go green

I am going to DC this weekend for a political training, and I’m not too happy about it. It’s a quick turnaround (red eye out tonight, return Sunday afternoon) so no time for fun, just lots of meetings. The amount of carbon pollutants that a cross country plane flight creates per passenger is about one ton. Fortunately, Expedia.com offered me the option to purchase an “offset” for this trip through TerraPass. It cost me less than $20 to make the trip “carbon neutral.” I wish I had know about this when I flew to Indiana in July. From now on, I’ll be flying green…or at least “greener.” Here are the details for anyone who’s interested in flying green:

TERRAPASS

Balance out your “carbon footprint” through TerraPass. By funding clean energy and conservation projects, you can sponsor a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that is directly proportional to the emissions created by your plane flight.

When you fund clean energy through TerraPass, you’re joining with thousands of others from all walks of life to make a real impact—900 million pounds of greenhouse gases and counting. Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy and affordable to balance out your own impact.

Air travel is a major source of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. A single cross-country plane flight burns about 100 gallons of fuel per passenger. That’s as much as most people use in four months of driving.

Concerned citizens have been taking the lead on this pressing environmental issue by taking responsibility for their own greenhouse gas emissions. By joining with thousands of others, they’re making real, tangible progress in the fight against global warming.

Standards and verification
All TerraPass greenhouse gas reductions must be real, permanent, and verified. To ensure quality, the projects TerraPass funds are validated in accordance with protocols such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard, a global standard maintained by an independent board. The TerraPass audit trail includes an annual independent and public verification of its operations, covering everything from contracts with project developers to the marketing claims on its website.

How does it work?
When you fund greenhouse gas reductions through TerraPass, your money funds projects carefully chosen for their environmental benefit. For example:

Leaning Juniper wind farm – By displacing electricity from dirty fuel sources such as coal, wind farms put us on a path to a clean energy future. Leaning Juniper is the first wind project in the Columbia River Gorge.

Scenic View Dairy – Dairy farm methane digesters break down harmful agricultural waste products and create clean energy at the same time. Scenic View is the first digester project in Michigan, and the first in the U.S. to generate both clean energy and pipeline-grade biogas. TerraPass is proud to support this trailblazing project.

Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority – Methane from landfills is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions—and also a big opportunity. This innovative project produces clean energy by capturing that methane and turning it into clean energy. This project won a “Project of the Year” award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

What you get:
TerraPass is available at three levels, which you can match to your own level of environmental impact. Choose a TerraPass based on the round-trip distance of your flight. The farther you fly the more fuel you burn.

Short-haul flight – Up to 2,200 roundtrip miles (3540 km). This purchase level reduces 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of greenhouse gas emissions.
Cross-country flight – Up to 6,000 roundtrip miles (9,656 km). This purchase level reduces 2,200 pounds (998 kg) of greenhouse gas emissions.
International flight – Up to 12,000 roundtrip miles (19,312 km). This purchase level reduces 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) of greenhouse gas emissions.

Your purchase comes with an optional “Carbon Balanced Flyer” luggage tag for each traveler. The luggage tag is easy to spot and will make your bag stand out from the crowd (and the carousel). You will have an option to claim your luggage tag after your purchase.

is reducing my carbon footprint. I just looked over my fuel records and discovered that I have really been able to cut down on consumption of gasoline this year.

• 2006 – 920 gallons
• 2007 – 740 gallons
• 2008 – 800 gallons
• 2009 – 235 gallons YTD

Looks like I might be able to cut it in half. Of course it is nice to be saving some money (about $1,000 at $2.50/gal), and the time that would have been spent commuting (about 125 hours/yr) is available for productive pursuits or naps. :)

1. Replace all light bulbs with CFLs – DONE
2. Use cloth shopping bags instead of plastic – DONE
3. Recycle plastic water bottles for the homeless – DONE
4. Drive less, use alternative transportation – TO DO

We’ve really been conscious of the need to “go green” since Al Gore’s Live Earth event on 07/07/07. I recently joined the Sierra Club and was pleased to learn that barbecuing (something we love to do) is not a threat to the environment, and charcoal (which we prefer) is a better choice than propane. A recent New York Times article says:

Propane gas versus charcoal is typically a debate about flavor, not carbon-dioxide emissions. But let’s ask anyway. Which is greener? Probably charcoal, according to Tris West, an environmental scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, who last year calculated emissions from the two methods.

He says that since charcoal is derived from wood — and thus trees that took in atmospheric carbon as they grew — burning it on the grill is pretty close to a “net zero” in terms of carbon emissions. Propane, by comparison, is a fossil fuel that adds to greenhouse-gas accumulations. West cautions, though, that it gets a little more complicated than that. Even if burning charcoal is technically greener, it may release particulates into the atmosphere. (Food scientists also warn that it can be less healthful.) It’s good to know that your choice won’t effect any significant change in mass carbon emissions. By West’s estimation, the total amount of carbon dioxide released from barbecue grills on July 4 is on the order of .003 percent of the annual U.S. total.