Climate Action: Offsetting Your Carbon Footprint
I have been looking for a variety of ways to begin taking action on Climate Change. Today I have taken my second step towards this goal. My first step was writing a letter to my newborn son for him to read in 30 years on where I hope the world to be. This was an experience inspired by the website deartomorrow.org. I highly recommend that you take some time out of your busy schedule to do the same.
I was searching for ways to offset my carbon footprint and my local energy provider, Duke Energy Progress, provides a “Renewable Advantage” program. Within this program you can enroll to pay extra on each bill to offset the amount of energy you utilize in your household each month. My house uses ~750 kWh each month and in order to offset this cost, I can buy 3 blocks which Duke Energy will use to generate 750 kWh in renewable energy. 95% of the renewable energy generated will be from solar power and the remaining 5% is from biomass facilities.
Due to the nature of electricity, once it is generated there is no control of where those individual electrons go, so I cannot say that my house is now powered by renewable energy sources; however, I can say that I have offset the equivalent of my house in the energy demand that was previously coming from fossil fuels.
I am extremely excited about this opportunity to support renewable energy in my region. In addition, I am excited for the commitment that Duke Energy Progress is making towards Net-Zero emissions. They currently are on track to meet their goal of reducing emissions to 50% of 2005 levels, and are on track to also meet the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
If you are reading this article and are not located in an area where your local energy provider is not Duke Energy, then I suggest you take a look into your local energy provider and check out whether they have a similar program. Renewable energy is the future, let us all find a way to support it!
