Standard Carbon in the News
By Matt on July 3, 2008
I just recently added Standard Carbon to the Carbon Offset Providers Rating. You can read a story here about their CEO discussing climate change as a republican issue.
Topics: Carbon Neutral | No Comments »
Update on Carbon Neutral Provider Rating
By Matt on July 2, 2008
The Carbon Neutral Provider Rating is the back bone of the site. I just added:
3Degrees
Eco Voom
Go Neutral
Standard Carbon
You will be hearing updates about these organizations very soon!
Topics: Carbon Offset Provider | No Comments »
2008 National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference
By Matt on July 2, 2008
For over a decade, the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference has been the industry’s paramount annual gathering attended by leading renewable energy and green power industry stakeholders. Each year the most influential key players, including power marketers, renewable energy developers, large purchasers, retail and wholesale green power suppliers, electric utilities, equipment manufacturers, government agencies, energy consultants and nonprofit experts gather to listen to their peers present on the major issues facing the industry. This year’s conference promises to be our largest yet and will take place in scenic Denver, Colorado on October 26-29, 2008.
- NETWORK with businesses and colleagues at a conference venue reserved exclusively for this event.
- GAIN NEW INSIGHTS through the shared experiences and knowledge of leading experts, businesses and purchasers.
- PARTICIPATE in new interactive sessions and discussions on the latest topics and issues related to renewable energy and carbon markets.
- LEARN about profitable strategies for industry growth and current renewable energy supply and demand trends.
- CELEBRATE the 2008 National Green Power Leadership Awards and banquet, which will be held in conjunction with the conference.
More Information here
Topics: Renewable Energy, conference | No Comments »
Do Non-Profit Offset Providers Have an Advantage? Part II
By Matt on July 2, 2008
I wrote about how non-profit carbon offset providers have an advantage over for-profit providers. One reason I listed is because when you buy offsets from a non-profit, your offsets are a tax deduction. Read part one here.
DID I GET E-MAILS!!! To clarify: you can deduct the price over the actual cost of the offset as a deduction. If you pay 8.00 for an offset, but the project only costs 5.00 you can deduct 3.00 as an income tax deduction off. I still think that is an advantage (but that is not what this posting is about)
I currently track 4 non-profit offset providers in the Carbon Offset Provider Rating. 2 of the 4 organizations are very unclear about how much you can deduct and make it seem like you can deduct the whole thing on your taxes.
This is from LiveNeutral’s front page
To me this seems like your carbon offset purchase is tax deduction
This is from LiveCooler’s front page, note the word donation is used:
This is from LiveCooler’s about page:
There are also non-profit providers that don’t mention that your offset is a tax deduction!
Carbonfund.org doesn’t mention anywhere on their site that your purchase of carbon offsets is a tax deduction. You have to look really carefully at the footer of their website to even see that they are a non-profit:
Now Sustainable Travel at first had me with this one on their front page using the word donation:
I expected to click on the link and have them talk about purchasing carbon offsets but instead they talk about membership support levels
There clearly is some room for improvement when it comes to transparency on the issue of are my carbon offsets tax deductable.
Topics: Carbon Offset Provider, Live Climate, LiveCooler, LiveNeutral, Sustainable Travel International, carbonfund.org | 1 Comment »
TerraPass Roles Out New Event Calculator
By Matt on July 1, 2008
TerraPass yesterday announced that they have a new event calculator. Many carbon offset providers have sections on their websites for event offsetting but they don’t provide a calculator for events. Instead many providers have you contact them to calculate how much carbon your event will produce.
What is an asset of this calculator is that it is simple to use. The calculators ask you about flights (short, medium, long), auto use, and hotel rooms. The calculator can not provide an exact number and it is very difficult to come up with an exact number. To calculate flight carbon production you need to know what type of plane, how many people on the plane, and how much is in cargo. This level of preciseness could never be applied to an event.
Check out the calculator here
Topics: TerraPass | No Comments »
Carbon Offset Program at Denver International Airport on Hold
By Matt on July 1, 2008
In January I wrote here about how Denver International Airport (DIA) was looking to roll out a carbon offset program to their passengers. DIA is the 11th busiest airport in the world with 49,863,389 passengers in 2007. This could be a potentially huge captive audience waiting to buy carbon offsets. USA Today reported that they put the program on hold because there is lack of interest from carbon offset vendors. There was only 1 carbon offset provider interested in selling offsets at DIA.
You can read the USA Today article here
Topics: Carbon Neutral | No Comments »
LittleCarbonFeet something different, maybe
By Matt on June 30, 2008
LittleCarbonFeet is new for-profit carbon offset provider that launched a few weeks ago. They are still in the BETA phase right now, I will be interested to see what changes they make when they are done with Beta. The concept is interesting, you calculate your carbon footprint (same as other offset provider). They have some interesting carbon calculators that let you figure out the carbon you produce from heating, electric, car, flight, and cruises. Then you buy carbon offsets, which are from the Chicago Chicago Climate Exchange.
This is where they are different. You get a badge to put on your blog or website after your offset. When someone click on your badge you get 5% of their offset purchases. It is an interesting reward system for encouraging your friends and family to buy offsets. I wonder if there could be a more social networking component.
Topics: Chicago Climate Exchange | No Comments »
Carbon Offset Your House as a Selling Point
By Matt on June 29, 2008
This has to take the cake! Buy Owners blog says that a great selling point for your house is to make it carbon neutral. The posting discusses how great TerraPass is as an offset provider and the all benefits of going green, and:
PLUS add another benefit to your home’s list of features, helping you appeal to more buyers.
I don’t think carbon offsetting is the next great wave in the home sales. Each family that lives in the home has their own unique carbon footprint based on energy use. It would be impossible to predict what the next home owners carbon footprint will be.
You can check out the posting here http://blog.buyowner.com/?p=275, you will note that I didn’t link directly to it because this post doesn’t deserve the back link.
Topics: Carbon Neutral | No Comments »
Carbon Offset Procurement Officer
By Matt on June 27, 2008
First Climate is a leading global Carbon Asset Management firm. We are a leading provider of carbon offset services, trading and advisory, with a strong global market presence in sourcing and procuring carbon credits. To strengthen our team, we are looking for:
Carbon Offset Procurement Officer Position located in San Francisco, CA
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Jobs | No Comments »
Eco-Libris Offers a New Product
By Matt on June 27, 2008
You know eco-libris, they are the guys that balance out the books you buy with planting a tree and giving you a sticker to put in that book. Well they are now offering a new product, birthday card. They are now selling birthday cards with planting 5 trees for $6.50. A lot of carbon offset providers sell gift cards but nothing this reasonable of a price.
Topics: Eco-Libris | No Comments »
