Offsetters: Your Official Carbon Offset Provider for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Jonathan Lotz

In a previous post, I discussed the concept of carbon offsets and looked at the Pacific Carbon Trust in particular. The Trust is a new B.C. crown corporation that provides carbon emission offsets to businesses and government ministries. This week, the Megawatt spotlight is on Offsetters Clean Technology Inc. Offsetters is a B.C. based company and one of Canada’s leading offset providers. Notably, Offsetters was recently named the Official Carbon Offset Provider of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Offsetters was founded in 2005 by two professors at the University of British Columbia. The company has created numerous carbon offset projects to date, many of which increased the energy efficiency of existing businesses and encouraged the introduction of more efficient energy systems. For example, one offset project was based on the use of a new biomass boiler to heat greenhouses, while another project involved the purchase of a ground-source heat pump system for an extended care facility. Offsetters states that these projects would not have been possible without funds from carbon offset purchasers.

One reason Offsetters focuses on energy efficiency projects, rather than forestry based carbon offsets, is that it claims the carbon reductions from energy efficiency undertakings are more easily verifiable. In particular, a representative from the company suggested that carbon offsets based on tree planting may be less successful because when the trees eventually decompose, they release stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Offsetters insures that all carbon emission reductions from its projects are independently verified by a qualified engineering firm.

In addition to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, Offsetters has already assembled an impressive list of clients. These include Vancity Capital, Bunting Coady Architects and Avison Young Real Estate Solutions, to name just a few. Offsetters also partners with West Jet and Air France to provide free carbon offsets to airline passengers. Patrons of either company may elect to have the carbon emissions from their flight offset by the airline at no cost to themselves.

Megawatt will keep you posted on new developments in the world of carbon offsets and other climate change solutions.

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New Carbon Offset Opportunities from the Pacific Carbon Trust

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Jonathan Lotz

The British Columbia Government’s Climate Action Plan will soon be providing new opportunities to organizations and entrepreneurs interested in undertaking environmental “carbon offset” projects. Carbon offsets are projects that reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere in order to counteract global warming. The economic concept behind carbon offsets is that businesses and organizations purchase “carbon credits” generated by the projects to cancel out their own carbon emissions. Businesses usually purchase carbon credits in order to improve public relations or meet regulatory standards.

The Provincial Government created the Pacific Carbon Trust  as a crown corporation to facilitate the carbon offset aspect of its Green Economy Initiative. In particular, the Trust was created to serve the needs of British Columbia Government ministries, all of which will be required to offset their carbon emission by 2010 under the Greenhouse Gas Reductions Targets Act. The Trust will purchase carbon credits from private suppliers and then sell them to government ministries and businesses.

The Trust recently asked potential carbon offset suppliers to provide information on the kinds of projects they would create and market to the Trust. The Trust expressed particularly strong interest in forestry projects that aim to offset carbon emissions by increasing tree density. All offset projects marketed to the Trust must be based in British Columbia. The Trust plans to purchase carbon credits from offset suppliers by the end of 2009 and will publish a detailed guide on how to submit project proposals to the Trust in July.

Stay tuned to the Megawatt blog for more on the Pacific Carbon Trust and other carbon offset opportunities.  

 
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BC Liberals Win, BC Carbon Tax Stays, Ontario is Legally Green and 7 Amazing Facts about Renewable Energy

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Warren Brazier
This week's musings in renewable energy in British Columbia and beyond...
 
1. BC Re-elects Liberal Government - the government that ignited the renewable energy revolution in the province was re-elected with a new four-year mandate on Tuesday. This is good news for BC's independent power producers and renewable energy industry generally in the province, who faced much uncertainty during the election campaign with an opposition party platform which included a moratorium on new independent power production. One local developer is particularly happy. Crisis averted, now it's game-on for renewables in BC. Next up - the BCUC's decision on BC Hydro's 2008 LTAP, which is expected in June.
 
2. BC's Carbon Tax Survives - in a related story, the re-election of the BC Liberal government allows the controversial (and politically risky) carbon tax to survive to tax another day, much to the relief of the Premier (it was his baby) and environmental groups which see the result as a positive step in the fight against climate change. Now there may be hope that similar GHG reducing initiatives by regional governments are politically possible, perhaps even beneficial to a political party. The local story even caught the attention of the NY Times Green Inc. blog. Now if we really want to get down to business, let's use some of that carbon tax money to help further development of renewable energy.
 
3. US Windpower Industry Seeks Government Push - coming out of the massive AWEA conference in Chicago last week, is the story that the US wind energy industry is pressing for federal legislation in the US that would mandate that creation of a national renewable energy standard of 25 percent of the country's electricity be generated from renewable sources by 2025, up from around 7 percent now (with wind making up 1.5 percent). Similarly, CanWEA believes wind energy can satisfy 20% of Canada's electricity demand by 2025. I follow the US renewable energy industry with great interest as the Americans are taking a clear leadership role in advocating the benefits of renewables in the new green economy. Bottom line - if it's a no go south of the border, you can almost be sure it's not happening here.
 
4. Ontario Passes its Green Energy Act and Torontonians to Pay Premium Rates for Peak Power Two stories from yesterday's Globe and Mail. Ontario easily passed the Green Energy Act into law eliciting a boon for renewables. But Canada's first true green energy legislation is not without its controversy as the province tries to find its way around the nuclear energy quandary.
 
In a related story....

....judging by the online comments to the Globe's news story, the good folks of the City of Toronto are now facing one of the greatest crises of their time - peak time electricity pricing! In an effort to shift energy use in Canada's largest city to off-peak hours and to prevent blackouts, Ontario Hydro will begin charging "smart meter" enabled customers in Toronto (currently only about 10,000), premium rates for peak period usage, and reduced rates for overnight use. Given that the current rates are still relatively inexpensive, the hootenanny should die down fairly quickly. People don't mind spending $4 on a cup of coffee, but charge them $0.02 more per kwh and all heck breaks loose. This is amusing to me.  

5. 7 Amazing Fact about (US) Renewable Energy  Finally, I came across this interesting blog post, courtesy of the Mother Nature Network.
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