Comments TerraPassTom has made

Organic actually 8% more

Meredith:

I pulled the Wieske et al. article, and taking the data from Table 1, its pretty clear that organic dairies in his sample produce 8% more kg CO2e per kg of milk than conventional dairies. Disappointing, but true. I didn't dive into your other studies.

Now this wasn't the thrust of the article, and it was only a sample of 12 farms, not enough to discount the gains from organic practices.

Wieske's thrust of the paper is to quantify gains from managing manure, livestock efficiencies, and biogas production at both conventional and organic dairy farms.

The first and last were both central to analysis prepped and strategies explored at the DMI conference.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

Silver Buckshot

Dr. Hansen:

I agree on the necessity and urgency of weaning ourselves off energy from fossil fuels, and I admire the clarity of your call to Jim Rogers and other captains of industry.

I also encourage you not to confuse carbon offsets generally with tree-planting projects. The best carbon offsets do just what you seek -- hasten the deployment of clean energy. I spend much of my time talking to dairy producers that can't quite make a digester project work financially. Carbon offset revenues materially help these projects remain viable, reduce dairy emissions, and provide clean energy in rural American communities. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is real and immediate.

Please don't dismiss the efforts of hundreds of thousands of regular Americans dedicated to reducing their carbon footprint. These people aren't celebrities, and their concern isn't just for show:

http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/terrapass-custo

Offsets are of course only a part of the solution. Think of them as some of the "silver buckshot" that you've spokenof so eloquently in the past.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

Additionality is only for offsets

Capster, I agree with you. Additionality is what preservers credibility in the carbon market.

Sean: if you work within a capped sector, you will monetize the carbon reductions in the forms of allowances (the ability to sell yours, or hopefully, the need to buy less) and no-one will care about how you did it. Additionality doesn't apply in the allowance market. For your work, the price signal enforced by a carbon market should be a huge motivator for emitting entities. I agree its a shame its not up and running yet.

But in the offset market, we're always dealing with uncapped sectors, and there must be high credibility for the reductions, otherwise emissions just continue to expand. As a carbon offset buyer I want to know that I, collectively with other market participants did something to reduce emissions. If you find a gold mine CHP project, more power to you, but you don't need TerraPass funds to make it pencil out.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

The "E" label. Am I one?

This is a welcome breath of fresh air from an institution that could transform itself from an aging demographic and revitalize a generation of Americans.

Our members also show us that a whole generation of Americans concerned about climate change shudder to label themselves with the "E" word. And its pretty telling that many of them will tell you they want to help build the low carbon Economy.

And yet environment and economy are two words that I doubt have been used in many Sierra Club meetings.  

Your vision is admirable, but how can we translate this into action at Sierra Club chapters nationwide? And how fast can a highly distributed semi-autonomous organization change? As far as I can tell, Sierra Club's day to day is anti cap-and-trade, anti offsets, anti-markets and most of all, concerned with perfection over progress. Or put differently, these are solutions oriented times and the Sierra Club organization is wired for activism and constricting times.

Carl, we need your help to put us on the pathway to a new economy that you are visualizing. Not everything will be perfect from the get go, but if we are going to harness the energy of Sierra Club, we'll need your sustained leadership to push your vision out into something that helps move the ball forward on our journey to a low carbon economy.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

TerraPass is on the web

Wiscidea: just a small clarification. TerraPass distribution is on the web, so the local question, while interesting, is not so relevant to the analysis (distribution doesn't bias the sample basis).

Also -- all comparisons to the national averages are listed in the TerraPass blog post. Here they are again.

    * 26% of TerraPass customers take public transportation to work. This is more than 5 times the national average.
    * An astonishing 24% of TP customers bike to work, 22 times the national average.
    * 64% of customers have installed compact fluorescent light bulbs. Fully 25% of these people opted to install the bulbs after purchasing their TerraPass, so maybe the conservation tips are working.
    * 16% drive hybrids, about 7 times the national average. Again, 25% of these people switched to a hybrid after purchasing their TerraPass.
    * Here's an interesting one: 50% of TerraPass customers have contacted an elected representative about climate change. I'm glad to hear this, because exerting political influence is the most important thing we can do to fight climate change.
    * TerraPass customers are also active contributors to other environmental causes. Fully 69% of you support green charities.
    * An astonishing 6% of you have solar panels on your home. This is 200 times the national average.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

I'm confused -- wasn't this the CO2 experiement?

