The Biochar Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Credits’

“A carbon offset or (carbon credits) is assumed to be a financial instrument which shows greenhouse gases emission reduction and helps us to take personal responsibility for the environmental consequences of our activities.”

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas produced by human activities, primarily through the combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal. As a result of tremendous world-wide consumption of such fossil fuels, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased over the past century which ultimately resulted in a global warming, the prime suspect in the greatest mass extinction of all time – wiping out 95% of all life forms on the planet.

We all are responsible to add CO2 and ultimately the global warming. Carbon footprint is a measure of the impact of our activities on the environment, and in particular on climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases we are producing in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating, transportation etc.

As the Global Warming issues are getting attention of the masses, people are seeking a perfect solution to handle the situation before it becomes too late.Carbon offsets are becoming an increasingly popular way for individuals and businesses to participate in solutions to global warming. Carbon offsets help us to balance out our carbon footprint easily and effectively in a more peaceful manner. Offsetting emissions is a process whereby an individual or organisation purchases carbon credits to neutralise its global warming impact. Each carbon credit represents the abatement or sequestration of one tonne of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases – or carbon emissions – from our atmosphere.

The basic idea behind carbon offsetting is that you pay to fund projects that neutralise CO2 emissions produced by you. You invest your contributions towards greenhouse gases reduction through projects which produce clean energy that replaces the energy production from fossil fuel. Wind farms project is a good example of such projects. Other types of offsets available for sale on the market include those resulting from energy efficiency projects, methane capture from landfills or livestock, destruction of potent greenhouse gases such as halocarbons, and carbon sequestration projects (through reforestation, or agriculture) that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Carbon credits allow us to become more “Carbon Neutral”. You may be doing everything that you possibly can to reduce your carbon footprint, but it still might not be enough. Despite your energy saving, recycling and green transportation efforts at home and at work, you still may feel like you are not adequately reducing your carbon footprint. In this situation you can consider buying carbon credits for the more promising results and peace of mind at the same time. When you purchase carbon credits you help lower your carbon footprint and you prevent global warming. Before you purchase your carbon credits always make sure that the organization you are supporting is legit and is truly helping the environment.

Carbon credits are becoming a key component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases. There are many benefits for a business to reduce their carbon footprint and become carbon neutral when skyrocketing energy costs eat into profits. A carbon credit is the best way to help individuals and companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by offsetting them in a more environmentally friendly way.

Incoming search terms:

• carbon capture
• co2 sequestration
• whirlpool carbon credit offset

Carbon credits are a financial instrument that is part of national and international attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One carbon credit is equal to one ton of destroyed greenhouse gasses. These credits are generated by projects that either absorb carbon or otherwise reduce emissions through clean energy. Many individuals are now taking an interest in their carbon footprints, trying to lower their usage, as well as trying different ways to offset their carbon usage.

Carbon credits are part of an approach to emissions trading. With a certain amount of greenhouse gas allotted to markets, each individual group is given the opportunity to decide how much of a limited amount can be designated to each area. This allows industries to control the amount of greenhouse gasses they are using. This also allows industrial and commercial processes to market in the direction of lower emissions, or approaches that are used to not emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. This helps to finance carbon reduction schemes.

Carbon credits are in two different markets, the large compliance market and the smaller voluntary market. Corporations and industries participate in the compliance market where they purchase carbon offsets to comply with caps on carbon dioxide emissions. In 2006, about .5 billion of carbon offsets were purchased in the compliance market. This represents about 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2e reductions.

Many companies sell carbon credits. Carbon credits are purchased from investment funds or carbon development companies. Many of these companies have saved these credits from other individual products, and offset themselves and the buyers by selling them. The quality of the credits is based on the validation process, the type of fund, and the development company. The price is also affected by these things. Voluntary units typically have less value than the units sold through the rigorously-validated Clean Development Mechanism.

There are common features to carbon offsets: vintage, source, and certification regime. Vintage refers to the year in which the carbon reduction takes place, while the source refers to the project or technology used in offsetting the carbon emissions. The certification regime describes the rules and regulations that are in correlation to the carbon offsets.

In the smaller, voluntary market, individuals, companies, and others purchase carbon offsets because of their own determination to lower greenhouse emissions. The emissions they focus on lowering are most often transportation and electricity usage. In 2006, about million of carbon offsets were purchased in the voluntary market, representing about 24 million metric tons of CO2e reductions.

