Carbon Neutral – A Journey to The Meaning – Ful Future.

Carbon Neutral Meaning and New Zealand Model

Carbon Neutral Meaning : A company, person or a country itself who reduced the production CO2 as much as they can and this called Carbon Neutrality. Carbon Neutrality is a duty for each and every human and it simply means that achieving the 0 carbon outpouring in environment. Well its our duty to be a Carbon Neutral village, town, city or country for our future generation.

In her first major speech to Parliament in 2007, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark laid down an ambitious plan of making New Zealand the world’s first greenhouse gas (GHG)-neutral country.

Among measures Clark announced include a plan that clean-burning biofuels must account for 3.4 percent of fuel sold in the country by 2012 to replace gasoline and diesel; that all 47 government agencies should be using energy efficient transport, recycled paper and environmentally-friendly products and buildings; and a campaign to help households save energy and cut waste.

“I believe we can aspire to be carbon neutral in our economy and way of life,” Clark stressed, although no timetable was given to achieve the goal.

Prime Minister Helen Clark – Carbon Neutral Meaning

Indeed. And Kiwis can hasten that transformation by becoming carbon neutral themselves.

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Carbon Neutral Meaning in Easy-Cheasy Words.

Just What Is Becoming Carbon Neutral, and How Does One Go About It? Carbon neutrality refers to energy policies and practices that effectively and in meaning-ful way result in zero net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) which contribute significantly to global warming. Any effort to help reduce these gases will offset the effects of global warming.

Carbon neutrality encompasses a whole program which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, researching and utilizing renewable energy resources and offsetting whatever emissions one cannot avoid producing. At the personal level, becoming carbon neutral requires a deep awareness of one’s impact to the environment of his or her daily activities.

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How to Become Carbon Neutral?

To Become Carbon Neutral, One Can Do It In Two Major Meaning – full Ways:

• 1. By reducing one’s own carbon emission by becoming energy efficient and deliberately avoiding activities that emit carbon gases and (2) by offsetting whatever is produced by some carbon-reducing activities somewhere around the globe.
• The second method, offsetting, can be realized by avoided emissions and carbon sequestration. One can avoid emitting GHG by using less fossil fuel and switching to renewable sources such as geothermal which is locally abundant, for power generation.

Carbon sequestration involves removing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it for a given time. Proposals on carbon sequestration range from capturing the carbon dioxide emissions of coal power plants (such as the Huntly coal power station), researching on how forests absorb GHG and improving pasture lands management to increase soil uptake of these gases.

Examples of carbon offsetting projects are the following: Solar power (providing for own power using solar panels to avoid buying power from the grid), wind power (putting wind turbines instead of fuel-based generating plants) , hydroelectric power, fuel efficiency, fuel substitution (switching to a fuel which emits less carbon), co-generation (generating electricity and heat from one source), efficient lighting (replacing incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps), materials switching (replacing input materials for industrial processes to those with less carbon emission), construction of green buildings (which are energy and materials efficient), green transport (using LPG as fuel and driving hybrid cars), utilization of industrial waste (e.g., recycling), biomass power generation (burning farm residue to generate power), reforestation and efficient pasture management (e.g., inter-cropping with plants that enhance the carbon storage capacity of the soil).

Green Energy Projects – Meaning – ful way to Become Carbon Neutral Community.

Green Energy Projects Large-scale offsetting activities normally arise in energy or environmental protection projects implemented through the so-called Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. The mechanism is essentially trading an institution’s excess carbon emissions with another’s surplus to lead to a net zero sums.

Under this mechanism, these green projects generate so-called carbon credits in the form of Carbon Emission Reduction (CER) certificates which are duly certified by independent accreditation bodies. The certificates can then be traded in a carbon market such as the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the Primary CDM market and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCE) – the last being the largest voluntary carbon market (see below).

The generation of CERs makes financing green energy projects in many developing countries possible which otherwise could not have been viable.

In 2007, the volume of carbon trading in the regulated markets totaled 2,918 metric tons of CO2 equivalent ( the other greenhouse gases are converted to equivalent CO2) with a value of US$ 66.1 billion, up from 1,702 mt CO2eq worth US$ 40.1 billion in 2006 (Source: Ecosystem Marketplace, New Carbon Finance, World Bank ). Europe and Japan have been the largest buyers and China the largest seller.

The purchasers range from corporations with substantial carbon footprints that are looking to minimize their financial risks ahead of tightening regulation to green investment funds.

The CERs from smaller projects like rural wind power and co-generation can be traded in a voluntary carbon market which is still small but is growing at a much faster rate than its regulated brethren. In 2007, the global voluntary market was worth US$ 331 million, sharply up from US$ 96.7 million the previous year.

How do we get carbon neutrality at home?

Simple Steps To Be Carbon Neutral At Home IN THE MEANTIME, one can start trekking the path to becoming carbon neutral right inside the home. Some of the things one can do include:

• Choose home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers with high efficiency ratings.
• Use a bicycle for short distance travel instead of the car. It is also good for your health.
• Replace incandescent and halogen lamps with low energy compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
• Improve the insulation of your home to keep the heat longer during winter.
• Recycle materials as much as possible.
• Don’t leave appliances and lights turned on when nobody is using them.
• Conserve water.
• If appropriate, install your own renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbine in your home.

Going carbon neutral not only lifts one’s spirit knowing that one is contributing to conserve the environment but also saves real bucks.