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Featured Offset Projects |
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Wright Family Dairy Methane Capture Project Located in Baxley, Georgia, the Wright Family Dairy is collecting an estimated 4,770 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (227 tons methane) per year; 47,700 tCO2e over ten years. The project was verified by SES, Inc., Merriam, KS and registered with the Chicago Climate Exchange. The system is engineered to capture manure for up to 1,000 head of cattle a year. The farm utilizes a plug flow anaerobic digester for manure digestion and methane collection. Electrical power generation is created from the biogas fuel and used to run the farm and excess electricity is sold to the local utility. A biodigester is an enclosure that traps methane produced by bacteria which breaks down organic matter (waste). The resulting product, biogas, can be used in place of natural gas or propane for a variety of functions. When organic material, like animal manure, decomposes, it emits methane—which is approximately 21–25 times the effect of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. A biodigester speeds up decomposition and captures the methane, protecting the environment. Biodigesters help farmers deal with troublesome waste management problems. A typical cow produces 120 pounds of waste each day. Biodigester help dairy farmers like the Wright Family who work hard to protect water bodies and groundwater from manure. Biodigesters create a useful by-product that farmers can sell for fertilizer or mulch, creating organic soil supplements and adding to local farm revenues. Currently priced at $2.75 a metric ton |
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Valley Wood Carbon Sequestration Project Valley Wood manages The Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation carbon sequestration project is one of the Chicago Climate Exchange’s (CCX) first projects using a managed forest protocol. The foundation is a 501c3 organization that was established by Mr. Holland Ware to fund philanthropic pursuits, including animal shelters, animal research, and the prevention of cruelty to animals. Mr. Ware and the foundation are significant contributors to the U.S. Humane Society. Mr. Ware contributed more than 64,000 acres of forest land to the foundation and those lands, in Georgia, have been enrolled in a carbon sequestration program with the CCX. Carbon sequestration scientifically measures the net amount of CO2 stored by a sustainably managed forest as it grows and matures. Through complex quantification and certification processes, Valley Wood calculates the carbon stored on timber lands. Sustainable forestry is the management of forests to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by practicing a land stewardship ethic which integrates the reforestation, managing, growing nurturing and harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of wildlife, plants, soil, air and water quality, and aesthetics. More information regarding the Holland M. Ware Foundation is available at www.hmwcf.org Currently priced at $2.75 a metric ton |
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The Andhyodaya Biogas Project Andhyodaya, an NGO based in Kerala, India, is working with local farmers to convert organic waste into cooking gas. Andhyodaya aggregated 20,000 small-scale biogas projects, registering over 40,000 metric tons of CO2e offsets with the Chicago Climate Exchange. The project helps to destroy methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes 21–25 times more towards global warming than CO2. The captured biogas replaces wood as a cooking fuel source, saving trees and reducing the chances of carbon monoxide poisoning. The anaerobic digestion units used to collect the methane also help to preserve drinking water supplies from contamination. Over 200,000 villagers, especially woman and girls, benefit from the proceeds of the offset project and the use of cooking gas. Before the offset project was put in place girls were unable to attend school because they spent much of their time gathering wood to cook with. Now wood is no longer needed and trees are left alone to grow. Thanks to the project, Andhyodaya has also been able to afford and supply thermal solar panels to the community to heat water. Andhyodaya has won the UNESCO Water Digest Award, the NEHRU Peace Foundation Award (for new renewable energy sources), and the Consumer Protection Award. Currently priced at $4.00 a metric ton |
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Minnesota Afforestation Project The Minnesota Afforestation is planting seeds and seedlings to grow trees on recently deforested land, or which has never been a forest. The growing trees not only sequester carbon out of the air, but they also prevent the loss of topsoil, and provide habitat for wildlife. Working with local landowners, acreage is placed in protective status by one of the following actions: Establishing a conservation easement, for a term of no less than eighty years, providing that the project land is to be maintained as forest for the duration of the easement; transfer of ownership of land parcels to a land trust, qualifying non-governmental organization or governmental body, provided such transfer establishes legal protection that the project land is to be maintained as forest for no less than eighty years. Other protective instruments approved by the offset committee of the Chicago Climate Exchange include: Enrollment of the forest land in the American Tree Farm System sustainable forestry management program or Enrollment in a CRP contract for a minimum term of 15 years. Currently priced at $2.75 a metric ton
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Serraria Egidio Biomass Project The rural areas of northern Mato Grosso, Brazil, where the Serraria Egidio Biomass Project is located, are not served by the nationally-connected grid. Power for the area is produced locally by generators powered by diesel fuel. To mitigate the use of fossil fuels, the project generates power from wood scraps. The verification of the Serraria Egidio Biomass Project was conducted by SES and is registered on the Chicago Climate Exchange. The project is claiming credits for operation of electrical generating equipment producing power from wood and wood residue. Two types of credits are being claimed from this project: (1) generation of electricity from renewable fuels, and (2) avoided methane emissions from controlled combustion of the wood residue. Biomass fuels produce virtually no sulfur emissions, and help mitigate acid rain. Biomass fuels "recycle" atmospheric carbon, minimizing global warming impacts since zero "net" carbon dioxide is emitted during biomass combustion, i.e. the amount of carbon dioxide emitted is equal to the amount absorbed from the atmosphere during the biomass growth phase. The recycling of biomass wastes mitigates the need to create new landfills and extends the life of existing landfills. Biomass combustion produces less ash than coal, and reduces ash disposal costs and landfill space requirements. The biomass ash can also be used as a soil amendment in farm land. Perennial energy crops (grasses and trees) have distinctly lower environmental impacts than conventional farm crops. Energy crops require less fertilization and herbicides and provide greater vegetative cover throughout the year, providing protection against soil erosion and watershed quality deterioration, as well as improved wildlife cover. Currently priced at $2.75 a metric ton |