TerraPass Balances Out 100 Million Pounds of Carbon
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 06.27.06
Congratulations to our pals at TerraPass, who've just balanced out just over 100 million pounds of carbon, the equivalent of taking almost 15,000 Honda Civics off the road for a year, with investments in renewable energy. Their stated goal is to offset 10 billion pounds of carbon; now that they've got one percent down, we're sure the other 99 percent will just fly by. They've been busy on the first one percent, doing some good work with Syriana, Ford and (our gracious web host) Pair Networks. The first one percent is just the tip of the iceberg (so to speak) and we wish them the best of luck with the next 100 million pounds and beyond. Keep up the great work! ::TerraPass blog via ::AutoblogGreen
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I've asked this many times, and I don't know when I'll be satisfied, but are things like Terra Pass really good? or are they just ways for people to feel good about themselves. I mean, are tangible steps taken as a result of these investments that WOULD NOT otherwise be taken, provided people did not give to terra pass, or others?
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editor note: I think offsets are a tool, and like any other tool, they can be used correctly or not. If you use them to continue doing what you're doing, it's still better than if you had done nothing, but it's one step forward, one step back.
But if you make a serious effort to make your live sustainable and then offset the rest, it's two steps forward, IMO. It can help you go farther than you could on your own, and the more people invest money in renewable energy, the better.
sorry for the double comment, but I wanted to add/clarify my question. If a wind turbine is built through TerraPass funds, does that necessarily mean that some coal/gas/oil that would have been burned is not being burned? I don't know enough about electricity generation and the national grid to know how this works. Anybody know?
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editor note: The difference is not immediate, but if wind or solar provides some of the electricity supply, the need to build new "dirty" power plants is slowed down (and eventually stopped, lets hope). It's a mid-term investment.
wooooo thats new; carbon inflation.
Why don't they just by stating their measurement in grams - it'll look even better on their marketing plans.
this bunch are full of beans, I say.
I don't understand why so many people have a problem with voluntary carbon offsetting. You essentially have people paying extra money to fund clean energy programs. It's not much different than someone making a donation to a clean energy project. It's voluntary and it goes to a great cause.