Give credit to the Action Climate Task force
What is a Carbon Offset?
A carbon offset is a financial instrument aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The basic
idea of carbon offsets is to figure out your personal or business GHG emissions, "carbon footprint”
and balance GHG emissions with GHG reductions. Purchasing offsets is a convenient mechanism
to balance your carbon footprint.
A “carbon offset” is an emission reduction credit, from another organization’s project, that results
in less greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than would otherwise occur. Carbon offsets
are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and may represent six primary
categories of greenhouse gases. By funding these reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, you
balance, or offset, your own impact by an equivalent amount and your purchase funds additional
GHG reductions projects.
Our recommendations acknowledge the lack of certainty regarding a federal
climate policy and ambiguity this creates for business and industry. Rather than
predict the outcomes and requirements of pending climate policy, we focus on
strategies that prepare Albuquerque’s business and industry sector for nationally
regulated greenhouse gases, regardless of specific legislative outcomes.
We offer a suite of strategies designed to help business and industry understand,
identify and act upon opportunities inherent in greenhouse gas reductions.
These opportunities may include cost reductions through energy efficiency
measures, carbon offset partnerships with private, non-profit or government
entities or positive recognition of voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Our strategies are designed to work within current voluntary state and regional
initiatives as well as pending national climate policy. For example, we address
actions that support participation in the Western Climate Initiative’s (WCI’s)
regional carbon cap-and-trade program, but we also recommend preliminary
actions that help business and industry prepare for and even thrive in a carbonconstrained
Develop a carbon offset strategy that is based on best practices and incorporates actions that are likely to be consistent with national climate.
Investigate funding sources for carbon offset projects. City staff should
advocate and obtain Western Climate Initiative offset credits, develop voluntary
programs to generate income for local offset projects and encourage
the creation of a local carbon offset company. The City should also
develop a tiered incentive purchasing program for employees to purchase
travel offsets from companies based in the City or state.
• Actively participate in Western Climate Initiative program and policy
development by identifying City staff that will serve on the WCI steering
committee. In order to meet this objective, the City must complete its
greenhouse gas inventory and establish an emissions baseline as a prerequisite
to strategic participation and policy creation.
• Identify potential ecosystem assets such as wetlands or forests that may
qualify as carbon sinks for a carbon offset program. In order to accomplish
this, the City must inventory its open spaces to identify potential
eco-assets, establish an ongoing monitoring program and develop and
maintain a database of potential offset projects.
• Prepare business and industry for a carbon offset market by hosting a
conference that educates business and industry about the opportunities
and risks of the WCI carbon cap-and-trade program and pending federal
climate legislation prior to their implementation.
• Design large business programs in order to impact emissions reductions
on a larger scale. These City-managed carbon offset programs focus on
large businesses, their employees and their vehicle fleets. Some examples
include a “junker” car program whereby the City purchases junker cars
as an offset strategy, a carpooling program or promoting flex-time for
employees.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Way On Climate Change
Give credit to Michael Coren
Humans have officially made their home in the concrete jungle. Ours is the first generation in which most of the world's population lives in cities.
With 6 billion people on the planet, and 2 billion more expected within 20 years, the race to our cities and the slums and vast sprawl surrounding some of them will only accelerate. Already, our metropolises -- 21 already have populations of 10 million or more -- consume about three-quarters of the world's energy, releasing vast quantities of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that warm the planet.
Protecting our climate, in other words, means redefining what urban means. Yet much coverage of climate action dismisses local and state government actions in favor of splashy (or, recently, dismal) international announcements and would-be efforts.
Cities have a unique power to drive immediate change involving issues such as public transportation, but they also can help influence prosaic long-term land use planning (think about all those interminable city council meetings) to realize truly sustainable cities. No futuristic visions of cities are needed. For now, the reality is more mundane: asphalt recycling and better insulation in buildings, timers for coffee makers and telecommuting, light sensors, and water conservation.