There are two distinct types of carbon credits: carbon offset credits (COCs) and carbon reduction credits (CRCs). Carbon offset credits consist of clean forms of energy production, wind, solar, hydro and biofuels. Carbon reduction credits consist of the collection and storage of carbon from the earth’s atmosphere through reforestation, forestation, ocean and soil collection and storage efforts. Both ways are valid and positively recognized, each used in different situations.

Carbon credits initially came into existence as an attempt to inform and create awareness of the need to control emissions. Since then, it has been proven that the concept of carbon credits can be highly successful. This tradable system is one of the policy instruments that are very effective. As long as prices are maintained it should continue to be positive.

Creating real carbon credits comes from the concept of supplementarity within the Kyoto Protocol. Supplementarity means that internal abatement of emissions should take precedence before a country purchases carbon credits. It establishes that countries should develop real, measureable, permanent emissions reductions. There are steps involved in deciding whether or not carbon credits are legitimate. This means making sure that the process through which the carbon credits are submitted are in fact real, measurable, and permanent emissions.

Creating real carbon credits involves the concept of additionality. This refers to a term used by Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism, describing the fact that a carbon dioxide reduction project would not have occurred had it not been for concern for the mitigation of climate change. By proving additionality, it proves the legitimacy of the environmental stewardship claim resulting from the retirement of the carbon credit.

Involved with real carbon credits is personal carbon trading. Personal carbon trading has not yet been approved, but may very well help lower carbon usage as well as create small, localized economies. Personal carbon trading is a concept that is along the same lines as carbon offset credits. The concept of carbon trading refers to emissions trading.

It is hoped that personal carbon trading will help lower the amount of emissions by allotting a certain amount of emissions to individuals on an equal per capita basis. The number would be based on national carbon budgets. The credits would be surrendered later when buying fuel or electricity. Any individual who needs or wants more carbon credits would need to trade or purchase additional credits. Not only does this allow for people to get additional credits, it also makes it possible for those who do not need all of their credits, or are voluntarily lowering their carbon emissions, to sell surplus credits. Individual trading under Personal Carbon Trading is similar to the trading companies under the European Union Emission Trading System.

Personal carbon trading is not the same as carbon offsetting. They are very similar in the sense that they pay for emissions allowances, but carbon trading differs in that it is designed to be mandatory so nations are guaranteed domestic carbon emissions targets. There are various carbon proposals. Included are Tradable Energy Quotas (TEQs), Personal Carbon Allowances (PCAs), and Tradable Personal Pollution Allowances.

Depending on the personal carbon trading that is chosen, individuals would most likely use electric accounts to control the carbon credits. The account would allow individuals to surrender credits when purchasing electricity, heating fuel, and petroleum. Personal Carbon credits would also be used for public transportation. Those who sell their extra credit would benefit by lowering their carbon footprint, which is of course, the entire point of personal carbon credits.

Incoming search terms:

• biochar carbon credits 2011

 “Global Warming” or “Climate Change” as its called now since the globe hasn’t warmed in more than 10 years now is being set up as a massive global tax on every productive member of society  The fact that the globe isn’t warming still hasn’t changed the minds of the politicians who want to play on the science illiteracy of the general public. So they have figured out a way to tax every man, woman, and child for something that isn’t necessary except to maintain their own political power over the rest of us. Thus is invented the “carbon footprint.” The idea of a “carbon footprint” is perhaps political correctness taken to its most absurd extreme.

The carbon cycle is defined by “Wikipedia” as a biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the atmosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and the atmosphere of the earth. This cycle has been going on for as long as the earth has existed. It began before mankind walked the planet and will continue well beyond our existence here. All forms of life on this planet are carbon based. Plants, animals, insects, creatures in the sea are all made of long chain carbon molecules.

It is largely plant life that has formed the massive coal and petroleum reserves we are utilizing today for fuel. As these products are being oxidized (burned), carbon is being released back into the environment.

On one hand, those who advocate the burning of forestland with prescribed burns call what they do as “carbon neutral” because all they are doing is releasing sequestered carbon. The increase of plant growth – both the trees and the understory- are supposed to take in the carbon dioxide being released by burning and “re-sequester” the carbon.

