Home carbon credits

[PhreeZone 20]

What are peoples thoughts on this as an idea? http://www.earthaid.net

http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/earth-aid-selling-carbon-credits-for-hou.php

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There's no shortage of free online services aimed at helping consumers do things like track their energy consumption, see how much they consume compared to their peers and lower energy consumption using various tools and incentives. You've got Wattzon, Ecomap, Wattbot and others. The carrots these consumers are chasing are lower utility bills and the satisfaction that comes from knowing they are lightening their footprint on the planet. But the startup Earth Aid is offering consumers a new kind of carrot: hard, cold, green cash.

That's the idea, anyway. Participants won't see any money for their efforts until they lower their power consumption for a full year, meanwhile giving Earth Aid a look-see at their utility bills so that the company can verify the numbers (the bills show Earth Aid how much energy the participating household used each month, and how much the utility company charged for each therm and kilowatt hour).

Then, Earth Aid will take your savings and the savings of other participants—which, presumably, will represent a healthy chunk of savings—and then sell them, as a bundle, in the carbon markets. The buyers will be companies looking to offset their carbon footprints by buying carbon credits, either through carbon exchange markets or directly form Earth Aid.

How much participants make off this scheme will depend on two factors: how much they save (and therefore, the percentage of savings they contribute to the credits) and the fluctuating value of carbon credits. In this Washington Post article, Ylan Q. Mui offers some examples based on recent values per ton of carbon on the Chicago Climate Exchange and the European Climate Exchange. At anywhere from 18 cents to a buck and some change for a household with a 10 percent consumption reduction, the theoretical savings are rather small at current rates, based on average energy consumption rates Mui collected from the EPA. But the more participants cut back their consumption, the more they could save. Of course, it's also impossible to know the value of carbon credits a year from now.

The service is free to participants, but Earth Aid plans to make money in two ways: from marketing partnerships with providers of energy-efficient appliances and tools for the home, and through brokerage fees from the sales of the carbon credits.

I personally think that the concept is flawed since the carbon market is so new that there will be major failure in it before it has reached any level of maturity. If the level of returns for a home's improved energy usage is as expected in the Carbon Markets (1-3 dollars a month) then the consumer base still will not see enough of a value to replace their old appliances with something new that has a much higher energy efficiency since the rate of return on energy bills takes years to pay off the difference in the purchase cost and most consumers just do not have that level of patience.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Andrewwhyte 1]

It seems to me this only works if consumers are allocated carbon credits and forced to pay for extras. The big question becomes how do we allocate the credits? Is it X tons/anum/warm body or is their a starting point based upon current consumption? Does Al Gore get the same amount of consumption allowed before penalty as the homeless crack-head or is he special?
Their needs to be a stick to go with the carrot.

[Beachbum 0]

And don't forget the water usage! It's going to take some major changes to people's approach. I know my biggest usage is on my yard, but I live in a subdivision with deed restrictions mandating you keep it looking decent (and they don't hesitate to send out letters if you let it start to get brown!). Here we are in the midst of an early summer 100+ stretch of weather, and I am having to water more than normal just to keep it alive. Getting subdivision management to change it's approach to encourage something that will help with this is going to be very difficult, since it effects property values. I remember reading about a woman (Cali, I think) who tried putting in fake grass to cut back her water usage, and her homeowners assn. forced her to get rid of it. Most if not all of those associations aren't going to exactly welcome the use of native grasses that are more drought tolerant, since they too turn brown when not watered. They just have the advantage of not going totally dead as a result, and do a better job of coming back when it rains again.

As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

[SpeedRacer 1]

home owners associations are from Satan.

just my opinion.

Speed Racer
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[billeisele 130]

while eveyone else is stocking up on 9mm and .380, I've been stocking up on carbon credits, enough to cover my SUV, boat and jet skis till I die

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.