Carbon accounting
Can Solar Panels Save You Money?
June 19, 2013 | 
Author As the prices of oil and gas continues to go up and up, the installation of solar panels is giving many families solace and stability. The sun offers an almost infinite source of energy. No wonder so many people are rushing to install solar panels. Indeed, their popularity is increasing so rapidly that manufacturers of solar panels are having difficulty keeping up with demand.
* Two Types Of Solar Panels
Predominantly, solar panels come in two types. There are solar energy panels in the form of ‘solar thermal collectors’. These focus solar energy into a liquid medium, usually water, heating the liquid that is then utilized as and where it is required. The other of the two types of solar panels is known as the photovoltaic module. These solar panels convert the sun’s energy into electricity, which can then be distributed immediately or stored within a battery to be used later.
Solar panels have been commonplace for decades. Think of calculators and watches. Many swimming pools have been heated using solar panels for years. These days, the electricity to homes and offices often comes from the cleaner alternative energy source of bigger, better, more efficient solar panels.
The influence of solar panels has spread so wide that even the National Grid take some of their power from solar energy panels.
* How Do Solar Panels Work?
Both photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal solar panels are made of special materials, most frequently silicon. They act as semiconductors. When sunlight hits the solar energy panels, some of the energy is absorbed within the semiconductor material. That energy knocks electrons within the silicon loose, allowing them to flow freely.
Once the electric fields within solar panels are freed by light energy, they force electrons to flow in one specific way. This flow of electrons is also known as a current. By simply placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the solar energy panels, the current can be drawn off as electricity to be used externally.
The solar panels have built-in electric fields that, when combined with the current described above, will give us what we call a wattage. We use this to describe the power of our solar energy panels.
Why Solar Panels?
There are lots of great reasons to install solar panels in your house. Top of the list is the huge savings you will make on your utility bills. Many people feel good that they are reducing their carbon footprint. Solar panels give off almost zero carbon dioxide emission. Solar panels reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
Another benefit is the freedom of not being tied to the National Grid. With solar panels fully fitted, power cuts and unexpectedly increased electricity bills become a thing of the past.
Solar panels are perfect for those living in remote areas with limited coverage by the National Grid.
* Installing Solar Panels On Your Home
Though there are some very good guides to making your own solar panels and then installing them into your home on a DIY basis, it is advisable to seek out a professional solar panels installation company. Ideally, the installers of your solar panels should be certified by the Low Carbon Buildings Program.
It is not advisable to try to install solar panels without full training. Make certain that your solar panels conform to the local standards laid out by the authorities there. There is a number of complex technical electrical issues to be resolved as well as full safety codes required.
Because of their weight, solar panels often need to be attached to a separate roofing support system.
Professional installers of solar panels should have gone through all the red tape and complicated issues so you don’t have to.
* Getting Planning Permission For Solar Panels Installation
Solar panels are most frequently fitted to the roof or along an external wall of the home. Be sure to check with the local council before doing this. The local authorities in most countries agree that it is acceptable to install roof mounted solar panels. Some places do require detailed listed criteria though.
In England, for example, solar panels of up to 100mm in depth can be laid across a tilted roof without requiring planning permission. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the local authorities have not finalized their legislation relating to solar energy panel, so be sure to check before you go rushing in.
*The Outlook For Solar Panels
As people become more and more aware of global warming and climate change, so the demand for good quality solar panels is increasing. The momentum among people is to move away from old-school fossil fuels in favor of alternative, more sustainable energy options. These include hydrogen, hydro-electricity, solar power, wind and wave.
Solar power is one of the most bountiful of the possible energy supplies that we have here on Planet Earth. As the technology behind solar panels improves in terms of their efficiency, so the cost of installing solar panels is falling. When added to a range of governmental subsidies, tax credits, rebates and grants, the widespread installation of solar panels onto the average householder’s roof is becoming more and more realistic. As the prices are falling further thanks to local competition in the marketplace, so, it would seem that the future of solar panels is very bright indeed
Help Your Business with Carbon And Energy Management
Help Your Business with Carbon And Energy Management
Energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption are becoming mainstays of business accounting as initiatives for carbon footprint reduction. Economies of the future now consider carbon as a commodity, as it is a liability for enterprises throughout the entire world.