Following this logic, we are already doing that with our carbon-based fuels. It takes energy to produce a car, a house, a building, or a highway. Carbon is used in its many forms to produce these commodities. Arguably, these new ‘forms” of carbon are sequestering carbon better than one could ever hope to do with a forest of trees.

Look around and see what you can find that isn’t some form of carbon. I have played this game with several folks from time to time and they haven’t stopped to realize how much carbon is all around us everyday. The streets we drive on are asphalt – a long chain carbon molecule mixed with crushed limestone (calcium carbonate.) The plastics virtually everywhere are long chain carbon molecules. The steel in our cars, building, metal signs, etc. are iron and carbon. The paint on the cars, roadways, signs, houses, etc. are all carbon-based molecules. You can go on and on and will be hard pressed to find something that doesn’t have some form of carbon in it – from the sheet rock in the wall to the concrete in the curb – to all things living or dead – they all have carbon as one of their elements.

When playing this game, it’s hard to spot something that isn’t carbon based in some way or another. Someone will point to the windshield of the truck, but then I point out that the safety glass has a thin layer of plastic sandwiched between the glass. Base metals such as copper or aluminum are some of the few things in our world that do not contain carbon but carbon was required to develop them into useful items.

The “carbon footprint” guilt trip is laid on most heavily by those most likely to make money – and a lot of it – with something called “carbon credits.” When you hear this term, hold onto your wallet, for someone somewhere is going to figure out a way to relieve you of some of your hard earned dollars (made with cellulose by the way – a long chain carbon molecule.)

Politicians have been swayed into thinking that this is a good way to raise tax revenues and the first plan was called “Cap and Trade.” (Today, it is being called “The Climate Bill” – as if anything we can do will actually change the climate.) The original idea is that the person who can sequester carbon would trade his “carbon credits” to someone who, by necessity, had to produce carbon dioxide as part of their business. This would pay the person sequestering carbon while permitting the creator of carbon dioxide to go about their business as usual while paying a “tax.” The middleman – the broker of carbon credits – reaps the rewards and nothing is actually accomplished in the form of carbon sequestration.

The carbon credit-trading scheme is about as convoluted a process as one might ever expect to find. One of the first originated in Chicago – called the Chicago Climate Exchange. You can go on their website if you think you’d like to delve further into this morass of bad science. The complexities of carbon credit trading make the IRS forms look easy by comparison.

Meanwhile, the environmentalists are pushing the planting of trees to save the planet. Trees are well known carbon sinks and yes, they are a good method of sequestering carbon. Any tree person knows that and it is in our best interest to plant more trees, right? Well, maybe. I realize its heresy to bring this to your attention, but trees are not the most efficient methods of sequestering carbon. A healthy tree can sequester 13 pounds of carbon per year. Assuming 400 trees per acre (roughly a 10 foot x 10 foot plot per tree – that’s a lot of trees per acre), a total of 2.6 tons of carbon can be sequestered per year. (See http://www.coloradotrees.org/benefits.htm#carbon) With each tree occupying a small space, can they actually grow efficiently? In addition, where will this land come from to plant all of these trees?

Now the real kicker is that grass – i.e. pasture or prairie – can sequester 34 tons of carbon per acre. Even more if it is fertilized – as much as 47 tons per acre in a field of fertilized alfalfa. End result? An acre of grass is 13 to 18 times more efficient at carbon sequestration as an acre of trees. (Those who love the sport of golf now have a new argument in the favor of more golf courses.(http://mbforagecouncil.mb.ca/CustomBlox/Files/Live/Blox/859/Carbon_Sequestration_in_Pastures_FINAL_June_26_P.pdf)

I look out in the pasture and see cattle grazing. These carbon-based life forms are taking cellulose (carbon molecules) and turning them into proteins (also long chain carbon molecules). I will be doing my part as I enjoy a grilled (with carbon fuel) steak to complete the carbon cycle. 

For now, I don’t think I’ll worry about sequestering carbon. The grass is cycled back to the soil in the form of manure – a similarity closely akin to the carbon credit schemes dreamed up by politicians. If they really wanted to sequester carbon, they would make more plastic. It’s said that the plastic water bottle takes a thousand years (or more) to return to the earth. How many trees do you know that can last a thousand years? 

Incoming search terms:

• co2 sequestration
• climate change
• water climate