Hello!
We’re happy to announce our partnership with the environmentally friendly coffee company “Guilt Free Drinks“. We’ve worked to calculate their carbon footprint, and helped them take steps throughout the production lifecycle to reduce their environmental impact (Carbon Footprint, recycling and energy efficiency to name a few).
We’ll be doing a longer post soon that goes a bit more in depth, but we’re really excited for Guilt Free Drinks and wanted to share the news.
Hey all,
We’re giving away a year’s worth of FREE Carbon Offsets for your vehicle. Here’s how it works:
1. Follow us on twitter @sterlingbiosci.
2. Once we reach 10,000 followers we will randomly pick a follower who will receive a year’s worth of carbon offsets for their vehicle.
3. For every 10,000 followers beyond that, we will give out an additional year’s worth of vehicle offsets to a new randomly drawn name from all our twitter followers.
That’s it, follow us on twitter and you could win a year’s worth of free carbon offsets for your vehicle. We’ll send out stickers for your vehicle and verification of the offsets for your own records. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask in the comments here or ask on twitter. Check here for more information on the year’s offset package.
Best,
Sterling Biosciences
As Americans we love convenience. It’s built right in to almost every product we buy. We want things that make our lives easier, things we don’t have to think or worry about. The problem is that we’re paying an invisible price for convenience, a price we don’t have to pay. We’re paying for “Vampire Power”, the power that keeps our electronic devices ready and waiting for our return. Conservative estimates show that, as a country, we’re spending over 4 Billion dollars a year on Vampire Power.
What is Vampire Power?
Vampire Power, also known as Standby Power, is the energy electrical appliances use when they are plugged in but turned off. The DOE estimates that 10% or more of our monthly electric bills go to pay for Vampire Power. That can be a steep price to pay, both from an economic as well as environmental standpoint, for the convenience of turning on a device slightly quicker.
What can be done?
Vampire Power can be easily combated by following a few simple steps. The easiest way to stop vampire power is to unplug devices when they don’t need to be plugged in. Televisions, Computers and Phone Chargers are all big vampire power users. Some estimates show that upwards of 90% of a phone chargers energy use is from vampire power. So if you’re not using the devices, unplug them. An alternative to unplugging everything is to run appliances through surge protectors and flip the surge protector off when you won’t need to be using the devices.
What’s the impact?
Vampire power costs American’s over 4 Billion dollars a year. Beyond that, it’s responsible for at least 500 Million tons of CO2 each year. To put that in perspective, that’s larger than the entire carbon footprint of all but 5 other countries in the world. The amount of waste is staggering.
http://standby.lbl.gov/archives/faq.html
As always, We welcome any feedback you might have, as well as any personal stories. Have any of you cut your Carbon Footprint and electric bill by unplugging electrical devices when you didn’t need them? If so, share your story with us. We’d love to hear it.
Every year the American public wastes Billions of dollars on inefficient lighting. A simple switch to CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lighting) would save Billions of dollars and eliminate Millions of Tons of CO2 each year. The solution is really as easy as screwing in a light bulb. Here’s how you can get started and what you need to look for.
What is a CFL?
A CFL, or compact fluorescent light, is a significantly more efficient light source than a conventional incandescent light. That means less energy is required for the same brightness (lumens). In general, CFL bulbs use about 75% less energy. With proper care (see below), they should also last about 10 times as long as traditional incandescent light bulbs.
Where should CFL bulbs be used?
CFL bulbs can be used anywhere traditional incandescent light bulbs are used. They can be used throughout the household as well as outdoors. Depending on location, special care may be needed (see below).
How much money do CFL bulbs save?
Generally a CFL bulb will save about $30 to $60 a year compared to using equivalent conventional incandescent bulbs. Several factors determine the total savings. Go here to calculate what CFL bulbs would save you.
What’s the environmental benefit?
Using one CFL bulb prevents the emission of about 800lbs over the life of the bulb. These bulbs use less energy, so they require less energy generation. That savings is good for both your check book as well as the environment.
Energystar.gov provides excellent information on how to maximize the life of CFL bulbs.
Do the twist.
Screw in your CFL by holding the ballast(the white plastic part), NOT the glass tubing.Don’t flip too fast.
You’ll maximize the lifetime savings and effectiveness of your CFLs by keeping them on for 15 minutes or more at a time.Give them air.
