We Don’t Need No Stinkin Badges?
That old Hollywood line, actually a misquote, has been used for comic relief more than a few times since the Treasure of the Sierra. And while you may have hoped this would be another, that’s about all the humor…………. 
The reason i bring up badges, is because of the CO2 offset badge there on the upper right of this website. It represents that this web site is running carbon neutral by virtue of a carbon offset provided by 4Offsets.com. 4Offsets.com helps individual and businesses offset their CO2 emissions as a way to speed adoption of renewable. These offsets are based on CO2 offset commodity contracts, that have been ‘retired’ from circulation. The contracts were awarded to people, projects and companies for efforts that eliminate emissions of greenhouse gases. The contracts, that might be awarded to a wind farm or for planting and maintaining a forest, are sold to companies who have either a legal or self-imposed madate to reduce their CO2 production. The theory and the reality, is that this market helps to increase the cashflow on green investments. As the demand for these offsets increase and the price increases, the amount of money an offset will deliver to green project will increase the investment’s rate of return. The next part is that the higher rate of return will attract more investment and therefore more wind, solar, and trees, at an increasingly fast pace.
I wrote about these carbon offsets and their use by Aspen Skiing and the concern, expressed by Aspen Ski’s environmental officer, these offsets really are helping speed change. Following some research, I’ve concluded that while the offset market is less effective at incentivizing green energy, than $100 a barrel oil, it is a sound theory. Any additional return on investment helps to increase it’s attractiveness. This is especially true for new, expensive technologies such as solar. If the market for these offsets increase, causing the price of offsets to generally rise, it will further fuel the march to a sustainable world.
The result of my research was to decide that i should focus my business efforts on fighting the greenhouse crisis and that carbon dioxide offsets are the best option available to ‘kick start’ US society’s shift away from hydrocarbon fuels. I would like to announce that i have joined with a couple of friends to create a CO2 offset business at www.4Offsets.com. We currently are running our beta testing, so please let us know what you think.