Driving · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with driving

ever wonder how much carbon you produce?

I am so excited about this website: http://www.terrapass.com/

You can plug in information on your personal driving, flying, and household habits, numbers are calculated, and equivalent costs and information about how much carbon you have produced is given to you.

Then you have the option to buy a TerraPass that offsets your carbon production by investing in alternative energy facilities. So, you are not actually buying carbon credits and retiring them, like carbon credit trading, but you are investing in alternative energy projects that indirectly help to decrease overall carbon emissions over time.

This idea was developed by a university professor and his class in an effort to help offset our ecological footprint.

This is a cool idea, fun to do, informative, and allows the average kat to participate in the solution by offsetting the problem with economic investment. Even if you don’t have the cash to throw down, it is sobering to calculate your carbon emissions. Check it out!

With all of the air travel I have done, I should invest about $1,500…

car, carbon, driving, emissions, Energy, produce, travel

What's Your Footprint?

4 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 03/19/06

I just learned that if everyone on the planet lived as I do, it would take 4.2 Earths to provide for them. Meaning: I take up three times as much resources as I should. And that’s with keeping my house at 60 degrees all winter, driving minimally in an efficient car, and being a vegetarian.

This is how it works; on Earth there are 4.5 productive acres available per living human being. The average American uses 24 acres per person. That mean that every American uses up six times what the average Turkish person uses, for example. And obviously, plenty of folks get WAY less than their share.

How many Earths would we need to support your lifestyle? Find out by taking the quiz at My Footprint. You can also find out what your carbon footprint is at this site. And here’s another one, just for kicks. You can adjust them if you live outside the U.S. You can see how people in other countries rate here. Fill me in on your results, and if you have a low number, how come?

car, carbon, carbon footprint, driving, Eco-Chick, resources, spa, style, vegetarian

State of the Union Address States Something Incredible

1 Comment

by Jennifer Veilleux · 02/27/06

Although our President has tried to hold back the tide of change toward cleaner healthier energy, some things he said in his last State of the Union Address suggests that he may be changing his tune, at least for now. The oil money man said that “America is addicted to oil”, and implied that this is a bad thing.

Bush acknowledged that energy sources from solar, wind, and hydrogen not only exist, but that further support into research and development for “alternative energies” will be funded by the federal government! In his speech he declared that we have to push forward in two vital areas: how we power our homes and offices and how we power our vehicles. Following his speech, Bush even went so far as to visit a plant that produces solar panels in Michigan and make public statements about the importance of the technology.

Regarding vehicles, ethanol was mentioned specifically in the State of the Union Address. Ethanol is a fuel that can be produced from various plants and plant matter. It can be manufactured in our own backyard or rather our own rural communities, and in fact, it already is. There is a fuel available, called E85; a mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, and it is used to power cars and trucks.