Fun Facts About Carbon Offsetting
Fun Facts About Carbon Offsetting
- Carbon Offsetting describes the effort to neutralize or reduce the detrimental impact on the environment caused by human activity.
- In abstract terms, your carbon footprint is the impact that your everyday activities have on the environment, measured in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.
- The Dell Computer Corporation will sell you a tree with the purchase of your personal computer. The tree is planted to absorb carbon dioxide generated in the manufacture and use of the computer.
- Carbon Neutral describes any activity or system that emits no net carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The system may emit some CO2 but a logically related system has been secured to sequester an equivalent of CO2.
- Carbon credits can be purchased from for-profit companies in order to offset activities that emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Such a company is Generation Investment Management, a private company headquartered in the UK.
- Former Vice President and Nobel Prize Winner Albert Gore Jr. claims to live a carbon neutral lifestyle by purchasing carbon credits from companies such as Generation Investment Management.
- Mr. Gore is Chairman of Generation Investment Management.
- Other greenhouse gasses caused by human activity include methane, nitrous oxide, tropospheric ozone, and chlorofluorocarbons.
- A hydrogen-powered car produces no greenhouse gasses from the tailpipe.
- A hybrid engine in a car reduces the carbon footprint of the driver by capturing mechanical energy, storing it in a battery, and using it to power the vehicle as needed. The mechanical energy would otherwise be dissipated as heat.
- For each US gallon of gasoline consumed as fuel, 19.2 pounds (8.7 kg) of carbon dioxide is emitted.
- For each gallon of heating oil consumed, 24.8 pounds (11.26 kg) of carbon dioxide is emitted.
- Approximately 1.36 pounds of carbon dioxide is emitted per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.
- Carbon dioxide had been recently (April, 2009) classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a pollutant.
- In 2003, during the Bush administration, the EPA announced that carbon dioxide could not be classified as a pollutant.
- The average cheeseburger requires about 6.8 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce. This includes raising, slaughtering, transporting, storing, and cooking the food.
- Plants require carbon dioxide to survive the same way that humans require oxygen.
- Assuming 10,000 pages per year, an HP LaserJet 2820 has a carbon footprint of 1364 pounds. The associated electricity cost is approximately $95.
- NativeEnergy.com sells carbon offsets. The cost for an average US home is $168 per year, which offsets the 24 tons of carbon dioxide emissions caused by the home. The site accepts monthly installments or annual payments.
I will help save the Earth by
Sources
- Carbon Offsets for People and Planet - Native Energy
Carbon Offsets from NativeEnergy help you help build Native American, farmer-owned, community based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits. - http://www.hp.com/large/ipg/ecological-printing-solutions/carbon-footprint-calc.html?jumpid=reg_R100
- How Carbon Dioxide Became a \'Pollutant\' - WSJ.com
The EPA's ruling that rising CO2 emissions is a health hazard is the latest twist in a debate over whether a natural component of earth's atmosphere should be considered a pollutant. - Bush Administration: Carbon Dioxide Not a Pollutant
- http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/carbon_offsets.asp
- http://www.sbmtd.gov/GRAPHIC%20ELEMENTS/WHAT%20IS%20A%20CARBON%20FOOTPRINT.pdf
- http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54528
