SACE is Carbon Neutral
Knoxville, Tenn. (January 28) – Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) remains a carbon neutral organization after offsetting its carbonemissions from activities in 2009. SACE’s first priority is to invest in officeenergy efficiency improvements, make healthy travel choices, and to operateextensive recycling programs in our offices to minimize our total carbon impactas much as feasible. However, in order to offset those carbon emissions that wecould not avoid producing, SACE participated in a carbon analysis and offset program.These offsets will help reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
A carbon offset represents a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that are created through financial support of projects that eithereliminate emissions or avoid their creation. SACE worked in partnership withVerus Carbon Neutral, a Georgia-based company that specializes in auditingcarbon footprints and providing carbon offsets from the Chicago ClimateExchange.
“By offsetting their carbon footprint, SACE has reducedtheir impact on the environment — similar to taking 43 cars off the road for ayear,” said Eric Taub, founder and managing partner of Verus Carbon Neutral. “SACEwas also able to avoid the creation of 20 metric tons of CO2e by switching to abiodiesel blend for transportation in its Clean Energy Biofuels subsidiaryoperations.”
The carbon analysis begins with an audit to calculate allemissions related to organizational activities including office electricityuse, business travel, employee daily commute, office waste and recycling programs,and events sponsored. VerusCarbon Neutral calculated SACE’s total yearly carbon output and translated itscarbon footprint into a dollar value, which became the total amount of theoffset.
For SACE, purchasing carbon offsets is not a substitute for being conscientious of energy use. “We think that buying offsets is a part of the complete picture forbeing responsible for our carbon footprint,” said SACE Executive DirectorStephen Smith. “Since the reality is that emissions are inevitable consequencesof our activities, we’re trying to lead by example, and support a project thatis reducing emissions overall.”
SACE chose to purchase offsets that support the emissions-reducing Wright Family Dairy Methane Capture Project located in Baxley, Georgia.The dairy farm captures methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, from its cattle and uses the collected biogas to generate electricity and fuel the farm. To learn more aboutthe Wright Project, visit http://www.verus-co2.com/education-projects.php.
To learn more about SACE’s efforts to be carbon neutral, read a recent blogpost detailing the process, visit https://cleanenergy.org/2010/01/28/carbon-neutral/. # # # Southern Alliance for Clean Energyis a not-for-profit, non partisan organization working to promote responsibleenergy choices that solve global warming problems and ensure clean, safe,healthy communities throughout the Southeast. www.cleanenergy.org