The greenhouse gases which are ever-present in the earth’s atmosphere help to keep a constant and livable temperature for all manner of life on the planet. Over the years, we have pumped far too many of these gases into the atmosphere in the form of fossil fuels and carbon, causing the planet’s temperature to rise.

Global warming is a legitimate threat which is guaranteed to affect many regions and ecosystems in our own lifetime. The consequences of letting this phenomenon continue to persist and incalculable. The ice caps are melting already, causing the water levels to rise due to thermal expansion. The amount of carbon in our atmosphere is destroying coral reefs, devastating biodiversity. These are just a few of the adverse affects we’re witnessing today.

(more…)

One thing remains certain, the power crisis is not going to diminish or disappear. With our world’s growth in green power efficiency, many of yesteryears appliances are becoming quickly obsolete. As people, we do need to look to our future and realize that a sound investment today will ensure the health of both our pockets and environment in the future. Though many energy-efficient appliances are popping up, a lot of people still own ones which are anything but. In no particular order, here are 10 of the most inefficient appliances you can possibly own.1: Refrigerators. These are some of the most inefficient appliances to ever be invented. Sure, they keep your food cold and make pretty little ice cubes, but they eat away at your electricity bill like no other appliance in your house. You can make a switch to a more energy-efficient fridge, but that still may not do the trick. A good tip to remember is to not buy a bigger fridge than you need.

2: Electric Dryers. Clothes dryers are the number 2 largest consumer of household energy among appliances. Surprising to most people, gas dryers are available and around 80% cheaper to run. Switching to gas is something that may well be worth it, especially if you have a large family which has to dry a lot of clothes.

(more…)

Every year, an estimated 500-billion plastic bags are used worldwide. That’s an absolutely staggering number. When you take into consideration that just one bag has the potential to damage the environment, the other 499 billion are just overwhelming.

There are around 6-billion people on are planet. So to do the math, each man, woman and child uses around 83 plastic bags per year. Of the 500-billion, 1/5 are used in the United States alone.Plastic bags are difficult and very costly to recycle. For that reason, many end up in landfills where they take more than 300 years on average to photo-degrade.

The bags break down into tiny toxic particles that can easily contaminate the soil and waterways. Once an animal ingests these dangerous toxins, they’re forever integrated into the food chain, damaging animals of all sorts and even eliminating some species before they rise to dominance. These toxins are also very dangerous to humans when ingested in large amounts. All it would take is a few glasses of water per day for a few months for an individual to experience health problems from the poison.

(more…)

The entire world seems to be turning green. While some big shot oil companies and other modern moguls drain the life-force from our already bleeding planet, green entrepreneurship is being established as an honorable and efficient business model. There is just something more settling about a business whose goal is to help, rather than one whose ultimate goal is to become wealthy. This environment-friendly brand of business resonates with customers and lets them know that someone out there actually cares.

Green power marketing, among other things, offers utilities and power marketers a way to differentiate their numerous products. To date, utility experience with green pricing has been quite mixed. While some programs have met their goals rather easily, others have been unable to educe significant customer response, and have even encountered resistance from environmental and consumer groups. The common thought is that even though the marketing is “green”, it’s an unfair practice that wishes to take advantage of our planet and its many residents.

(more…)

With the growing demand for alternative power sources, scientists and different manufacturers are starting to piece together different types of green equipment. You now have solar powered devices small enough to run a laptop computer and large enough to power entire office buildings. Solar and wind powered jets have soared through the sky and incredible heights and speeds, all while leaving every drop of oil and gas on the ground. These incredible advancements are made possible by peoples’ dedication to save our planet. But even though we have new devices which create energy in many different ways, some have stayed the exact same for many years. 

A wind turbine is a very simple piece of equipment. It is a rotating machine that converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy for our use with everyday electrical needs. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, then the device is referred to as simple a windmill. But if the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind turbine. Wind machines have been around since 200 B.C., when the Persians used them for grinding grain. They then moved from the Roman’s, to the Dutch, and ultimately to Cleveland, Ohio where the first windmill was used to produce electricity.

What a lot of people don’t know is that wind energy is also a form of solar energy. The sun’s radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates. This in turn causes portions of our atmosphere to warm differently. The hot air rises and reduces the atmospheric pressure of the earth’s surface. And when the cooler air is drawn in to replace it, the result is wind. A wind turbine system is pretty basic in design. There are only two main designs of turbines: vertical-axis and horizontal-axis. Horizontal wind turbines are the most common, constituting nearly all of the utility –scale turbines in the global market. Utility-scale turbines produce 100 kilowatts kW, or larger.

  (more…)

Over the past two decades, solar energy has really caught on. The prices for home solar panels have dropped over 80% and anyone in the world can use them. It provides free energy by harnessing the power of the Sun. Even if the Sun isn’t shining; the solar panels collect and store its energy. You can have free energy everyday and really save a bundle on the high price of living. Solar panels are available the world over, you don’t have to live in sunny California or near a desert for them to work.

