How can we Balance our Carbon Footprint?

In order to balance our footprint, we first must measure it. There are ways to measure our carbon footprint. The EPA carbon calculator is one way. There is a calculator for airline flights. We can use rules of thumb such as 113 gallons of gasoline will emit one ton of CO2. If we add up all the emissions from homes, cars, farms, and industry and divide that by the number of people in the US we emit about 16 tons per person.

Of course the ultimate goal is to minimize our carbon footprint. We can walk, take public transportation, install solar collectors, and air seal and insulate our buildings. We should take every logical and financially viable opportunity to minimize our footprint but what do we do with the footprint that remains? What do many of us do that cannot install solar, insulate, or have access to public transportation?

To balance we must reduce the negative effect of our carbon footprint by doing something that has a positive effect.

There have not been many options.

One option is to make a donation based on your footprint to an organization such as the Carbon Fund. They use that donation to fund projects that reduce greenhouse gases. Some of those projects, such as planting trees, do not produce an economic return and could only be funded with donations. Another option available for the electricity portion of one’s footprint is Renewable Energy Credits. These credits are basically a subsidy to existing renewable energy producers and can be purchased without having to switch electricity providers. They have helped renewable energy gain a foothold, especially when wind and solar were not competitive with fossil fuels. In the past six years the price of solar and wind has fallen dramatically and they are now competitive with conventional electricity in many states. The price of energy storage also continues to decline. In this new economic environment, we can expand our options to balance our carbon footprint. Because many clean energy projects now make financial sense, we can have options that are not a sacrifice, donation, or an expense.

One new option is to encourage investment by selling a savings product similar to the war bonds sold during the world wars. The money invested in these bonds is dedicated to financing clean energy projects. The price of these bonds would match the cost of a ton of carbon dioxide. This would enable the purchaser to quantify their impact and response to climate change. To balance 10 tons of one’s carbon footprint one would buy 10 units of these bonds. The purchaser would know they did what they could, with what they have, where they are and they maintain their savings plus interest.

This patent pending method of quantitatively offsetting one’s carbon footprint with investments in clean energy was developed by Carbon Xprint.