Confused here....

I thought this was the experiment that exposed trees to higher levels of CO2 and then measured the difference in biomass accumulation.

Just to be clear, thats different than the debate of temperate trees as carbon sinks (cue debate...)

Tom

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

70 Million Tons a day, 8 hrs of progress.

That's what we put in the air today.

So the entire contribution of the voluntary market (Rune: 24 Million Tons, not just tons) is about nine basis points. Or put differently we just offset 8 hours and 11 minutes.  

No it's not enough. We desperately need a national cap and an international treaty on carbon.

But its a start. And it can be part of the solution.

Wiscadea, don't get discouraged on the price. Price will rise and we'll get around supporting everything that helps climate change. In the meantime keep on fighting the good fight, as your primary motivation is the best thing we've all got going for us.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

Offsets are just one cookie in the cookie jar...

We asked this very question a few weeks ago on our blog (see post and comments).

This is a totally unscientific study, but anecdotally, the highlights of TerraPass members post-offset behavior include:

• Installation of CFLs
  
• Lowering thermostats in winter
  
• More organic purchases
  
• Reduced meat consumption
  
• Driving more conservatively
  
• Planning a different car purchase

Clearly offset purchasers are trying to do all they can to reduce their impact, both directly and indirectly. Offsets can serve as a reminder that every day decisions are a big contributor to climate decision. For many, its just one cookie out of the cookie jar of tools to reduce their impact.

The press is in love with asking who is the holiest of the green about offsets. And there is no shortage of leaders to step forward and paint a picture of indulgent SUV drivers with an open wallet. I wonder if the critics also wag their finger when they see people recycling? Surely it is best to avoid the paper and cans in the first place, rather than "find salvation" in an energy intensive recycling process?

Of course, we accept in our society that it is not practical to live without cans and paper.  The ethic, and tagline for recycling is therefore, reduce, reuse, recycle. Similarly in climate change the ethic should stress conservation as clearly preferable to offsetting and green power.

But thinking that conservation alone will solve climate change paints green leaders as supercilious zealots out of touch with both the mathematics of the problem and mainstream consumer behavior. Everyone in America, Mr. Hayes included, has an unsustainable carbon footprint. Everyone needs tools to lower it.

The challenge in mobilizing consumers to fight climate change is getting people to think differently about the big energy decisions in life. We think encouraging people to measure and manage their footprints is a step in the right direction. Offsets aren't perfect, but they are more practical than hoping impractical behavior will solve the problem.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

Flip your thinking -- Are 6% reductions good?

Many people argue that these low numbers mean we need regulation to solve this crisis.

And its true. We desperately need regulation on carbon. But folks should be aware of the real likelihood that the regulations in the US will be very modest and well below what is required for climate stabilization. RGGI is. Kyoto is. AB32 is.

That's why we also need voluntary programs. Consider flipping your thinking. What if a regulation was passed that mandated reducing PGE's carbon emissions by 6%? This would be a big win for a regulator. An even bigger win if he or she could pull this off without harming the business, or impacting rate payers that were against the rise in price.

Now what if that rate reaches 15% like some of the most successful programs in the nation?

Voluntary programs are the "option" of any good climate policy. Regulate for sure, but lets make sure we have the upside to create just as much change from those that want to do more than their fair share.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass

RECs and RPS

Relatedly, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) have often been incorrectly regarded as equivalent to carbon offsets, even though RECs are often issued to comply with state government mandates requiring a minimum of energy sourced from renewable sources -- meaning that they may not be causing any additional reduction in greenhouse gas emissions beyond what would happen under business-as-usual regulatory compliance.

RPS double counting cannot occur with RECs that are certified by Green-e. See the Green-e Standard that states that, "Green-e certified products must be comprised of eligible renewable generation over and above anything required by state or federal RPS requirements."

This is just one more reason readers should look for the Green-e logo when purchasing renewable energy products, or carbon reductions sourced from renewable energy.

Tom Arnold Chief Environmental Officer TerraPass