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Originally Posted by serlindsipity
I work for a company that purchases carbon credits. We have done as much as we can to be low-impact but since our primary issue is the CO2 given off in shipping our items, we can only counteract it by purchasing carbon credits.
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Are you referring to carbon credits in a Kyoto manner or offsets like discussed in this thread?
The company I work for mainly serves the solid waste industry. We design landfill gas collection systems. Since Kyoto, we've been picking up a lot of international work (mainly South and Central America).
The way Kyoto works for us is that anyone can implement real emissions controls and estimate the net reduction in terms of carbon equivalent. They get carbon credits that can be sold to other nations.
We find landfills that may generate enough landfill gas (50% CO2, 50% methane) to be able to have a gas system, design and build it, and the owner of the landfill gets to sell the credits. It gets better if they put in a genset. They can use the landfill gas to generate electricity. Not a lot, just a couple of megawatts. Still, every little bit helps.
The same can be done here but in order to get the credits that can be sold on the market, the facility cannot be required by law to have the system in. That's why places like South and Central America work well. There is basically no govt agency that regulates the environment.
For all the bitching people have about Kyoto, this is one way the treaty is actually helping our economy. Those systems are not cheap to design and install.