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mercredi 13 janvier 2010

Things To Keep In Mind When Purchasing Carbon Offset

By Jennifer Bennett

With the threat of global warming looming large over our delicate environment, free market strategies like carbon offset and carbon credits that are proving to be powerful tools for environment protection have caught the fancy of individuals as well as organizations.

If you want to compensate for the adverse effects your activities have had on nature, you can buy a certain quantity of carbon offset in order to nullify the damage caused by you. Buying a carbon offset means that the money you invest will be channelled to projects such as wind farms that produce clean energy and reduce emissions.

Before going for carbon offset, you must first identify your daily actions that lead to release of greenhouse gases. Typical activities that account for a significant amount of carbon emissions for most people are use of cars, air travel, and household energy.

After you have identified all these activities that cause emissions, you should earnestly attempt to decrease some of them and get rid of some altogether. Doing this would help you to greatly reduce your role in polluting the planet. You can reduce your carbon footprint by making use of energy efficient lighting, by driving only as much as necessary and also by fitting appropriate insulation to save power while making use of heating or air conditioning appliances.

After you have considered the measures you can take to lower emissions, you must calculate your remaining carbon footprint, i.e., the amount of emissions caused by your remaining actions that are not within your reasonable control. When it comes to different activities, no two ways of emission calculation are the same, but you can take help of many online calculators made for the objective.

The offset purchased by you is utilized by offset providers to compensate for the carbon emissions from your activities by lowering emissions in any part of the earth. You can put your money in one of the environment friendly projects offered by the offset providers, and each initiative has its own way of emission control. But you need to exercise caution while making your selection. You must not put your money in projects with suspicious credentials as that might eventually result in wastage of your funds. Numerous certifying bodies conduct rigorous tests on authenticity and effectiveness to certify schemes, and it is always a good idea to invest in an approved and authentic project.

Finally, you should gather sufficient information on the subject from different sources. It will help you find out who the most authentic offset providers are, what type of projects are most appropriate for an investment, and how to track the progress of the scheme that you have put your money in.

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1 commentaire:

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