CARBON OFFSETS
1. Carbon offsets can be purchased from a number of brokers at per ton of CO2 price. The idea is to pay someone else to do the reduction so the purchaser doesn’t have to.
2. Often accepted by officials as a legitimate way to get credit for carbon reduction.
3. Offsetting projects may involve planting trees, protecting existing forests from deforestation, renewing peat bogs, financing renewable energy projects, etc.
4. Purchased by various entities as a way to generate carbon reduction credit without any actual carbon reduction by the purchaser, i.e. paying someone else to do the reduction.
2. Often accepted by officials as a legitimate way to get credit for carbon reduction.
3. Offsetting projects may involve planting trees, protecting existing forests from deforestation, renewing peat bogs, financing renewable energy projects, etc.
4. Purchased by various entities as a way to generate carbon reduction credit without any actual carbon reduction by the purchaser, i.e. paying someone else to do the reduction.
5. As an example, Bill Gates buys carbon offsets to compensate for his use of a private jet.
6. Problems: Planting trees sequesters carbon but over a 40 year period, so there is no immediate benefit. Preventing deforestation of one area may just shift the deforestation to another area for no net gain. Financing existing projects may just replace existing financing and not generate any new carbon reduction initiatives.
7. Monitoring and quantification of actual offsets is poorly done, if at all, so many of the offsets may not actually happen, and none are guaranteed. We Energies is an example. For a price, they indicate they will purchase renewable energy to reduce use of fossil fuels, but they offer no assurance that it actually happens.
8. While an appealing concept, the implementation of carbon offsets leaves much to be desired, and many companies are using or planning to use offsets to reach stated goals – airlines, GM, etc. – rather than actual reductions. Carbon reduction may thus come to be just another cost of doing business without any attendant reduction in carbon by the purchaser. Hence, carbon offsets can take away the incentive for actual carbon reduction. Extrapolate this concept to its logical end and little has been gained, and the consumer will wind up paying for something without much benefit and company profitability will remain whole.
9. Bottom line: A poor second or third cousin to actual carbon reducing actions, but better than doing nothing because it has some chance of making a difference.
6. Problems: Planting trees sequesters carbon but over a 40 year period, so there is no immediate benefit. Preventing deforestation of one area may just shift the deforestation to another area for no net gain. Financing existing projects may just replace existing financing and not generate any new carbon reduction initiatives.
7. Monitoring and quantification of actual offsets is poorly done, if at all, so many of the offsets may not actually happen, and none are guaranteed. We Energies is an example. For a price, they indicate they will purchase renewable energy to reduce use of fossil fuels, but they offer no assurance that it actually happens.
8. While an appealing concept, the implementation of carbon offsets leaves much to be desired, and many companies are using or planning to use offsets to reach stated goals – airlines, GM, etc. – rather than actual reductions. Carbon reduction may thus come to be just another cost of doing business without any attendant reduction in carbon by the purchaser. Hence, carbon offsets can take away the incentive for actual carbon reduction. Extrapolate this concept to its logical end and little has been gained, and the consumer will wind up paying for something without much benefit and company profitability will remain whole.
9. Bottom line: A poor second or third cousin to actual carbon reducing actions, but better than doing nothing because it has some chance of making a difference.
COMPOSTING
Composting is quite simple, but much of the available resource material makes it more complicated and inefficient than it needs to be. Let’s change that. Special composting containers are not necessary, add more carbon, and often don’t work. Almost any container you already have will work, provided it has ample air holes and access to moisture. However, a pile on the ground (left), with or without a partial enclosure made from scrap materials works just as well. The most important factors are the right mix of materials, moisture content and stirring to provide oxygen. Building a good sized pile also helps.
To work efficiently and quickly, composting requires the right mix of high nitrogen (N) materials (greens) and high carbon (C) materials (brown). A good C/N ratio is 30:1. Below is C/N ratio table for some common composting ingredients, both brown and green. As a first approximation, all high N materials have a C/N ratio of about 20 so only a little brown (C) material will bring the ratio up to the ideal of 30:1. The formula for calculating pounds of brown for each pound of green to reach 30:1 is
b = 10/(br – 30) where b = pounds of brown material and br is the C/N ratio for that material.
For example, for one pound of any of the four green materials, we need to add 0.4 pounds of leaves where br = 55, or only 0.02 pounds of newspaper or corrugated, where br = 500. Approximating the 30:1 ratio is good enough.
To work efficiently and quickly, composting requires the right mix of high nitrogen (N) materials (greens) and high carbon (C) materials (brown). A good C/N ratio is 30:1. Below is C/N ratio table for some common composting ingredients, both brown and green. As a first approximation, all high N materials have a C/N ratio of about 20 so only a little brown (C) material will bring the ratio up to the ideal of 30:1. The formula for calculating pounds of brown for each pound of green to reach 30:1 is
b = 10/(br – 30) where b = pounds of brown material and br is the C/N ratio for that material.
For example, for one pound of any of the four green materials, we need to add 0.4 pounds of leaves where br = 55, or only 0.02 pounds of newspaper or corrugated, where br = 500. Approximating the 30:1 ratio is good enough.
Layering of greens and browns is often recommended, but for small compost piles just mixing them is fine. With the right mix and the right moisture the pile should heat up to 120 to 160 F. A composting thermometer is useful to indicate when the pile is not working properly and needs a mix or moisture adjustment or stirring. Plant-based food wastes will compost at any size, but will compost much faster if chopped into small pieces. Many sites recommend adding egg shells to composting materials. This may be good for the composting process, but can attract animals that will dig them out of the pile, making a mess.
Some sites recommend burying the waste, but this takes away any chance of managing the pile or recovering the compost when finished. Adding soil to the mix as a source of bacteria is not necessary if the pile makes ground contact. So, collect plant-based kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and filters, and any “clean” waste paper, preferably shredded. Freeze to save the scraps, if desired, make the proper mix and watch the temperature. If it starts to climb above 100 in a day or two all is good. If not, check the moisture. It should be about like a damp sponge – about 40-50%. Add moisture, if necessary. Experience will soon tell you how to manage the pile. Under ideal conditions, expect good compost in a few months. You will love the result and it will be kind to the environment. You will also substantially reduce the waste stream going to the landfill.
Yard clippings mixed with browns are excellent for composting, but twigs and limbs will not break down in any reasonable time. Well-weathered old wood mulch will work, however. Yard clippings make up 22% of the landfill stream, but like plant-based food waste they should never go to the landfill. Even the wood will decompose in a landfill to produce methane, so letting it weather and decompose is far better for the planet.
Some sites recommend burying the waste, but this takes away any chance of managing the pile or recovering the compost when finished. Adding soil to the mix as a source of bacteria is not necessary if the pile makes ground contact. So, collect plant-based kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and filters, and any “clean” waste paper, preferably shredded. Freeze to save the scraps, if desired, make the proper mix and watch the temperature. If it starts to climb above 100 in a day or two all is good. If not, check the moisture. It should be about like a damp sponge – about 40-50%. Add moisture, if necessary. Experience will soon tell you how to manage the pile. Under ideal conditions, expect good compost in a few months. You will love the result and it will be kind to the environment. You will also substantially reduce the waste stream going to the landfill.
Yard clippings mixed with browns are excellent for composting, but twigs and limbs will not break down in any reasonable time. Well-weathered old wood mulch will work, however. Yard clippings make up 22% of the landfill stream, but like plant-based food waste they should never go to the landfill. Even the wood will decompose in a landfill to produce methane, so letting it weather and decompose is far better for the planet.