Calculating OEC's Carbon Footprint, Part 2
Enter stage left, carbon offsets! Carbon offsets are a market-based mechanism whereby one offset is purchased for each metric ton of CO2 emissions attributable to the activities of an individual or organization.
John Stahl had a great question about last week's post wondering about air travel for OEC staff and facility usage of electricity. We're still trying to create an accurate picture for our office energy use. Probably like a lot of folks, we share a building with many other businesses and overall cost is split between everyone. It's also proven to be... well, a little challenging to get access to facility usage records. There are also calculations such as shipping and mail to include. Although it's probably not scientific to post a 'best guess,' perhaps ballparking it helps complete our carbon footprint picture more than leaving it blank (see below). However, we do have a clear picture of OEC air travel.
Oregon Environmental Council Travel 2007
- As you can see, air travel is by far our biggest source of CO2 emissions for travel - just under 73% of OEC's total travel emissions for the year.
More on Analysis
If you are thinking about completing your own carbon footprint analysis I suggest you start with one of the many free online carbon footprint calculators, like carboncounter.org that I used in the Las Vegas example, for individuals and organizations. These calculators typically contain fixed input fields that allow for calculation of the emissions attributable to the following: driving, flying, and energy use (usually electricity & natural gas). More complex tools, such as Carbon Footprint or The Green Office, may include additional inputs: propane, garbage, recycling, water usage, diet, etc. After inputting the requisite data the calculator yields a carbon footprint in metric tons of CO2. Now you have the data you need to move on to the next step. Here's what OEC's looked like:
Offsets
Enter stage left, carbon offsets! Carbon offsets are a market-based mechanism whereby one offset is purchased for each metric ton of CO2 emissions attributable to the activities of an individual or organization. Basically, the purchase of one carbon offset equates with a future corresponding reduction of one metric ton of CO2 (or an equivalent in other greenhouse gases) through investments in emissions reduction projects. The emissions reduction projects range may range from installation of wind turbines in your community to reforestation projects in Africa.
Once I had decided on the factors or inputs that I would use it was time to select an online carbon footprint calculator and an offset provider. In my next post I will talk in depth about the challenges that are involved in this part of the process.
I used the The Climate Trust's carbon footprint and offset tool for organizations to calculate OEC’s carbon footprint for the organizations auto miles, air miles, and infrastructure data (electricity and natural gas). I included staff commute data in the OEC’s footprint calculation. Employee commute is not part of The Climate Trust’s footprint calculation for organizations. A couple of notes regarding the carbon footprint and offset cost calculation:
1) In the shipping category I substituted emissions attributable to OEC’s direct mail (performing a separate calculation) and included this along with the electricity and natural gas data under the Facility heading
2) the electricity and natural gas numbers are based on estimates, this data will be updated once it is available
3) OEC is waiting to receive final energy numbers prior to its purchase of offsets.
Stay tuned for my next post, an overview of the Voluntary Carbon Offset Market.
Aloha, Noah
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