CFL bulbs are sensitive to extreme temperatures, so place your CFL bulbs in open fixtures indoors. Using them in enclosed fixtures indoors can create a hot environment that reduces the lifetime of your bulbs. Note that covered reflectors are best used in recessed cans.Protect them outside.
Protect bulbs from the elements by placing them inside enclosed fixtures outdoors. For colder climates, look at the packaging for optimal operating temperatures.
If you’ve had experience with CFL bulbs (good or bad), feel free to share in the comments section. Like always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I’d be happy to help.
Welcome to the wild wild west, the unregulated world of carbon offsets. A place where there are no rules, no regulation, and more snake oil salesmen than legitimate ventures. It’s an industry with a lot of promise and a long way to go to gain credibility. This post should help serve as a guide for what to watch out for when buying carbon offsets.
The most important thing to look for when examining carbon offset providers is verification. How are the offsets measured and how can you be sure those offsets took place? There are no Carbon Offset laws or regulations in the United States. With most offset companies, you’re simply hoping for the best. Such opaqueness should raise a red flag. Before you purchase offsets, make sure you know where those offsets were sourced from and how they are verified.
For verification, I prefer the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). Their projects are independently verified and they require all offset projects to be:
All our offsets are sourced from projects that meet all of the CCX criteria. We also plan to offer third party auditor reports at the end of the year, for all offsets we sell. We do this to be as transparent as possible with the offset process, so that our customers know they had a positive impact on the environment. Whatever offset provider you chose, make sure that they are providing verified offsets that meet all of the CCX criteria. Also ask the company about their company auditing process. Do they have third party auditors verify their offset process? If not, why don’t they? If an offset company can’t clearly show proof and validity of the offsets, keep looking.
A recent Christian Scientist Monitor article outlined several questionable practices within the offset industry. A transparent and verifiable process will avoid many of these.
•An offset project in India that cleared plots of traditional tribal farmlands to build windmills for green electric power, upending some farmers’ livelihoods and – in the end – generating significantly less power than expected.
•A tree-planting project in Panama that promises profits for logging as well as calling itself a certified offset program when it is not. Few trees have even been planted.
•Scams in Australia that have prompted the alarmed government to launch a crackdown.
•A California promoter who launched a ship to spread iron dust in the South Pacific to grow carbon-sucking algae, a plan that the Environmental Protection Agency said would amount to illegal dumping at sea.
•An Israeli charity that is selling offsets that are supposed to create brand-new projects, for tree plantings it has been doing for 60 years.
If you’re currently looking for Carbon Offsets and would like to know more about a specific offset project (ours or someone else’s), feel free to comment or contact me directly. I’d be happy to help you make an informed decision. There are a lot of unsavory offset providers out there, make sure you do your homework. Caveat Emptor.
What is a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint measures the total Green House Gas (GHG) emissions of a product, from
manufacturing through its use, all the way to recycling. This carbon footprint allows us to
determine the true environmental impact of your new vehicle. In the US, automobiles are the
second largest source of Green House Gas emissions, creating nearly 1.5 billion tons of
CO2 annually.
Why does the Carbon Footprint matter?
A scientific consensus shows that humans are responsible for a significant increase in
Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Ample evidence suggest that this increase leads directly
to climate change and Global Warming. While there is some debate about the total impact
of this increase in Green House Gas emissions, we do know for certain that the impact is
negative and that every ton we can prevent (or offset) matters.
What is a Carbon Offset?
A “Carbon Offset” is the mitigation of a ton of Green House Gas by a third party. There are
several different productive methods used; including planting trees or investing in
renewable energy. The Green House gases saved by these initiatives can offset the
emissions produced by your vehicle when you purchase a Verified Carbon Neutral Package.
Carbon Offsets in the Verified Carbon Neutral Package come with third party verification to
ensure the impact of your vehicle truly is Carbon Neutral. The purchase of a Verified
Carbon Neutral Package makes you part of a large and ever growing group of
environmentally conscious citizens.
What is Carbon Neutral?
A product is Carbon Neutral when its total carbon footprint is zero. The best way to
achieve this is through the use of Carbon Offsets. These offsets allow you to know for
certain that your vehicle is Verified Carbon Neutral. This is important for us to ensure
that we (and the products we use) are not having a negative impact on the world around us.
