As the human origins of global warming and the likelihood of devastating impacts seep further into the general consciousness, a few companies have learned to trade on the idea that we can neutralize, or offset, greenhouse gas emissions we create every day by driving, flying and generally living in a fossil fuel-powered society.
The offset programs offer individuals and organizations a way to pay companies whose specialty is investing in ventures presumed not to be part of the global warming problem, such as windmills and tree-planting projects. The amount you pay depends on how much greenhouse gas your activities generate — your carbon footprint. The investment is meant to prevent the emission of an equivalent amount of greenhouse gas.
Agents in this enterprise include TerraPass.com and e-bluehorizons.com, both for-profit companies, and nonprofits such as LiveNeutral.org and Carbonfund.org.
A new player entered in June, one we all know well. Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., through its ClimateSmart program, will calculate your electricity and natural gas emissions, charge you an extra fee, typically less than $5 a month to offset 100 percent of your emissions, PG&E says. The company invests that money in a green venture.
On PG&E’s list of approved green ventures are efforts to protect California forests and to increase the capture of methane gas at dairy farms. Next in line but not yet ready for investment are projects in urban forestry and clean-air transportation, said Gail Slocum, the ClimateSmart interim product manager and an attorney and former Menlo Park mayor.
The Environmental Protection Agency lists methane as about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and second to CO2 in terms of its atmospheric impact.
Of the 2,100 dairies in California, just 20 have systems in place to capture the methane from manure pools on the farms, Ms. Slocum said.
ClimateSmart is drawing attention from PG&E customers. In September, the company began advertising ClimateSmart “in earnest” and as of Oct. 23, has signed up 13,062 customers, including 167 in the Almanac’s circulation area, PG&E environment communications manager Keely Wachs said.
“These are the earliest of early adapters,” Ms. Slocum said. “That’s a very good response for a new program that’s basically asking people to pay a small amount more.”
Of the local total, 165 are residential customers, she said, and two are businesses: one large and one small.
A breakdown, based on PG&E numbers and 2006 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, shows Menlo Park leading with 123 ClimateSmart customers, or 0.41 percent of the population; Portola Valley with 19, or 0.43 percent; Woodside with 14 and a participation rate of 0.25 percent; and Atherton bringing up the rear with 11, or 0.15 percent.
The company predicts that after three years, the program will have cut CO2 emissions by 2 million tons, equivalent to taking 350,000 cars off the road for a year. Two new coal plants in Nevada would nullify those gains, she added.
The bigger picture
Comparing household energy use with numbers of cars on roads is a meaningful measuring stick in California. In this state, vehicles are a major problem.
Transportation, Ms. Slocum said, is the cause of most of California’s greenhouse gas emissions: 42 percent from vehicles and 10 percent from oil refineries.
The other large CO2 emission source in California is natural gas, which fuels about half the state’s electricity needs and was responsible for 88 percent of 2004 household emissions from gas furnaces and water heaters, according to the California Energy Commission.
“When somebody is trying to reduce their carbon footprint, they need to look at their natural gas usage,” Ms. Slocum said.
In the Bay Area, electricity from the grid tends to be “cleaner” since 52 percent of it comes from non-fossil-fuel sources, including dams and the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, Ms. Slocum said.
To reflect electricity’s “clean” advantage, ClimateSmart charges more to offset gas-generated BTUs. Customers pay 25 cents to offset 100 kilowatts of electricity, for example, versus $6.53 for the same amount of energy generated from gas.
Using 2007 figures calculated by the nonprofit Sustainable San Mateo County, a typical local household wanting to offset a year’s worth of gas and electricity would pay $154 in Atherton and $52 in Menlo Park.
PG&E itself pays ClimateSmart around $500,000 a year for office operations, Mr. Wachs said.
One ClimateSmart goal is to get more participation from the commercial sector, Ms. Slocum said. A business, compared to a household, has much more activity and a consequently greater impact when businesses buy CO2 offsets and become more efficient.
Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park looked at itself and changed, she said. After an energy audit, Kepler’s spent about $2,000 to redo the lighting. The new lights cut between $1,000 and $2,000 a month in electricity usage, paying off the investment in less than two months, she said.
Which green ventures?
When determining how to spend ClimateSmart funds, PG&E solicits bids only for green ventures approved by the Climate Action Registry, Mr. Wachs said.
The Climate Action Registry sets standards for forest protection and methane capture ventures, and is working on standards for urban forestry and clean-air transportation projects.
To ensure that investors achieve the greenhouse gas reductions they pay for, a Registry team studies a technology like methane capture and sets performance standards that are “rigorous and transparent,” said spokeswoman Nancy Whalen. “It’s an arduous process,” she said.
Once the Registry completes its urban forestry standard, ClimateSmart funds could find their way back here, Ms. Slocum said. If the city of Menlo Park were to plan to increase the number of city trees, it could bid for ClimateSmart funds.
INFORMATION: For information on the ClimateSmart program, call 1-800-743-5000 or go to: http://www.pge.com/about_us/environment/features/climatesmart.html .
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