases to local organic food buying would do more than buying offsets from some shadowy corporate entity. Should CSAs issue offsets equivalent to share/pound amounts of veggies?
How much GHG in terms of methane and nitrous oxide is saved per pound/dollar of organic food versus agri-chem food? There's a good question for a future column Umbra.
Nitrous oxide is around 300 times worse as a GHG than CO2 and methane is around 20 times worse. How much GHG does a pound of agri-chem veggie production emit given these figures? How much GHG in terms of equivalence to the CO2 emitted by gas guzzling does you CSA membership offset?
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timhammond Posted 11:20 am
07 Oct 2009
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Ian Hanington Posted 9:51 am
07 Oct 2009
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Publications/offset_vendors.asp
Ian Hanington
Communications & Editorial Specialist
The David Suzuki Foundation
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Jonathan MyEex Posted 12:30 pm
07 Oct 2009
The idea is great for a few key reasons:
First, it provides an opportunity for folks who were already doing their part to reduce their power consumption a chance to get paid for it.
Second, it provides a financial incentive (what kind is more powerful?) to those who would have otherwise never given a thought or care being conscientious citizens of the planet.
Finally, the program is unique because it encourages sustainable behaviors and environmental awareness. Retail offset projects are important, but writing checks to plant trees cannot fix our environmental issues, especially if we do not change the behaviors that are the underlying cause of our climate problems. Like Umbra says, purchasing an offset does not erase our emissions. It's great to support these practices, but as AMAZINGDRX points out, this is sometimes accompanied by an attitude akin to, "I have done my part by buying an offset for my gas consumption, so let the guilt-free guzzling continue."
For anyone who needs a bit more incentive, we are holding drawings every Monday through November 23 to pay the monthly electric bill of our chosen users.
http://www.MyEmissionsExchange.com
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Jonathan MyEex Posted 12:32 pm
07 Oct 2009
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Ian Hough Posted 6:02 pm
07 Oct 2009
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ericr Posted 9:14 am
08 Oct 2009
Umbra is right to suggest that the "credits" be called only a contribution to renewable energy companies. You're offsetting your guilt, not your emissions.
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pjrotary Posted 4:26 pm
08 Oct 2009
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racje Posted 3:09 pm
10 Oct 2009
You can't neutralize your carbon emissions by buying offsets.
That's what Umbra tells us: just think of the "offsets" as a charitable contribution to make a little bit of green energy someplace. It won't erase your emissions. They will still be there in the atmosphere, warming it up.
So, go ahead and offset your guilt--it will do some good--but don't think your emissions are compensated for. The only way to remove the effect of your emissions is not to emit them.
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thollandpe Posted 3:20 pm
14 Oct 2009
The question was whether the green tags offered by NC utilities were legit, and the answer was yes (I think).
No, you may not be able to go legitimately carbon neutral by only buying offsets. But how many of us can take a serious bite out of our carbon footprints without using offsets or RECs as part of the strategy? Part of, not the only strategy. One of many weapons in the anti-climate-change arsenal.
My worry is that by tarring some sketchy offsets is that you contribute to the de-legitimization of all offsets, and by extension legitimate products like Green-e certified RECs. From an institutional perspective that enables the "all offsets are crap" dodge away from supporting any green energy product. I've seen it used, often.
Yes, there is diligence due but there are plenty of valid products out there. Sheesh, it’s like saying that because one charity has a Lear jet and palatial offices, that no thanks I won’t support the Jimmy Fund this year.
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