Many of our clients don’t know about one of our shop’s proudest accomplishments, a partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundation to offset the carbon production of our client’s vehicles. Since we started our Carbon Neutral Program (CNP) in 2007, members have prevented more than 1.4 million pounds of carbon from being dumped into our atmosphere. Aside from saving our environment, CNP members rest easy for another reason… they save 10% on labor charges here at the shop! Here’s how it works…
What are the details of the CNP?
You can choose to sign up for the CNP at any time. Your one-year membership gets you
- · Carbon offsets to counteract the carbon output of your vehicle
- · 10% discount on labor charges at Tom Dwyer Automotive Services
- · A really cool window cling sticker
Cost varies by vehicle type because of the variation in vehicles’ carbon production. Hybrids typically cost about $60, most cars cost about $100, and guzzlers cost about $180. Because of our partnership with Bonneville Environmental we can get you these carbon offsets at half price, so Hybrids cost $30, most cars are $50, and gas guzzlers are $90.
To make the CNP attractive to everyone we take the 10% discount as soon as you sign up, so if you’re doing a repair with $500 in labor then the labor discount can pay for the membership fee in just one visit!
How do I join?
Just give us a call at 503-230-2300, or talk with your Service Advisor the next time you’re in. We’ll handle all the details of getting you hooked up with Bonneville Environmental and on the road to carbon-free driving.
Why should I care about carbon?
We know about the threat of global warming, and the possible threats to our coastlines, food production, and even the continuation of life on Earth. This warming is caused by gasses in the atmosphere that trap the heat of the sun like the glass panes of a greenhouse. There are many types of these ‘greenhouse gasses’, but one of the most prevalent is carbon. It’s a by-product of burning, and most of the human contribution to atmospheric carbon comes from burning fossil fuels for power generation, in industrial processes, or our cars. The best current science tells us that the “tipping point”, the point at which the damage of global warming will become almost impossible to reverse, is about 350 ppm (parts per million) of carbon in the atmosphere. Currently, we’re at 387ppm. To prevent irreversible global warming we have to reduce the carbon output of our society.
How much carbon do I use?
A “carbon footprint” is the measure of net environmental carbon contribution of any activity or combination of activities. This footprint is large (positive) if it adds carbon or small (negative) if it absorbs carbon. For instance, driving your car to work adds to your carbon footprint because you are emitting carbon from combustion. Because almost every human activity produces some quantity of carbon it’s almost impossible to reduce individual or point-source carbon production to zero, but we can be cut our total carbon output to zero (become carbon neutral) by balancing total carbon production with reductions in other areas.
If you want to offset your personal carbon usage (called being “carbon neutral”), where do you start? The first step is determining the size of your carbon footprint. There are carbon calculators all over the web but the one we used breaks a footprint into Home, Transportation (car), and Flight. We used the Average US values, and came up with this…
Home- 16,366 lbs/yr Transport- 10,383 lbs/yr Flight- 5,800 lbs/year (Avg. 4 roundtrip flights per yr)
Total 32,459 (14,723 kg)
…so, the “average” American would need to buy 15 carbon offsets to completely balance out their own carbon footprint.
What are Carbon Offsets?
Carbon offsets are a way for individuals and businesses to fund large-scale projects to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere. The “offset” concept is based on the idea that amount of carbon (or other greenhouse gas) the individual or business produces themselves can be counteracted by funding reduction in carbon in other places. One carbon offset is the reduction of one metric ton (1000kg) of carbon, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gasses (CO2e). For example, if a power plant can install equipment to reduce 100 tons of carbon then it could create 100 carbon offsets, which can then be sold to fund the equipment. Conservation projects also create offsets; for example tree planting can absorb anywhere from 2 to 48 metric tons of carbon (2000kg to 48000kg) of carbon per tree per year, or 2 to 48 carbon offsets.
Who buys Carbon Offsets?
There are two markets for carbon offsets, the compliance market (cap and trade) and the voluntary market. In the compliance market, created by the actions of the Kyoto Protocol, high-carbon-producing companies are forced to either reduce their own output or buy offsets for that output from other companies. The thinking is that overall carbon production will be reduced, clean companies will be rewarded, and dirty companies will either have incentives to clean up or be penalized for staying dirty. The compliance market accounted for about $5.5 billion of offsets in 2006, or about 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2e reductions. The much smaller voluntary market, worth about $705 million in 2008, is made up of people who are trying to reduce their personal environmental load. Voluntary offsets are available for either an overall lifestyle carbon contribution, or even for individual events like plane flights.
How do I know Carbon Offsets are any good?
Of course, carbon offsets are only as good as the projects they fund. The carbon offset market is new and there has been a lot of fraud, so companies popped up to certify that the offsets being offered were actually cutting carbon. Many now exist, such as The Gold Standard, The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the company we buy offsets from for our Carbon Neutral Program, uses the Green-E certification to ensure quality. If you’re interested in going carbon neutral it doesn’t really matter which certification you use, but make sure the company you’re buying from has some kind of third-party approval for the quality of their offsets and the projects they’re involved with.
When are Carbon Offsets successful?
Carbon offsets successful when you stop needing to buy them. In other words, they are not a substitute for living as clean as you can. Carbon offsets are only helpful in mitigating the carbon we can’t eliminate, not the carbon we are unwilling to eliminate. If you can reduce carbon in your life, then DO IT! Don’t depend on outsourcing your own responsibility. However, if you’ll be tethered to a carbon producer (like your car) for the foreseeable future then carbon offsets are one way to help you step more lightly on the planet. And our Carbon Neutral Program makes it as easy as possible to lighten your steps.
