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Bullfrog Power
So, want to do your part to reduce the horribly large amount of emissions created by coal-fired power plants and other polluting sources of power? Well if you live in B.C., Alberta or Ontario it’s easy: Signup online for Bullfrog Power.
Bullfrog Power is a 100% green, environmentally friendly electricity provider. It provides power for respected organizations in Canada such as the David Suzuki Foundation, the Pembina Institute and WWF Canada. It also powers companies like Good Earth and it can provide electricity for your home too!
It’s simple to sign up (it only takes around 5 mins) and it doesn’t mean that you switch electricity providers. All you have to do is sign up on their website and they will provide the same amount of energy you use back into the grid but from clean, environmentally responsible sources. This simple method of replacing what you use allows anyone to sign up without changing anything about their household electricity or bills. It also allows people in apartments who don’t have their own electricity bills to also offset their usage by estimating their monthly electricity consumption. All they have to do is estimate their usage using the easy tools on the Bullfrog website.
And it's cheaper than you think! Bullfrog Power charges 2 cents per kWh. According to their website that’s around $.50 a day. So check out Bullfrog Power’s website, it’s very informative and signing up there could be one of the most effective things you do to help save the environment. Also, enjoy this special offer just for SomethingSaved readers (and for everyone who goes to GoodEarth:) Just enter the promotional code “EARTH09” to receive your first month’s Bullfrog electricity free!
COAL POWER
In the US and in Canada coal burning power plants are the largest generators of electricity. This is a HUGE concern because these coal-fired power plants, some built more than 50 years ago, are also the single largest source of pollution in North America. Here are the facts:
• In 1 year a single coal power plant creates 3.7 million tones of carbon dioxide.
That number may not mean much right away, but think of it this way, creating 3.7 million tones of CO2 is equivalent to cutting down 161 million trees! Considering that there are more than 600 coal-fired power plants in the US alone this means that each year these plants pump out 2.2 billion tones of CO2 or 97 billion trees.
• Also in 1 year a single coal power plant produces 10,200 tones of Nitrogen Oxide, another greenhouse gas that creates smog and inflames lungs.
This number is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 500 000 late model cars. Want to know how many cars all of the coal power plants in the US are equivalent to? Try 300 million. That’s more than the total number of vehicles in the US! Think of it, all the cars and trucks in all of the US still create less pollution than the 600 coal power plants.
Money that goes to Terrapass goes to one of three areas:
Farm power: Harvested manure from livestock operations is put into special containers full of microbes which break down the waste and convert it to methane. Methane is then used to power electricity generators and provide energy. While it is true that these generators emit carbon dioxide, it is a much better option for three reasons: 1. The carbon is neutral in the sense that it was taken from the atmosphere by the grass that the animals ate and then put back when the methane is burned (no new CO2 is being added to the atmosphere) 2. The methane would otherwise be released to the atmosphere when the manure decomposed naturally; methane is 21 times as harmful from a global warming standpoint as CO2. 3. The electricity produced by burning this methane displaces the need for some electricity which would likely be produced in a coal powered plant, which is much worse for the environment.
Landfill methane collection: Similar to the previous, methane produced by decomposing waste in landfills is captured and converted to electricity.
Wind Power: Large scale wind production is subsidized to make it competitive with much cheaper but more environmentally harmful electricity production, such as coal powered plants.
Essentially the money you give to Terrapass prevents a given amount of CO2 or methane to be released into the atmosphere, this offsets the amount which is released when you take a flight or drive your car (yes you can offset your car for a whole year as well), making your action carbon neutral.
So.......I completely believe that it is O-kay to fly around the world and travel to experience new cultures and places and to visit your friends and family. But of course we all know that the plane is sorta Big Time polluting the air. So here I give you the answer to your environmental guilt:
Terra Pass allows you to offset your carbon footprint by paying an extremely small amount of money to make up for your flight. Terra Pass does tons of other things for all kinds of energy use, but I am focusing on flights because this is the first step we can ALL take!
I went to the Terra Pass website and typed in my flight (NY to Calgary non-stop) and it gave me a result as follows:
As you can see I pay a measly $11.90 to offset my flight. Ta-Dah!!!
This is important because this way we can all fly and experience the world around us while giving back to the environment at the same time! Please try to get in the habit of visiting the Terra Pass website after booking every flight you take, Expedia offers you the choice when you book and hopefully every airline will soon do the same! :) Here is a link to the website!
http://www.terrapass.com/
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