Local governments are tackling GHG emissions in any way they can: Boston, for instance, has mandated the nation's first green building code for private projects. In Gainesville, Fla., the city utility pays a premium for solar power from peoples' homes fed back into the grid. In Babylon, N.Y., homeowners are eligible for loans to make their homes more efficient, and those loans are entirely repaid through cost savings in their power bills.
But to create low- or zero-emission cities -- among the only ways to avoid dangerous climate change if the objective is to cut GHG emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, the target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- more revolutionary changes are needed.
At least 1,000 cities in the U.S. and around the world are adopting targets and taking action, says ICLEI. Cities are cooperating internationally, offering financial incentive programs for clean power plants and home retrofits, and planning growth and emission cuts as much as half-a-century down the road.
Groups such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center, the Global Carbon Project's Urban and Regional Carbon Management Initiative, and a constellation of universities' engineering, urban planning, and climate science and policy departments have sprung up to support these efforts. This bottom-up approach seems to be gaining steam, despite the inability of climate talks in Washington or internationally to produce a binding climate strategy.
Cities' climate honor roll ICLEI USA has compiled a list of cities taking action to reduce their GHG emissions. Take a look:
Residential Green Building Code: Santa Fe, N.M.
The Santa Fe Residential Green Building Code adopted in 2009 sets a high energy efficiency standard for all new residential construction, with larger homes required to meet increasingly stringent energy use performance benchmarks (homes of more than 8,000 heated square feet are actually required to produce the same amount of energy that they expect to use).
Compressed Workweek: Asheville, N.C.
In 2008, Asheville cut energy demand and commuting costs for employees through a compressed work week. Instead of a traditional schedule, all staff (except senior management) work 10 hours per day, four days each week. The city cut energy use in public works buildings by 13 percent and estimated savings of 249 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
Solar Feed-In Tariff: Gainesville, Fla.
Gainesville Regional Utilities became the first municipally-owned and -operated utility in the U.S. to enact a solar feed-in tariff. Gainesville will pay 32 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for 20 years for power generated by solar electric systems installed in 2009 and 2010.
Promoting Cycling and Walking: Chicago, Ill.
The City of Chicago has drafted its pedestrian and bike plan, including recommendations for a 500-mile bikeway network, street safety improvements for cyclists, and 5,000 new bike racks.
Biogas to Energy: Columbia, Mo.
Columbia was Missouri's first city to have a voter-approved renewable energy standard requiring renewable sources for the city's energy supply. To help meet its goal, the Columbia Biogas Energy Plant came online in June 2008. By converting landfill gas to energy from its decomposing waste, the city can generate 2.1 megawatts of renewable power, enough to power 1,500 city homes.
Wastewater Treatment: Houston, Texas
Since 2006, the City of Houston has tested 20 floating solar-powered reservoir circulators (SolarBees), designed to improve public drinking water quality and reduce water treatment costs by replacing energy-intensive treatment methods. Researchers point to notable improvements in water clarity and other water quality indicators such as pH, total organic carbon (TOC), and turbidity in waters entering the treatment plant.
Solar power: Santa Monica, Calif.
The City of Santa Monica's Community Energy Independence Initiative establishes a net zero [emissions] energy goal for the city by 2020. It aims to produce as much electricity as consumed through energy efficiency measures and solar power. Solar Santa Monica provides free-of-charge energy efficiency and solar assessments for residential and commercial property owners and pre-qualified contractors
Humans have officially made their home in the concrete jungle. Ours is the first generation in which most of the world's population lives in cities.
With 6 billion people on the planet, and 2 billion more expected within 20 years, the race to our cities and the slums and vast sprawl surrounding some of them will only accelerate. Already, our metropolises -- 21 already have populations of 10 million or more -- consume about three-quarters of the world's energy, releasing vast quantities of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that warm the planet.