Legislation has and will create markets for carbon trading, which will add another column on the balance sheet. As the society is already becoming very much aware of the adverse effects of carbon to the environment, pressure from the society for companies to be responsive to their energy consumption and carbon footprint will continue to increase.
Environmental sustainability may not be handled by a department or administered by the role of a junior member of staff. Carbon emissions must be addressed as a critical element of an businesses existence. To slow down the already felt impacts of climate change, sustainable planning should be measurable, visible and real being part of each corporate requirements, afterall how can you reduce that which you do not measure?
Collaborative approaches in energy and carbon management are now starting to emerge as the traditional systems are just not that holistic in approaching the problem. Sustainability resource planning software is an example of a software-as-a-service approach and is a way that distributed organizations can address this issue from the ground up as they move toward compliance.
The new-age energy management and carbon management systems will be heavily software-based that could monitor, report, and manage emissions which are consequences of energy consumption. A variety of IT systems already exist within the typical organization, designed to handle employee, customer, financial, raw material and finished product management. Carbon and energy management systems will become a critical addition to existing software systems and will be based on the need for greater operational efficiency, enhanced communications, mandated compliance and reputation differentiation.
Traditional methods of accounting are no longer acceptable in addressing problems of energy management and in reducing consequent greenhouse gas emissions.
Businesses are able to use carbon and energy management software to gather data from the asset level, calculating the true cost of ownership for all their assets, engage energy supply and demand management products, analyze and process utility bills, manage carbon emissions and other critical resources.
According to a market overview of carbon and energy management systems, these systems are in the early stage of adoption, but such sustainability software will become a high priority as energy management in general becomes a clear focus of attention.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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What Are Carbon Footprints?
Carbon Footprints
It is not as easy to measure a a carbon footprint, whether it be a persons or even a product’s footprint as some may think.
As an example, let’s take a pack of bacon:
There are many stages in the life-cycle of a food product: raw materials are produced and transported, the food is processed and packaged and then it is distributed to retailers where it is stored. But it doesn’t end there: once bought it must be transported home, stored again and consumed, all of which use energy. Lastly there is disposal – the packaging is collected and usually taken to landfill; a small amount is recycled or reused.
In each of these stages there are hundreds of complex processes, all of which will emit greenhouse gases, which can vary by each individual product. Taking the pack of bacon: At the start of the cycle we have a young pig. Its food is produced and transported to the farm where it lives. Immediately we must ask: How is it transported? By lorry, plane, rail? How is its food supply manufactured? How many tractors plough the corn field where its food is grown, and what are the emissions of each tractor? This can go on, and we are only on the first phase of the cycle. The pig farm machinery must also be taken into consideration – and each farm will be different. What of the emissions from each pig’s bodily functions?
This question may seem insignificant when compared to the many other factors, but it leads to another very important point: The carbon footprint of a product is a measure of its impact on the environment i.e. how much is it going to increase the greenhouse effect? The use of the word ‘carbon’ can be confusing here; there are other gases which when released into the atmosphere have a far greater global warming potential, relative to carbon dioxide.
And so this brings us to methane. Obviously pig’s fart, It is emitted at other stages of the cycle too, such as landfill where waste decomposes and releases methane.
In carbon footprints, these other gases are accounted for and included. The trouble is that many of the carbon footprints quoted today can be somewhat misleading, because they are based on the global warming potential relative to CO2 over a 100 year period. If we had 100 years to address climate change, this would make sense. But it appears we have years, not decades, so it would be more meaningful to consider the effect over the next 20 years. One can see that methane is 3 times more potent over 20 years than it is over 100 years. The footprints of products would almost certainly be different if calculated on a 20 year basis.
Riverford, the largest supplier of organic food boxes in England, came across a good example of the complexity in measuring the carbon footprints of food and drink. Riverford carried out a study comparing the carbon footprint of its tomatoes grown locally to those grown in Spain. It would be reasonable to expect that the tomatoes grown abroad would have a higher footprint – they have further to travel and they must be conserved (refrigerated) on route. However the study showed that while they do indeed emit more CO2 in the transport stage, overall they are less carbon-intensive i.e. fewer greenhouse gases are released in the life-cycle of each Spanish tomato sold in the UK, than in a UK tomato sold in the UK! This is because in Spain, the tomatoes can be grown in the natural climate, but in the UK greenhouses are needed, heating is needed and the growing of the tomatoes requires energy – taken from the national grid. When this is weighed against the emissions from transport, the UK tomatoes have a higher carbon-intensity.
At Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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Companies Benefit From Energy Asset Management
Data gathered by companies from its energy systems will be used to analyze energy efficiency to help decision makers take action on improving its energy facilities and procedures. With the Climate Registry pressuring companies to reduce energy use, carbon emissions will be reduced to eventually help reduce global warming potential (GWP).
Facilities, companies, municipalities and organizations across North America, its’ states, provinces, territories and native sovereign nations, participate in a voluntary agreement. The Climate Registry works towards a common goal to identify, track and record greenhouse gas emissions. This is an ongoing effort to help in the reduction of global warming.
A key component under the Climate Registry is emissions reporting. This procedure pushes companies to take action in identifying emissions and to prepare methods that would curtail and manage such. Current and future greenhouse gas emissions can be managed, with the goal of reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
Within an electrical distribution grid, energy asset management covers all sources — distributed generation of energy, energy storage devices and renewable energy sources. As constant, real-time monitoring of indirect and direct sources is required, asset management software is indicated as these programs can best handle multiple sources and locations around the world.
In addition to tracking real-time energy use, greenhouse gas emissions from specific energy related assets can be tracked by efficient energy asset management. Included with this are HVAC systems, refrigeration, lighting, vehicle and transport, among many other types of equipment. Energy reduction efforts can be tracked in this way.
Protocols are provided by the Climate Registry to assist in energy asset management programs. These guidelines include an in-depth analysis of asset specific attributes linked to energy use. Automated programs will be very helpful in generating accurate measurement of harmful gas emissions and energy sources. Automated programs will be able to monitor and record hourly energy consumption per asset.
Short and long-term objectives are defined through energy asset management with regards to energy consumption. This reveals opportunity to play from and it will be beneficial to plan ahead of time. The goal is to improve operational performance and reduce energy risk, as energy is a major expense for any company. Energy risk factors associated with design and operation can be identified as part of a comprehensive plan to manage all energy sources.
Elements which create practical opportunities for companies can be combined with any asset management program which can help monitor and save on energy use. Several things are achieved, including energy reduction, cost control and for all environmental health.
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Carbon Credits — the easiest means to lead a carbon neutral life
“Climate change has the potential to adversely affect our environment, our communities and our economy unless we take action now – to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts.â€
Our earth is undoubtedly getting warm day by day due to the emissions of carbon dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s) from various human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation etc. Global warming is primarily a problem of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are many heat-trapping gases (from methane to water vapor), but CO2 puts us at the greatest risk of irreversible changes if it continues to accumulate unabated in the atmosphere. CO2 remains in the atmosphere longer than the other major heat-trapping gases emitted as a result of human activities. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change.
Carbon dioxide, the most significant (both in terms of abundance and impact) anthropogenic greenhouse gas, is a natural and essential part of the atmosphere. It is required for the photosynthesis of all plants (photosynthesis is the basis of life on Earth by providing oxygen and huge quantities of organic compounds). Vital for life it is also good for our planet but only at very small concentrations. Too much concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere can turns into a deadly equation, causing adverse effects. About one third of the carbon dioxide that humans produce by burning fossil fuels is being absorbed by the world’s oceans, gradually causing seawater to become more acidic.
As Global warming has threatened us with huge economic dislocations, more powerful storms, diseases, catastrophic droughts, dwindling food supplies, unprecedented floods, and vanishing coastal areas; the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system is all that is now required to save the life on our planet.
To protect ourselves, our economy, and our land from the adverse effects of climate change, we must reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. We should try to compensate for the emissions produced by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving somewhere else. Being carbon neutral is tough but it is our social responsibility to protect the planet for future generations.
Carbon credits are an element used to aid in regulation of the amount of gases that are being released into the air. Carbon “credits” or “offsets†help us to adopt a carbon neutral lifestyle with ease. If you want to go towards neutrality or perhaps adopt a reduce/offset strategy you can buy carbon offsets once you know your footprint.
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Energy Management in the Workplace
Energy efficiency is just one aspect of business management – and it can save businesses a significant amount of money if handled correctly. There are a number of ways to ensure your business is using energy as efficiently as possible, beginning with your service provider and extending through to your company’s day to day actions in the workplace.
