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Old 05-27-2007, 03:23 AM   #1
BailOut
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Drives: 2007 Yaris Liftback
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Reno, Nevada, USA
Posts: 1,299
Carbon offsetting with TerraPass

I have been asked by a few folks to write about TerraPass, which is a carbon offset service I subscribe to. I delayed in writing this because carbon offsets can be a controversial topic with a lot of finger wagglers on either side, and in that scenario it is nigh impossible to have a meaningful debate or let real information flow. Despite this possibility I feel this topic is important enough to warrant a round of discussion here.


Why should I care about the CO2 that comes out of my tailpipe?

Even if you do not believe in the correlation between airborne carbon and the threat of global warming there are not many of us that have not seen, smelled, breathed or drank smog. Smog is mostly carbon dioxide from vehicle and industrial emissions and contributes to many of the ills of modern humanity such as asthma, upper respiratory infections, localized surface water pollution, etc., and they also contribute to localized weather like inversion layers, hot spots, etc.


What is a carbon offset?

It is an intangible unit of carbon measurement that you trade for or purchase which grants you the "right" to produce a given amount of carbon because the same - or greater - amount of carbon is being saved somewhere else.


Can you give me an example?

Let's say a utility company in Timbuktu wants to replace an aging coal-burning electricity plant with a new solar array which will save 1 billion pounds of CO2 output per year. Now let's say I use 300 gallons of gasoline in a year, at 20 pounds of CO2 per gallon. I can purchase a few "carbon credits" from that utility in Timbuktu that let me add carbon to the atmosphere because they aren't going to be. The utility in turn uses the money I paid for the carbon credits to help finance the deployment the new solar array.


How are we ever going to be carbon emission free if everyone just trades the stuff?

A carbonless existence is not possible. Even our bodies expel CO2 as a byproduct of breathing. The goal of carbon offsets is carbon neutrality.


Did you just say 20 pounds of carbon from a 6.3 pound gallon of gasoline?

Yes I did, and here's how that works (from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml): A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has a weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen). Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12, or 3.7. Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87). We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2.

But if I can just buy offsets for all of my carbon emissions, then why should I worry about reducing my carbon footprint?

Here lies the first point of debate. Yes, carbon offsets can be abused by "buying your way out of responsibility", but this is not what they are intended for and this is not how anyone I know has used them. The idea is to first reduce your carbon footprint as much as you can, then offset what remains (after all, carbon neutrality at today's carbon output levels would not help things one little bit). For example, I hypermile my Yaris so that I get the best possible fuel efficiency (FE) out of it. This means that between my vehicle type and my driving style I have greatly reduced my carbon footprint. However, at the end of the day I still burn gasoline in my engine, and while I am burning much less of it than I used to I am still emiting carbon dioxide from my tailpipe every second the engine is running. I cannot stop that from happening today so I choose to offset the remaining carbon emissions.


If I'm going to do this, how do I know how much I need to offset?

TerraPass offers a calculator.


Of all of the carbon offsetters and exchanges, why choose TerraPass?

And here's the second point of debate. Truth be told I don't care which offsetter you choose. I'd just be happy that you are becoming more environmentally aware and proactive. I chose TerraPass because they are continually audited by not one but two independent third parties and I like their selection of projects, namely the wind energy and industrial efficiency efforts. I'm not sure I agree with their support of flaring methane from landfills rather than capturing it for electricity generation, but at least the flared methane - which is much stronger than CO2 as a GHG (greenohouse gas) - can no longer find its way into the atmosphere.
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Last edited by BailOut; 05-28-2007 at 12:31 AM.
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