I found that I could live “green” and not only help the planet by doing my part to reduce global warming, but also save a ton of money by proving free and clean energy to my entire family. I’m a huge advocate of solar energy and believe that the Sun can provide energy to the entire world, for free, and most importantly, clean. The Sun powers our entire planet. It feeds plants with its powers and holds us in orbit. It’s the most powerful thing in our entire solar system. No wonder some of the ancient people worshipped this glowing giant; they knew exactly what it was, a life force.

(more…)

Our planet offers us some protection against dangerous and devastatingly deadly things in the universe. If the sun’s radiation could penetrate at full strength, our planet would be completely uninhabitable. It would heat up above 700 degrees in direct sunlight, and cool to minus 400 degrees without the sun, a temperature that is called absolute zero. By having an atmosphere, the Earth is protected from this phenomenon and essentially, it acts like an oven keeping a relatively consistent temperature.Half the energy that passes through our atmosphere from the sun is absorbed by the Earth’s surface. The energy that is not absorbed by the surface is then reflected back into the atmosphere where it is absorbed by a blanket of gases. The heat absorbing gases there are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen dioxide. These gases are called Greenhouse Gases, and though they occur naturally in the Earth’s atmosphere, they are also produced by humans. The more gases present in our solar system results in the more heat that can be absorbed. The result is our planets temperature rising. This is called the greenhouse effect, or more commonly, Global Warming.

Global warming is affecting our planet in many dangerous ways. The ice caps are melting and causing water levels to rise. This is known as thermal expansion. When the water heats up, it begins to swell. Warmer waters are forcing some animals out of their natural habitat. Marine life is very precise. It has evolved over billions of years to live in a specific climate and the majority of creatures cannot just readapt to changes as humans can. A few degrees does not affect us, we’re used to changing climates. However, it does affect many other species that are forced to move, or forced into extinction. The rearranging of these species is just one of the dangerous things taking place. This affects much of our ocean, and will eventually start to affect humans. The great coral reefs of the world’s oceans are already starting to see the adverse effects of global warming.

(more…)

I was sent a link today to an article on Business Green that “Study raises concerns over Chicago Climate Exchange offsets”.  While i have no problem with critical analysis, this article starts with author James Murray writing:

“Firms looking to offsets their carbon emissions have today been advised to steer clear of three high profile emissions reduction schemes after a study claimed that while they are delivering environmental benefits they should not be treated as a source of offset credits”

This is clearly a conclusion that would be troubling to 4Offsets, given our status as a participant on the Chicago Climate Exchange, if such a claim was justified.  In fact after making a statement containing much hyperbole about “steering clear” from CCX offsets, he supports the statement with the following quote:

“The study from environmental publisher Environmental Data Services (ENDS) claims that offset buyers should avoid credits emanating from the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (NGACs) and Renewable Energy Credit projects, on the grounds that they were not developed specifically as offset schemes and as such do not adhere to the most robust offset criteria.

Tejas Ewing, author of The ENDS Guide to Carbon Offsets, said that while each of these initiatives were created for “worthy purposes” and are delivering environmental benefits the credits they offer should not be mistaken for offsets.”

Yes after the scathing claim that the CCX offsets are not upto CDM standards, he provides that statement as the evidence.  I don’t find Mr. Ewing’s statement as indicting the CCX projects, in fact he confirms they provide environmental benefits. Mr. Ewing is discussing whether these projects meet a stricter standard of CDM.  What the  critic (business green, not Mr. Ewing) fails to tell the audience is:

1. CCX offsets sell for $6 per ton, certified credits from projects meeting CDM standards sell for $38 (24.44 euros) per ton.
2. CDM projects are more expensive to verify and gain certification
3. UN Certification currently takes more than 2 years from filing till certification.

Most importantly, the CCX is “the only game in town” for the US market, it may not be perfect, but it’s a market with a significant number of CO2 emitters participating and agreeing to offset their emissions.  Since we are mainly a US focused business, we feel it’s important to participate in the US market and buy these voluntary offsets.  If we chose to only work with Certified offsets and pay $38 a ton, it wouldn’t affect the US market, Detroit Edison and Intel would still need to pay $6 a ton for their CCX obligations, not the $38 per ton i paid for certified offsets. 

More importantly, if we buy the CCX offsets, we have the potential to force the price emitters on the CCX past $6.  If you look at the CCX pricing, it’s gone up by over 100% since Super Tuesday (feb 5th) and Mitt Romney’s pull out, this has increased the cost of an offset and therefore increases the attractiveness to emitters of actually reducing emissions, rather than just offsetting them.

This article’s main complaint is ”they’re not as good”.  Wethink that is ok.  From my understanding, CDM and UN certifications are expensive and impractical for small projects. Worst of all it takes 2 or more years for getting your verified CDM project certified.  While i’m not arguing this is bad, it is expensive. If and when the US adopts a carbon cap, they will legislate what an offset credit is and the CCX will comply and enforce those regulations. Meanwhile i think anything that gets the US involved in the fight against global warming is good and that those companies on the CCX should be supported for leading the way.

4Offsets continues to support the CCX and the US market and is proud to be part of the private sector’s leadership in the America fight against global warming