To initiate an energy efficiency plan for your workplace, it’s first worth shopping around for an electricity and gas provider. After all, providers vary, and some might have special deals available for businesses. When obtaining quotes, be sure to enquire about contract terms, corporate responsibility policies, and information about the provider’s renewable energy resources. You might also want to research a provider’s customer service ratings before you ultimately make a decision – something that can be achieved on the web or through word of mouth.
Once you have a provider in place, there are a set of energy-saving guidelines everyone in the company can adopt. To begin, all electrical items that are not in use should be turned off. Such items can vary significantly, from the paper shredder to the coffee maker. Another way to significantly cut on energy and gas costs is to turn lights and heating off at the end of the day when everyone has gone home. Some businesses might leave the lights on all night for a cleaning crew to work in the building. However, if the building is large in size or has many rooms, it can account for a lot of unused energy – especially if the cleaning crew will only be there for a portion of the night. If you need to leave lights on for any reason, it’s best to leave only a few – and not all – the lights on, because lights can always be turned on as they’re needed.
Potential energy service providers can also share their knowledge about energy efficiency methods, helping your business cut major energy costs. Some service providers have been known to help their clients cut about £1,000 off their yearly bill – an amount that can definitely help any business weather the economic crisis.
Aside from saving on electricity and gas bills, your business can also reduce its carbon footprint through energy management – which is better for the environment. So take steps today to make your business energy more efficient, and go green while improving financial circumstance for your business.
What is This Carbon Footprint Everyone's Talking About?
The Department of Energy actually has a calculator to tell you how much greenhouse gases you produce on a daily basis.
WHAT IS A CARBON FOOTPRINT? The amount of greenhouse gas you generate by an activity or process. In other words, what impact you make on the environment measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide (C02). How much greenhouse gas do you produce while going through your daily activities such as driving, electricity use, and heating your home?
WHAT EXACTLY ARE GREENHOUSE GASES? Bottom line: Without Greenhouse Gases to maintain Earth’s temperature, it would be too cold for habitation. We need Greenhouse Gases but…we’re tromping heavily with our carbon footprint boots and that’s making the temperature too warm. Hence, the Greenhouse Effect mutates into Global Warming and that’s taken us from “We really should consider renewable energy” to “We MUST implement renewable energy NOW”.
CARBON DIOXIDE IS A GAS SO IT’S HARD TO WRAP MY HEAD AROUND METRIC “TONS” OF CO2…HOW MUCH IS THAT REALLY? The tonnage doesn’t really matter as much as what you can do to reduce that weight. The average homeowner who drives to work, comes home each evening to a household of four, and flies once a year on vacation has an average carbon footprint of 17 tons of C02. That’s not counting what you breathe out…that’s the just excess CO2 you’re using that, multiplied by millions, contributes to Global Warming.
On the flip side, by taking simple steps like changing your light bulbs, driving 10% less, buying Energy Star appliances, you can cut your personal damage from 17 to 7 tons…and that’s not even counting installing solar panels on your house or business!
By taking that additional solar step, you not only zero out your own personal carbon footprint but you create a SOLAR FOOTPRINT, which lessens the damaging effects of others. Then you are not only serving as a role model for others, but you’re negating their damage until they take responsibility for their own footprint.
TRANSFORM YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT INTO A SOLAR FOOTPRINT. If you own your own home, take advantage of the tax and other incentives available and install a Solar System on your own roof. Even if you rent, you can still be a powerful Solar Champion by urging your local businesses and schools to seriously consider taking their Renewable Energy efforts to the next level.
It can be done. It’s already begun. One footprint at a time.
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ISO 14001 Green Business Rewards
Business have many reasons for choosing to implement an ISO 14001 green business management system and most have their eye on the benefits for their business as well as for the greater environment. ISO 14001 is an investment of time and money but done right, it brings very real benefits. Green business can be very good business and it is is about environmental sustainability including consideration of a wide variety of environmental issues not merely requiring good energy management. Increasingly it includes a focus on reducing the carbon footprint of the business involved.
Let’s start by asking what an environmental management system is? And I find that many people consider the answer to this to be very vague and varied. However, put very simply, the name is Environmental Management System. This is interesting because what is actually being done as an EMS does not always include the environment, the way the business is managed, or a system.
