Be Carbon Neutral

by Deborah Mitchell
The Challenge

Becoming carbon neutral may be the most important step you can take to fight the rapid advance of global warming. Unless Americans significantly reduce greenhouse emissions within the next decade, it may be too late to stop devastating global change.

To be carbon neutral, you need to calculate how much carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases you emit into the atmosphere based on your lifestyle, and then take actions to remove an equal amount of emissions from the environment, essentially creating a neutral or zero impact.

The average American, for example, emits 20 metric tons (1 metric ton = 2,204 lb) into the environment every year. This is five times the world average of 4 tons. Overall, Americans emit 121 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per day per person.

To help you become carbon neutral, many websites offer free online carbon calculators to help you determine your "carbon footprint," the total amount of carbon dioxide, in tons, you cause (see below). To "neutralize" the emissions, you need to:

  • adopt energy conservation practices and make lifestyle modifications; and
  • offset the remaining emissions by purchasing carbon offsets, in which you pay a nonprofit or for-profit company to conduct carbon dioxide reduction projects, such as wind or solar power installations or tree-planting programs

Energy conservation is critical because you can reduce up to 40 percent of your carbon footprint. But you should also offset fossil fuel emissions from the production and transportation of goods and services you use, from groceries to appliances to dry cleaning services. This segment makes up about 60 percent of your carbon footprint, so it's necessary to neutralize the gap with additional steps. Carbon offsetting fills the gap.

The carbon neutral movement has been building momentum. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth has been a motivating force, as businesses and other institutions large and small — from Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate News Corporation to Santa Clara University, Infinity Fleet, Google, and URBN Hotels in Shanghai— are adopting carbon neutral policies. Cities around the world are also trying to adopt carbon neutral policies, including one called Masdar City, which the United Arab Emirates announced it would build to be the world’s first carbon-neutral city.

But the movement needs you. For a better tomorrow, be carbon neutral today. Here's how.

How to Make a Difference

 To calculate the carbon footprint for yourself, your family, or your workplace, you can use online calculators offered by websites such as the Carbon Fund, BeGreenNow, and Conservation International. Once you have a figure, you can begin to be carbon neutral! (Note: All the figures given below are averages per year.)

Conservation Approaches

  • Leave your car at home. Use mass transit when possible, or walk, ride a bike, or carpool. For every gallon of gas you don't burn, you prevent 22 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
  • Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. One compact fluorescent light bulb can save 260 pounds of carbon dioxide. Multiply that by all the bulbs you exchange!
  • Weatherproof your home and save an average of 1,700 pounds of carbon dioxide. Ask your utility company for an energy audit.
  • Install low-flow shower heads. Savings: 300 pounds for electric- or 80 pounds for gas-heated water.
  • Seal and insulate your home's heating and cooling ducts and save 3,268 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
  • If your hot water heater is more than 10 years old, it probably is not properly insulated. Use of an insulating jacket can save 1,100 pounds of emissions with an electric heater or 220 pounds with a gas one.
  • Turn down your hot water heater to 120° F. For each 10-degree reduction, you save 600 pounds of carbon dioxide for an electric water heater or 440 pounds for a gas heater.
  • Run the dishwasher only when it's full, use the energy-saving setting, and allow dishes to air dry. Avoiding the heat-dry cycle can save 20 percent in electricity use and avoid 100 pounds of carbon emissions.
  • When buying new appliances, look for the Energy Star Label, which assures you that the product saves energy and helps prevent pollution.
  • Choose a front loading washer, which usually use 60 to 70 percent less water than top loading machines.
  • Use warm or cold water in the washer. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide if you have an electric or 150 pounds if you have a gas heater.
  • Consider a solar water heater. It can save 4.9 tons of carbon emissions.
  • Turn down your refrigerator. Use a thermometer to set the refrigerator to be close to 37° F and the freezer to be close to 3° F. If there is an energy saver switch, turn it on.
  • Consider dozens of other conservation activities, from switching to canvas bags instead of plastic to choosing shade-grown coffee.

Carbon Offsets

  • Carbon offsets generally include projects that develop and/or support renewable energy (solar, wind, biofuels), energy efficiency, and tree-planting programs. To help you choose which carbon offset venture fits your needs and sensibilities, EcoBusinessLinks offers a comparison chart that lists the types of projects groups engage in, who verifies those services, and cost per ton of carbon offset purchased.
  • If you're not ready to purchase carbon offsets right now, you can still help reduce your carbon footprint by planting trees. On average, one tree can absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Get involved in or start a tree-planting project for your neighborhood, community center, church, school, or place of employment.

The Oxford American Dictionary named "carbon neutral" the word of the year in 2006, but it is also our hope for the future. Don't be neutral: be carbon neutral.