Being Carbon Neutral

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Wishing all of you a happy July 4th (Independence Day)!

Antarctica now has more than 400 ppm of  CO2 (the last remaining place to reach). Scientists consider 400 ppm as an important marker. This is an alarming situation. It is crazy that many politicians in USA still do not believe in global warming!

I have set up a goal to be Carbon Neutral by 2020.

Progress so far
  • Use LED lights: Except for chandelier lights, all of them are LED. I tried the chandelier LED bulbs but it does not work very well (very little used).
  • Recycle: Recycle packages, cut vegetables, etc ..
  • Install Solar:  I generated 3.64MW in 2015. I used 2.6 MW (sold 1MW -  net positive).
  • Bike: Biking (for fun) and also go here and there.
  • Buy better mileage car: Bought Prius so far in the last 5 years.
  • Conserve Water: Save water before hot water comes for bath (and reuse)
After all these, where am I now?
I used the website to do calculations and here is what I get on my current consumption. This is a simple way to calculate.
  • Auto: 6.3 Metric tons of CO2
  • House: 0.3 Metric tons of CO2
  • Air Travel: 5 Metric ton of CO2
  • Misc: 2.4 Metric ton of CO2
So, my CO2 contribution is: 14 metric tons. Since I sell 1MW of solar power (~ 1.5 Metric Ton of CO2), my net consumption is 12.5 metric tons of CO2.

 Here is the average usage stat:
  • The average footprint for people in United States is 20.40 metric tons
  • The average for the industrial nations is about 11 metric tons
  • The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 metric tons 
The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 metric tons


 How to get there?
  • Electric Car: Buy electric cars in future. Already lined up for a Tesla 3 (hopefully next year) 
  • Buy a motorcycle: Got disapproved by my wife and so bike more :-)
  • Buy less: Buy things when I need it. Don't follow American consumerism model (this applies to me only ... I can not force rest of my family here)  
  • Plant Trees: Figure out a way to plant new trees in my village in India
  • Solar: Donate solar lamp/stove in my village in India. 
Assuming 1 electric car in next 4 years + some biking, I can reduce from 12.5 to 9 metric tons. The best thing I can to reduce is to plant trees. How many trees, do I need to plant each year?  I used the following data from my solar vendor monthly email:

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Your Carbon Offset for this month: 646 lbs

You have offset the equivalent of: 8 Trees
1 Tree = 80 lbs of CO2
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My path is clear:
  • Buy 1 electric Car in next 4 years
  • Plant/fund 100 trees a year (= 8 Metric Tons)
  • Donate 10-20 solar lamps/cooking in my village (1 Metric Tons)
If I do this, I should be close to carbon neutral. Of course this calculation is simple and there are lots of other things which happens ... but it is not worth thinking about it. Make the problem simple and then only it can be solved.

I will update next year (if I keep doing blogs) on where I am and what challenges I faced. Need to focus on how I can plant trees in India and making sure they survive for first 2-3 years (at least) - that may be the hard part. I have to give a try.

If I am not able to get tree planting project started in India by end of 2016, I will do this (Commit to 100+ trees/year). I hope some of you may join forces. See this article.

Let's all create a plan and work on it. Each little step we can take, it will go a long way .. ultimately the future of humanity depends on us.

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I would like to take this opportunity to wish a happy 25th anniversary to one of my blog supporters; a friend and a sister. May you continue to have the beautiful journey for a long time!
 
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07.04.16

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