Protecting our climate, in other words, means redefining what urban means. Yet much coverage of climate action dismisses local and state government actions in favor of splashy (or, recently, dismal) international announcements and would-be efforts.
Cities have a unique power to drive immediate change involving issues such as public transportation, but they also can help influence prosaic long-term land use planning (think about all those interminable city council meetings) to realize truly sustainable cities. No futuristic visions of cities are needed. For now, the reality is more mundane: asphalt recycling and better insulation in buildings, timers for coffee makers and telecommuting, light sensors, and water conservation.
Local governments are tackling GHG emissions in any way they can: Boston, for instance, has mandated the nation's first green building code for private projects. In Gainesville, Fla., the city utility pays a premium for solar power from peoples' homes fed back into the grid. In Babylon, N.Y., homeowners are eligible for loans to make their homes more efficient, and those loans are entirely repaid through cost savings in their power bills.
But to create low- or zero-emission cities -- among the only ways to avoid dangerous climate change if the objective is to cut GHG emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, the target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- more revolutionary changes are needed.
At least 1,000 cities in the U.S. and around the world are adopting targets and taking action, says ICLEI. Cities are cooperating internationally, offering financial incentive programs for clean power plants and home retrofits, and planning growth and emission cuts as much as half-a-century down the road.
Groups such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center, the Global Carbon Project's Urban and Regional Carbon Management Initiative, and a constellation of universities' engineering, urban planning, and climate science and policy departments have sprung up to support these efforts. This bottom-up approach seems to be gaining steam, despite the inability of climate talks in Washington or internationally to produce a binding climate strategy.
Cities' climate honor roll ICLEI USA has compiled a list of cities taking action to reduce their GHG emissions. Take a look:
Residential Green Building Code: Santa Fe, N.M.
The Santa Fe Residential Green Building Code adopted in 2009 sets a high energy efficiency standard for all new residential construction, with larger homes required to meet increasingly stringent energy use performance benchmarks (homes of more than 8,000 heated square feet are actually required to produce the same amount of energy that they expect to use).
Compressed Workweek: Asheville, N.C.
In 2008, Asheville cut energy demand and commuting costs for employees through a compressed work week. Instead of a traditional schedule, all staff (except senior management) work 10 hours per day, four days each week. The city cut energy use in public works buildings by 13 percent and estimated savings of 249 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
Solar Feed-In Tariff: Gainesville, Fla.
Gainesville Regional Utilities became the first municipally-owned and -operated utility in the U.S. to enact a solar feed-in tariff. Gainesville will pay 32 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for 20 years for power generated by solar electric systems installed in 2009 and 2010.
Promoting Cycling and Walking: Chicago, Ill.
The City of Chicago has drafted its pedestrian and bike plan, including recommendations for a 500-mile bikeway network, street safety improvements for cyclists, and 5,000 new bike racks.
Biogas to Energy: Columbia, Mo.
Columbia was Missouri's first city to have a voter-approved renewable energy standard requiring renewable sources for the city's energy supply. To help meet its goal, the Columbia Biogas Energy Plant came online in June 2008. By converting landfill gas to energy from its decomposing waste, the city can generate 2.1 megawatts of renewable power, enough to power 1,500 city homes.
Wastewater Treatment: Houston, Texas
Since 2006, the City of Houston has tested 20 floating solar-powered reservoir circulators (SolarBees), designed to improve public drinking water quality and reduce water treatment costs by replacing energy-intensive treatment methods. Researchers point to notable improvements in water clarity and other water quality indicators such as pH, total organic carbon (TOC), and turbidity in waters entering the treatment plant.
Solar power: Santa Monica, Calif.
The City of Santa Monica's Community Energy Independence Initiative establishes a net zero [emissions] energy goal for the city by 2020. It aims to produce as much electricity as consumed through energy efficiency measures and solar power. Solar Santa Monica provides free-of-charge energy efficiency and solar assessments for residential and commercial property owners and pre-qualified contractors
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