- This year the South Australian seafood industry gave their environment award to the Lobster Clean Green program. This is a great program with the most wonderful traceability and on vessel laminated worksheets with some mentions of waste management but it is primarily a HACCP or food safety system. It is not an EMS.
- There are various checklist or “tick and flick” approaches which are a good start to raise awareness of many of the typical issues but because every business, even within the same industry, is different, they will miss things and they create a false sense that the business owner has fulfilled all his responsibilities once he has ticked everything. The auditing of these is often less than robust and they are sometimes once off only. – One size fits all seldom does. When I worked with the finfish farmers in South Australia the National Aquaculture Council wanted me to hand over a generic environmental management plan that could be handed out to all other fish farms in the country. The problem was that every farm involved was different and had very varied environmental issues and we did not have a generic plan and if I had combined them all, and handed it out to others, would those recipients have just filed it as “Done” and never really thought about their own unique problems and risks. I also had issues about the privacy of the businesses that were involved if I simply shared their work.
- The first stage of developing an environmental management system is to write an environmental management plan based on all the aspects that have been identifies, The plan , however, lacks the system that is needed to ensure it is implemented on a ongoing basis.. – “Best management plans” are a real concern because, although many have some excellent features, the word BEST locks in a practice that may no longer be appropriate and it inhibits continual improvement. Can the best really be improved on?
So what about the benefits or “rewards”? No business is likely to do an environmental management system without some reward. Lesson 1 in marketing is to look at the WIIFM or What’s In It For Me factor. In some cases the reward is a feel good factor but most business owners want more if they are going to justify the expense. In the case of many of the early agribusiness EMS models, the reward was lots of Federal Funding under the Pathways to Industry scheme and included “feel good” and peer pressure. And because many of these attempted to reach a very wide number of participants the EMS’s over simplified and frequently omitted systems which unfortunately omitted the major rewards an EMS can bring. This has not been the case in city based management systems because of the lack of funding but many introductory environmental approaches have been run by local government and business groups by personnel without a full understanding of the benefits of systems or the fact that they can be kept simple.
The community awareness and communication sections of ISO 14001 does result in improved relationships with neighbours and regulators once they realize that you are serious about reducing your environmental impacts. The communication built into an EMS and especially ISO 14001 helps when neighbours really don’t understand what a new or different business does so they feel threatened by it and because many of their concerns are not real, the problem is reduced.
In a number of cases, a certified ISO 14001 environmental management system has been what was needed to assist businesses to win court cases where misguided or ill informed pressure groups were challenging the their right to operate their business on so called environmental grounds. I have been involved in assisting several businesses in this situation from varied industries.
Some EMS programs, especially in the Australian seafood industry have concentrated on their community interaction and had little real impact on the on-boat and even less on the on land based practices of some fishers involved so the rewards have been less even though the time input into all the community meetings has been high. Community perception is affected where not all members of the group has changed their pracivces.
The legal compliance requirements in ISO 14001 are important in providing protection to a business from accidentally breaching the law or allowing one of their employees or subcontractors to do so. Owners and directors are increasingly being fined and even jailed because of problems their staff have caused. A robust due diligence defence is a worthwhile reward.
Some of the best rewards are the real savings and increased profits as a result of less waste and greater business efficiency as the business becomes more sustainable. This comes from having a management system rather than from checklists and plans. Plans need ongoing review and feedback so they do not just remain on a shelf.
Certification may well be important for some businesses and this will increasingly be the case. Less restrictive certification designed along the lines of ISO 14001 for smaller businesses and it is important to have these certified still be qualified auditors.
My own experience of having had in-house ISO systems for many years is that the imminent arrival of the auditor at my expense is a reminder that tomorrow is coming in a few days and I cannot delay those things that we all do delay occasionally. I am a fan of external audits for bringing real business benefits.
Regulatory relief, public recognition and preferred supplier status are all important in some markets where having an ISO 14001 certification enables the business to be considered for certain government tenders and the certification can give a real credibility boost over those competitors who are claiming green without any means to justify this.
