Offset Your Vehicle Emissions Inexpensively on the Farm
If you haven't yet heard, offsetting your vehicle's carbon emissions has become increasingly easy as of late. With plenty of carbon offset programs to choose from, drivers everywhere now have the opportunity to "cancel out" polluting footprints and fight global warming by contributing to earth-friendly programs.
Why bother? Well, to begin with, every gallon of gasoline a car burns emits roughly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Transportation activities account for approximately 27 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to burning 205 billion gallons of gasoline -- and passenger cars account for 35 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted from that!
One relatively new site, DrivingGreen.com, enables consumers to determine the total pounds of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) -- the most prevalent greenhouse gas -- that their particular vehicle emits and its equivalent cost. Consumers are then able to pay that dollar amount to DrivingGreen.com, which provides it to selected farmers to help fund equipment, called 'digesters,' that convert animal waste into renewable energy that is used to power the farm without any fossil fuel, while preventing the greenhouse gases naturally emitted from the waste from entering the atmosphere.
Case in point: the average American with a 2006 car drives 12,000 miles per year, emitting 11,000 pounds Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. With DrivingGreen.com the entire amount can be offset for $40.00.
Though energy from wind power, solar power and planting trees are what most Americans think of when they think of creating renewable energy (which is energy that can keep producing indefinitely without being depleted) and environmental action, offsetting emissions with waste conversion is much more effective in fighting global warming. In fact, it would take planting and growing 128 trees for 10 years to equal the greenhouse gas emission offsets of just one car for a year. In addition, waste conversion projects are permanent and sustainable, while trees are vulnerable to the elements.
DrivingGreen.com is currently working with the following 3 farms to help them repay the farmer the price of the digester and to make the project sustainable.
"We recognize that people will always need to drive, fly and have functions and that it is increasingly challenging to be environmentally responsible," explains program Director, Dan Linsky. "By providing a simple and inexpensive way for people to offset the damage they can't help doing to the environment, everyone can do their part to reduce the magnitude of global warming."
(Source: DrivingGreen.com)
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