The Solar Electric Light Fund, Inc. (SELF) helps individuals and organizations go carbon neutral. A recent example of our efforts was profiled in WIRED magazine.
What Does ‘Carbon Neutral’ Mean?
Becoming ‘carbon neutral’ means that you have neutralized the effect of your personal greenhouse gas emissions, so that your personal and household activities no longer contribute to the dangers of global warming.
On average, 25% of US and Canadian emissions come from our personal activities. The rest comes from industry, commerce, agriculture, oilfields, trucking, defence, and so on. So far, no-one has developed a way to measure the carbon emissions of all the things we buy (cars, houses, food, stuff), which require energy to manufacture, ship, and package, so those emissions are not included in that 25%.
Global climate change is an enormous problem, that needs our urgent attention. A January 2004 study from a team of conservation biologists based at the University of Leeds, Britain, concluded that by 2050, if temperatures continue to increase as forecast, between 15% and 37% of all land-based animals and plants will become extinct; around one million species. This is on our watch, while we are the ones who are responsible, with the ability to reduce this toll.
In addition to striving to reduce your personal emissions, becoming carbon neutral at the household level is one way to exercise this responsibility.
What Are Carbon Offsets?
A carbon offset is an initiative which neutralizes the impact of a carbon emission. For example:
* If you plant trees on land which would otherwise have been tree-less, the trees will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and store the carbon for the life of the tree. (This is also known as "sequestration".) Some people have reservations about tree-planting as a carbon offset, since as the global temperature increases, there is a risk that the trees will burn down, succumb to pest damage, or cease to grow.
* If you support the development of a wind turbine or solar photovoltaic panel which would not have otherwise been installed, replacing the use of diesel, gas, kerosene or oil, this will reduce the CO2 emissions that would have been released by those fossil fuels. This is what SELF does, when it installs solar PV systems that displace kerosene or diesel.
* It is essential that the activity you are supporting would not otherwise have happened. So if someone is installing a solar hot water system on their roof, for instance, which will reduce the amount of gas they burn to heat water, and you offer to pay for half of it, that is not a valid carbon offset.
* Installing a solar panel on your own roof will reduce your personal emissions, but it will not offset them unless you install more solar PV than you need, so that the surplus can be sold into the grid, reducing the quantity of fossil fuels needed to make electricity.
Follow the logic?
Hard and Soft Offsets
There is a global marketplace for carbon offsets, and a system of verification which ensures that the offset you paid for is really happening, and can not be sold to anyone else. This is important to sustain the credibility of the offsets. Most offsets are being bought by companies which have made a voluntary commitment to reduce their emissions, or are required to by state regulations.
For individuals, there are two kinds of offsets that you can buy: "hard" and "soft" offsets. A hard offset will neutralize a measurable quantity of CO2, as described above.
A soft offset is a financial contribution which supports an organization which is working to tackle global climate change, and reduce our overall emissions. If your contribution helps an organization to hire a member of staff whose efforts result in the State Legislature passing a bill which requires all power utilities to offset 50% of their CO2 emissions, for instance, that is an enormous achievement, which will cause a tangible reduction. The same logic applies if the organization is doing public education, or promoting cycling as an alternative to driving. You will never be able to measure the tons of carbon reduced thanks to your contribution, which is why this is a ‘soft’ offset, but it is still a totally valid way of offsetting your personal emissions.
How Does SELF’s Program Work?
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) helps rural, off-grid people in developing countries to power a brighter future through clean, renewable energy and modern communications.
SELF’s projects are shaped by local priorities and led by local people, often women, and address critical needs in homes, schools, clinics, agriculture, and microenterprise. A nonprofit formed in 1990, SELF has mounted high-impact projects in thirteen developing nations, from Brazil to the Solomon Islands, bringing the benefits of clean solar power to over 100,000 people. Its efforts have earned honors including the Green Cross Millennium Award for International Environmental Leadership, and selection as a Laureate in the 2002 Tech Museum of Innovation Awards.
Global climate change is threatening the stability of climate and ecosystems all around the world. The average US citizen produces 5 tons of CO2 a year from the use of fossil fuels for their personal use, through electricity, home heating, and in vehicles and airplanes. This includes all America’s babies and grannies, so a typical working householder might produce 10 or 15 tons a year. We need to find ways to reduce our emissions, and to neutralize the effect of those which we cannot reduce.
A $400 solar PV home system, installed by SELF in a village in Nigeria or the Amazon, which replaces kerosene as the main source of lighting, will offset 6 tons of CO2 over its 20-year lifetime. If a contribution of $400 is invested in a revolving loan fund, enabling the financing of 6.6 solar home systems over this 20-year period, this will offset 40 tons of CO2, at a price of $10 per ton.
On average, SELF installs 1,000 solar PV systems a year in developing nation villages, averaging 50 watts each. By replacing the use of kerosene and diesel, each system prevents 6 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere over its 20 year life. Altogether, therefore SELF’s activities prevent 6,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.
If your personal emissions of CO2 are 10 tons a year, and you contribute $100 to the Solar Electric Light Fund, SELF will use your donation to offset your emissions for one year by bringing solar energy to 6 or 7 families in Bhutan, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania or one of the other countries where SELF works. You will help speed up the global solar revolution, while acting responsibly as a global citizen. You will also receive a charitable tax receipt.
YES! I Want to Join SELF’S Carbon Neutral Club
That’s great! It’s a quick, easy two-step:
Step One: Calculate your emissions by choosing a carbon calculator to work out what your personal emissions were for last year. For one example of a carbon calculator, see www.epa.gov/climatechange.
Step Two: After using the calculator, click here to make your contribution to SELF, at $10 per ton. Welcome to SELF’s Carbon Neutral Club!
You can also offset the emissions from a flights, or holiday. Go to www.chooseclimate.org/flying to calculate your emissions from flying, then return here to offset them, at $10 per ton.
Global Warming: What are the Solutions?
If you want to learn more about the solutions to global warming, read Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change, by Guy Dauncey and Patrick Mazza (New Society Publishers, 2001).
"A fabulous book. Everybody talks about the climate, but nobody does anything about it. Now they can. Stormy Weather provides a sweeping vision of the issues, and comprehensive practical solutions. A must read for anyone who wants a cleaner, healthier planet."
- James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
About the book:
Earthfuture: www.earthfuture.com/stormyweather
New Society Publishers: www.newsociety.com/bookid/3717
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865714215/
qid%3D997830075/sr%3D2-1/103-3414966-7611006
Amazon.ca: www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865714215/702-8066324-7001612
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