Marketing image is vital to some businesses and the clamp down on “greenwash” by Australian regulators has helped many businesses with certification to differentiate themselves. It is not legal to use terms like eco, enviro or environmentally friendly unless you can prove this is justified and use of emotive animal images in marketing is also illegal unless they have some relevance. The only internationally recognized EMS certification is ISO 14001 and when we return to the original question of “Are there real business benefits of ISO 14001″; I believe is best answered by helping people understand that to be most effective an environmental management system needs to consider as wide as possible a range of environmental impacts in their business and include a system to manage these which includes feedback and review. The best way to do this is with recognized certification.
Reduce My Carbon Footprint
With the global warming debate in full swing these days, one will often hear the term Carbon Footprint. Just what does carbon footprint mean; what is it? When people talk about the carbon footprint, they are referring to the impact that human activity is having on the environment. As a whole, the entire human race is leaving one, mega-sized carbon footprint on the earth, and this is what is having a devastating effect on the planet in terms of the warming of the globe, the accelerated extinction of many species, the increasing size of deserts and the loss of fresh drinking water. When looking at the carbon footprint at an individual level, each person leaves a different sized carbon footprint. The size of the carbon footprint that a person leaves behind is based on how a person lives their life; how much they contribute to the overall problem of global warming. There are many things that a person can do in order to reduce their carbon footprint; much of it is common sense and easy to do.
The first way that a person can reduce their carbon footprint is to change how they live their everyday life. By taking alternative forms of transportation, such as the bus, car pooling or purchasing a hybrid vehicle, are all ways that a person can reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses they put into the air. The type of food a person eats as well as what they drink should also be taken into consideration when thinking about reducing the carbon footprint. That food and drink came from somewhere, it was processed with something and a lot of energy and water went into production of most of it.
The second way that a person can reduce their carbon footprint is to change how they run their house and business. Changing appliances to updated energy saving appliances, for instance, can greatly reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being pumped into the air. Changing ones habits to turn things off when they are not being used, recycling more, reducing the amount of garbage they put out from their household, using less harmful chemicals for cleaning and so on, are all ways that a person can greatly reduce their carbon footprint.
The third way that a person can reduce their carbon footprint is to do more green things for the environment, such as planting trees. Each tree planted will help to remove greenhouse gasses from the air and replace a tree that has been cut down somewhere else.Purchasing carbon offsets will also help to reduce the carbon footprint, as the money is usually put into programs that work to reduce the greenhouse gasses being put into the air.
This article was brought to you by Go Green- A Carbon offset Program.
Carbon offsetting — A great way to reduce our Carbon Footprints
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the major greenhouse gas that results from human activities and is responsible for global warming and climate change. The concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are increasing at an accelerating rate from decade to decade due to the burning of the fossil fuels in our day-to-day life. Each of our everyday actions consumes energy and produces carbon dioxide emissions e.g. taking holiday flights, driving our cars, working with computers, heating or cooling our homes and offices etc.
Fossil fuels like crude oil, coal and natural gas, being made up of hydrocarbons release carbon dioxide when burned. The carbon dioxide which is released to the atmosphere remains there for 100 to 200 years. This leads to an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, which in turn causes the average temperature on Earth to rise. Studies show that climate change that takes place due to increases in carbon dioxide concentration is largely irreversible for 1,000 years even after emissions stop. That’s why it is absolutely necessary to take steps now in order to save the Green Planet.
In General, Carbon footprint is the term that we use to define our environmental impact in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that we release into the atmosphere. We leave our carbon footprints both directly and indirectly, and the total of our environmental impact is the sum of all these contributions. The main contributors to our carbon footprint are: household electricity and heat, transport, food and clothing. All of these can be translated into a number of tonnes of CO2 per annum released into the atmosphere. All the goods that we consume are either transported in freight vehicles, shipped around the world in containers, or both. This also contributes to our carbon footprint.
As we all are responsible for climate change, it is our responsibility to save the planet by taking active part in the mission to save the planet by reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. By making small changes in our daily habits we can make a big difference. In addition to this we can also take help of carbon offsetting to completely balance out our carbon footprint. Carbon offsetting gives us the full control over our carbon footprints. We can use carbon offsets to reduce, eliminate or compensate for CO2 emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving somewhere else. Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e). One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases.
Carbon offsets.help us to take personal responsibility for the environmental consequences of our activities. Individuals as well as many businesses are now responding positively to climate change as they consider it a smart choice to ensure a better future for all of us.
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