Everyone has a certain carbon footprint, meaning that you, your
family, and friends all emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the
earth's atmosphere. Common everyday activities such as turning on the light or especially
major ones like driving, flying, heating or cooling our homes contribute to
global pollution.
There are two very important ways to reduce your CO2 emitted
into the atmosphere
1. OPT2REDUCE - Minimize your greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the amount of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas that you use.
You should identify how you can avoid or reduce your emissions -
where it is not possible or practical to reduce emissions you can offset them.
2. OPT2OFFSET- It is nearly impossible to reduce your carbon footprint to zero and carbon offsets can make up the difference. What you can't reduce, you can balance out (offset) by purchasing carbon offset products and renewable energy credits from our store. By doing so you support and invest in clean technologies and projects that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere for you and help neutralize your contribution to global warming.
Everyone has a responsibility to reduce his or her carbon footprint. Carbon offsetting gives you the opportunity to not just reduce your carbon footprint, but become carbon neutral and offset the rest of your greenhouse gas emissions. Go carbon neutral!
Unfortunately offsetting won't reverse the effect already caused
by trapped greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the resulting environmental
harm cannot be undone. However, carbon offsetting and therefore saving an
equivalent amount of greenhouse gas elsewhere, will help minimize current
global emissions by supporting CO2 reduction projects.
Carbon Offsets
Carbon offsets are carbon emission reductions or removals
achieved in one place, used to offset unavoidable emissions elsewhere.
Individuals, companies or countries can purchase offsets as part of an overall
strategy to manage carbon emissions.
"Offsetting"
The purchase of a carbon offset credit; also called
"offsetting" describes the practice of removing or avoiding the
release of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere by funding carbon
projects that lead to the destruction of greenhouse gas emissions, the
prevention of their release into the atmosphere or the sequestration of carbon
dioxide. Companies and individuals offsetting their emissions generally do so
as a complementary activity to both reducing their carbon footprint and
implementing direct emissions reduction activities. In practice the purchased
carbon offset credits are generated as the result of a greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission reduction project delivering measurable reductions in emissions and
will fund and support Renewable Energy, Methane Reduction, Waste Gas to Energy,
Reforestation and Energy Efficiency Projects worldwide.
For example, a small-scale wind farm project is developed to
replace a diesel-fueled power plant and reduce local demand for firewood and
charcoal. Generating electricity from wind emits less carbon than doing so
using diesel and it reduces local air pollution. The relative reduction in
emissions associated with the wind farm can create an offset. The farm raises
money by selling carbon offsets, which will help fund these kinds of projects
but more importantly help build these carbon emission reduction projects.
Under federal law, renewable generators can force utilities to buy their power. For efficient grid operation, if the utility has to buy the project's power, it is going to use it. As a matter of physics, if the utility uses the renewable project's power, it must, for any given level of demand, use less from other sources.
Efficiency grid operations that use less from those generators that have the highest fuel costs (for example: fossil fuel plants). The result is that for every kWh generated by a renewable generator, one kWh less is generated by fossil fuel plants.
Where do our Carbon Offsets come from?
Our carbon offsets are verifiable, high-quality, and third-party certified (VCS/Voluntary Carbon Standard) credits that are approved and registered. They are retired by our partner firm OPT2GO (www.opt2go.com) guarantying that your emission reductions are permanent, and will not be used or resold again.
Project
1- Hydro Power
Yunnan Dehong Longchuan Bienaihe 1st and 2nd Level Hydropower Stations, China
ID# UNFCCC 1507
The project is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Bienai River, which is on the right second branch of the Long River, in Longchuan County, Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The project consists of the construction and operation of two run-of-river diversion type small hydropower stations.