Climate-Neutral Travel

Any form of transportation -- whether it's a plane ride to Rome or your daily commute -- contributes to climate change. Search the internet for the affect of travel on air quality, and you're likely to come up with thousands of sites related to the most nefarious source of travel-related pollution: airplanes. Airplanes mainly emit carbon dioxide and water, although they also discharge nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Even the seemingly innocuous water that planes release, which comes in the shape of long, cirrus-like clouds called contrails, has an effect on the environment; a 2004 NASA study projected that contrails will increase temperatures over the U.S. by roughly one degree every 20 years by trapping the Earth’s infrared radiation.

But don't blame all travel-related climate change on airplanes. Though anything with an internal combustion engine and/or exhaust system are generally the worst, every form of travel -- including walking and riding your bike -- produces some sort of pollution, even if it’s the seemingly negligible amount of carbon dioxide created by breathing. It's enough to make you want to stay home.

"The significance of travel is quite striking," says Tom Boucher, president and CEO of NativeEnergy, one of the pioneers in the budding carbon neutralization business. "The average car puts 6 tons of CO2 in the air each year, and the average household has 1.8 cars, if not more, so it becomes as significant as the house heating and powering in terms of emissions."

NativeEnergy is one of a growing number of companies and non-profit organizations selling carbon offsets, which allow travelers and commuters to quickly and easily neutralize their emissions. It starts by using the organizations' online systems to calculate how much carbon you produce –- whether its for one weekend getaway or one year's worth of commuting to the office –- and then neutralizing it by buying offsets. These offsets come in different forms, and can range from investing in renewable energy to planting trees to contributing to other community-based efficiency projects like replacing old, inefficient heaters in public schools. They recently worked with the producers of the film 'Syriana' to insure that its production from beginning to end had a net zero impact on the climate.

A majority of offsets are green tags -- energy units officially called renewable energy credits -- that are bought and sold in the electricity market. When you buy a green tag from, say, NativeEnergy, or the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, you are essentially paying an energy producer to put electricity that has been produced using renewable sources onto the grid. Energy producers use the money generated by green tags to keep their prices competitive in their local markets.

Using these systems is really quite easy. Take the example of a cross-country trip from Los Angeles to New York's JFK airport, using NativeEnergy, where one green tag offsets one ton of carbon. The average one-way, 2,437-mile flight produces 975 pounds of carbon, which can be neutralized with a single green tag at a cost of $12.

In fact, because NativeEnergy rounds to the nearest ton of carbon produced, one green tag would offset any of the major modes of transportation you could use to get from LA to New York. But that's not saying the amount of carbon is the same. Driving a gasoline-powered car produces 2,531 pounds; conventional diesel spews out 2,896 pounds (and they don’t have a biodiesel option just yet). A train produces 1,201 pounds, while a bus creates a mere 515 pounds per passenger. Either way, $12 will get you a carbon-neutral one-way trip to the city. Neutralizing your accommodations and local transportation is also possible, if you know the number of nights you’re staying and the number of rooms you'll need, or the number of miles you’ll be traveling on the subway.

Neutralizing travel isn’t limited to long trips or even vacations. DrivingGreen is among the organizations that calculate how much carbon your car produces annually and then sells offsets to neutralize it. The company bases its calculations on the make, model, year of the car, and average number of miles driven each year, and then charges $8 per ton to offset the emissions. Others include TerraPass, Certified Clean Car, (more on each of these can be found in our Green Eye dept. of this issue) and an English version called ETA Roadside Rescue if you prefer to pay for your tonnes of CO2 in pounds.

There's even a comprehensive travel, insurance and roadside assistance program, Better World Club, which aims to compete with AAA. It has all the traditional offerings of an auto club, but with a twist: discounts for hybrid vehicles and eco-travel, and a full-service roadside assistance program for bicycles.

Better World Club members get one free carbon offset, worth $11, every time they book a flight through the agency. Non-members can buy the offsets directly. Members also get their car’s first ton of carbon offset for free when they buy insurance. Rather than using their offsets solely to put renewable energy onto the market, Better World Club donates the money to the Tides Foundation, which then uses it to fund any of several projects, including planting trees and installing energy efficient heaters in public schools.

No matter what shape it takes -- whether it’s promoting renewable energy or planting trees -- reducing the long-term effect of travel in all its forms is key to slowing global warming. And, as Boucher from NativeEnergy says, "For, say, personal driving and how costly is it to offset your travel, it comes down to a fraction of a cent per mile...When you think of it, less than one cent per mile for an offset, it’s a minor piece of the picture."