The Kick The Gong carbon credit research project evaluated four top-tier carbon offset companies: TerraPass, CarbonFund, NativeEnergy and LiveNeutral. Each is a valid option and worthy of your business. However, I set out to decide which organization is best for me personally.
Matt suggested that I evaluate smaller carbon credit organizations as well, and not just the larger industry leaders. I’m all for that, but Matt didn’t provide direction on which smaller carbon credit companies to add to the list.
The bright news is that buying carbon credits isn’t a one-time deal. I plan to buy offsets each year, as well as for any personal air travel. So, there is plenty of opportunity to buy more offsets from other providers.
My final carbon credit choice came down to TerraPass or CarbonFund. As you can see from the title, CarbonFund won in the end.
The two deciding factors were CarbonFund’s status as a nonprofit company, and that it offers the ability to choose where your carbon credit donations are spent. I am a huge fan of building a sustainable renewable energy infrastructure across the globe. I also like CarbonFund’s call to action:
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Reduce what you can. Offset what you can’t.
Now for the tally. I reentered my driving averages into the CarbonFund calculator and got a completely different set of numbers. Driving my 2005 Jeep Liberty an average of 15,000 miles a year generates 7 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The cost to offset those emissions: $38.51.
My wife drives her 2006 Subaru Impreza an average of 8,000 miles a year, which generates 3.09 tons of carbon dioxide each year. The cost to offset those emissions: $16.97.
The total:
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Miles driven per year: 23,000
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Tons of carbon dioxide generated: 10.09
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Offset cost: $55.48
CarbonFund credits are on the inexpensive side. To increase the inconvenience of producing so much carbon dioxide to begin with, I plan to buy additional credits to offset our home energy use. I just need to receive our electricity bill to figure out how much additional offsetting is needed.
The next step in my personal journey on the green path is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and trash I produce each year. To start, I plan to reduce our annual mileage by at least 15 percent. That brings our total to below 19,550 total miles for the year.
I also plan to incorporate other green initiatives into my life, which I’ll share with you.
Stay tuned as the journey continues.
Thanks for the great posts, and glad to have won! Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need anything.
- Russell
Carbonfund.org
By: Russell on March 7, 2008
at 9:34 am
I agree that you ruled-out TerraPass, especially after last evening’s reliable report on The New Hour when TerraPass wouldn’t defend the reliability of its offsets. However, your posts didn’t distinguish between what one might call “compliance” offsets and “voluntary” offsets. The former are governed by a specific set of known rules across all participants, the latter are governed by a variety of “standards.” I have favored LiveNeutral because LiveNeutral purchases and retires credits only from CCX, which determines and enforces (of its members) what are real reductions and what are not. LiveNeutral’s program, among your chosen providers, comes closest to “compliance” offsets. Of course, you considered other factors too. What’s most important, of course, is taking responsibility for your emissions.
By: charles on March 7, 2008
at 10:21 am
i’d be interested in the specifics you learned from each company. i had been using terrapass but because of them not being transparent i have been looking into native energy. i didn’t know about carbon fund before your blog. i’m interested on things about where the money goes, how they pay their employees, etc. if you have these details – please send them my way. if not – no worries. just thanks for writing the article.
By: lisa hendrickson on December 28, 2008
at 8:23 pm