A few weeks ago, I picked up a very interesting article in Inc. I learned that Enterprise Rent-a-Car is partnering with Terrapass to allow folks who rent their cars the opportunity to offset any carbon emissions they create by driving their rental cars. I surfed over to Terrpass’ website and learned, to my great surprise, purchasing carbon credits is cheap and easy. Easier than I ever imagined.

I’m not sure why I thought that carbon offsets were complicated, but for some reason, I had this idea that offsetting carbon outputs were for big corporations. But that’s simply not true. Anyone can purchase carbon offsets to fight global climate change and promote clean, renewable energy at the same time. Here’s how it works.

For my business, I decided I wanted to go completely carbon neutral. That means offsetting all the emissions associated with running my business: electricity, travel, the whole shebang. So the first thing I did was go to Terrapass.com and click on the Business link and initiated a conversation with Mira, Terrapass’ Manager of Sales and Business Development. 
It turns out that there are several areas of business activities which create carbon outputs:

• On-site energy use. The amount of carbon emitted varies with the sorts of power plants used in your region. If you’re on coal, that puts out a lot of carbon; hydroelectric, not so much.
• Next, there’s off-site energy use. This is the invisible-to-you power consumption that happens when you have a web site (hosted by a company like GoDaddy, for example). Like your own energy consumption, the carbon load varies, depending on where your server space is located geographically.
• If you travel, then you’re generating carbon outputs. That includes cars, trains, and airplanes, power usage during hotel stays, etc. If you commute a long distance, use lots of shipping, or your employees commute or travel a lot, this can add up to quite a lot of outputs.

Determining how much carbon my business emits was pretty simple. I run a home based business, so I provided Mira with data from a couple of recent power bills along with some information about how big my house is, how many square feet my office takes up, and how many miles I travel by car and plane every year. A few hours later, Mira supplied me with a simple run-down of what my carbon emissions were.

The carbon offsets you can purchase from Terrapass are “vintage matching”, which means that you offset your carbon outputs more or less in real-time. If you purchase carbon offsets in advance of your 2008 travel, for example, you can be assured that the projects that reduce outputs by an equivalent amount are happening in 2008 as well. For Zugunuhe, our carbon credits for 2008 are based on our 2007 outputs. Terrapass’ carbon balance projects include generating wind powered electricity and converting methane from cow manure and landfills into power sources.

If you choose to reduce your carbon outputs, either for business or personal energy uses, here are some things to think about:

• Make sure that whatever business you purchase carbon credits from is certified and audited by someone like Green-e. Green-e makes certain that the carbon reduction benefits are real. As part of my research for this article, I found a non-profit that sells carbon credits but had no obvious audit process. That makes me wary. Be cautious and go for well established companies and organizations that utilize third party audit.
• Consider reducing your outputs by opting for wind power or other renewal energy sources directly from your power company. Out here in Oregon, we have the option of buying “Blue Sky” energy which is produced by wind power. That means less outputs so less to offset through a company like Terrapass.
• Invite customers to be part of the fun. Enterprise opted to match offsets (up to a full $1 million) when folks renting their cars purchase offsets for their trips. This allowed Enterprise to do good and do well–and demonstrate that their carbon balancing act wasn’t merely for marketing purposes.
• Not all carbon offsets are created equal. Manure to electricity projects reduce carbon emissions in the here and now. Rainforests are part of what regulates the earth’s climate as a whole. Ultimately, I plan to invest in both but depending on your point of view, one may be more important than the other. Bottom-line: do your homework.
• Whatever you do, be transparent and authentic. You don’t have to do everything. Just do something and be honest about what you’ve done. Don’t exaggerate and don’t lie.
• Be accurate in how you talk about your carbon reductions. The folks at Terrapass told me that it’s better to say "carbon balanced" than "carbon neutral" because being carbon neutral is impossible. You’re fighting global climate change, not preventing it.
• Finally, stop worrying about the cost. I offset my entire 2007 offsets for Zugunruhe for a whopping $63. That’s right–less than a $100. So there’s not excuse not to do this and the nice folks at Terrapass included me in their partners program within minutes of finalizing my purchase.

You don’t have to do everything–none of us can. But that is not an excuse to do nothing. There are no magic bullets to fix the mess we’ve put our planet in. That’s why every thing you do counts.

Now get out there are get something [good] done today!