State OKs carbon offsets

GreenPower program will let consumers mitigate carbon gases from their energy use

N.C. GreenPower is venturing into a hot market, selling "carbon offsets" to cut greenhouse gases.

The Raleigh nonprofit group received regulatory approval Monday to let state residents offset the carbon dioxide emissions they cause for as little as $4 a month.

Buying carbon offsets has taken off as a means to fight global warming; the money subsidizes tree plantings, wind power farms and other eco-friendly projects. Some estimate that more than 100 vendors sell carbon offsets.

Because the free-wheeling market is not regulated and is often difficult to verify, offsets have been dogged by skeptics' accusations of exaggerated benefits and bogus claims.

But N.C. GreenPower's carbon offset sales will be among the first in the nation to be regulated. The N.C. Utilities Commission will oversee GreenPower's program, because the offsets will be marketed by the state's electric utilities and paid through monthly utility bills.

As part of approving N.C. GreenPower's carbon offsets, the utilities commission approved nine criteria to assess the reliability and quality of a carbon offset.

N.C. GreenPower will begin offering carbon offsets to residents and businesses this year, possibly as early as August. The offsets will be promoted by Progress Energy, Duke Energy and other utilities.

"It's an additional way to achieve our mission to improve the environment," said N.C. GreenPower's vice president, Maggy Inman.

They are called "offsets" because they supposedly allow buyers to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions -- those who buy enough offsets can become "carbon neutral" -- without reducing their driving, flying, air conditioning or other energy use.

Offset sales reached $330 million last year, indicating the perceived cachet of owning a carbon offset certificate.

The N.C. GreenPower offsets will be sold in $4 units, with each $4 purchase offsetting 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions monthly. The minimum purchase of $4 a month would offset 6,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Paying $8 a month would allow a resident to offset the greenhouse gas emissions of a typical car, or about about 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, according to an emissions estimate by the Environmental Protection Agency.

N.C. GreenPower will distribute the revenue from the tax-deductible offset purchases to projects intended to cut greenhouse gases. The projects and validation methodologies have not yet been selected but the nonprofit group will issue a bid for proposals soon.

One type of offset will promote reforestation to absorb the carbon dioxide gas that is blamed for global warming. Planting trees would counteract worldwide deforestation, one of the contributors to global warming.

N.C. GreenPower will emphasize in-state projects that offset greenhouse gases, but with public demand as high as it is, the group could use the contributions to offset carbon in other regions of the country, too.

For the past five years, N.C. GreenPower has been offering another product -- renewable energy certificates -- to subsidize the production of green energy, typically electricity generated by solar power or methane gas at a landfill.

Unlike a renewable energy certificate, a carbon offset will not subsidize power generation. Instead, the offset will pay to mitigate greenhouse gases -- either by replanting forests or burning methane gases generated by hog waste lagoons and landfills. Burning methane eliminates heat-trapping gas that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.

N.C. GreenPower will also review a proposal called truck stop electrification. The idea is that big rigs spending the night at a truck stop would shut off their fume-emitting engines and plug into electrical outlets for the power needed to run onboard air conditioners and computers.

To qualify for the N.C. GreenPower subsidy, the carbon offset will have to be verified by an independent third party. An independent auditor would verify that a reforestation project is properly maintained and growing and that the grower was not selling carbon offsets for the same trees to other donors.