DrivingGreen.com
#1
08-05-2005, 02:11 AM
DrivingGreen.com
Has anyone out there heard of this outfit? You make a payment based on your car and the mileage you drive and offset the emissions from your vehicle. Is it legit? i did get a nifty T-shirt and window decals which proudly proclaim that mine is a Carbon Neutral Vehicle.
#2
08-05-2005, 06:56 AM
Re: Greendriving.com
I attempted to go to GreenDriving.com, and found that the site does not exist, or at least not from my location. I get a generic web hosting service that wishes to sell the domain name. Based on this, I would say that it is not legit.
#4
08-05-2005, 11:06 AM
Re: Greendriving.com
Maybe he meant TerraPass. They let you 'negate' your co2 emissions by buying into projects that will counterbalance them.
Negating your carbon dioxide isn't very difficult though. Planting less than a dozen trees should negate the 3,000 pounds of co2 my car puts our in a year (my estimate). Even at the lowest estimates of what trees can absorb, I'm coming out ahead of the co2 use by all my energy needs. I'm not terribly concerned about that though, it's just a nice side benefit of owning some forested rural land.
Negating your carbon dioxide isn't very difficult though. Planting less than a dozen trees should negate the 3,000 pounds of co2 my car puts our in a year (my estimate). Even at the lowest estimates of what trees can absorb, I'm coming out ahead of the co2 use by all my energy needs. I'm not terribly concerned about that though, it's just a nice side benefit of owning some forested rural land.
#7
12-16-2005, 06:28 PM
Re: Greendriving.com
So explain why it's a scam to me? It is not just about buying clean energy as I understand it. It's about removing GHGs from the atmosphere through, yes, clean energy. In addition, they also have BioMass projects (manure to metahne fuel for generating electricity) and Industrial Efficiency (retiring high HGH producing equipment, etc). I respectfully disagree that TerraPass and DrivingGreen are scams in the sense most people think of them. I am willing to listen to any proof they may be though.
#8
12-16-2005, 11:22 PM
Re: Greendriving.com
Alden,
Perhaps with singular exceptions, your money is being split: part goes into the pocket of terrapass/drivingGreen; the remainder buys clean energy *that would have been produced, bought, and utilized* irrespective of terrapass/drivingGreen's existence.
So what value did you get from your money ?
If I might be so bold as to suggest an alternative ..
Look into FPL (Florida Power & Light). You can buy stock *directly* from the company, rather than on the secondary market, and thus give them capital to build. Although the company is a vast energy company with it's fingers in many things, it also happens to be, far and away, the leading builder of wind farms in the nation. I would not be surprised if they put more new capacity on to the grid in the past few years than everybody else combined. The stock price oscillates, but over time has done well. And if corporate policy changes, take back your money and find something better.
Kudos, and thanks for trying to put your money where it will do good.
Perhaps with singular exceptions, your money is being split: part goes into the pocket of terrapass/drivingGreen; the remainder buys clean energy *that would have been produced, bought, and utilized* irrespective of terrapass/drivingGreen's existence.
So what value did you get from your money ?
If I might be so bold as to suggest an alternative ..
Look into FPL (Florida Power & Light). You can buy stock *directly* from the company, rather than on the secondary market, and thus give them capital to build. Although the company is a vast energy company with it's fingers in many things, it also happens to be, far and away, the leading builder of wind farms in the nation. I would not be surprised if they put more new capacity on to the grid in the past few years than everybody else combined. The stock price oscillates, but over time has done well. And if corporate policy changes, take back your money and find something better.
Kudos, and thanks for trying to put your money where it will do good.
Last edited by EricGo; 12-17-2005 at 05:57 AM.
#10
12-17-2005, 07:34 AM
Re: Greendriving.com
I browsed greendriving's (GD) website. Ughh. BS, of the most foul variety. Slick website though.
Unlike Terrapass (TP) who would like you to believe that more clean energy has come online with your money, GD would like you to believe that somewhere in the world, less GHG are being emitted into the climate, in equal proportions to what you are emitting, at a yearly fee to you of $8/tonne GHG equivalent.
Notice the *complete* lack of details ?
They have a little counter with the amount of GHG saved. But nowhere do they describe in adequate detail how they are responsible for the savings.
Nowhere do they say how much money has been taken in, and how much spent and where.
They say that they 'support' NA GHG reduction projects, but what is 'support' ?? Your guess is as good as mine. They go on to place a link to AgCert, and say that is the medium. AgCert, however, does not operate in NA. Furthermore, AgCert is a for-profit company engaged in pollution certificate procurement and selling in EUROPE. You can buy AgCert stock on the secondary market, but you cannot invest in that directly -- so clearly DG is not sending your money AgCert's way.
So, why link to AgCert ? Well, they are in the pollution trade business, and they do have a couple of pictures that show a scheme devised by them to procure pollution credits for profitable sell. If a weblink could afford legitimacy, we could look into AgCert a bit more. But since there is no connection of substance, I'll forgo it for now.
I love the message: You are a POLLUTER. But you really want to keep on doing the same old, don't you ? Great News! For the small sum of $xx/year, we will clean your conscience for you. And best of all ? Don't worry the details. We'll take care of everything.
No transparency. No oversight. No responsibility. Only a slick message.
Unlike Terrapass (TP) who would like you to believe that more clean energy has come online with your money, GD would like you to believe that somewhere in the world, less GHG are being emitted into the climate, in equal proportions to what you are emitting, at a yearly fee to you of $8/tonne GHG equivalent.
Notice the *complete* lack of details ?
They have a little counter with the amount of GHG saved. But nowhere do they describe in adequate detail how they are responsible for the savings.
Nowhere do they say how much money has been taken in, and how much spent and where.
They say that they 'support' NA GHG reduction projects, but what is 'support' ?? Your guess is as good as mine. They go on to place a link to AgCert, and say that is the medium. AgCert, however, does not operate in NA. Furthermore, AgCert is a for-profit company engaged in pollution certificate procurement and selling in EUROPE. You can buy AgCert stock on the secondary market, but you cannot invest in that directly -- so clearly DG is not sending your money AgCert's way.
So, why link to AgCert ? Well, they are in the pollution trade business, and they do have a couple of pictures that show a scheme devised by them to procure pollution credits for profitable sell. If a weblink could afford legitimacy, we could look into AgCert a bit more. But since there is no connection of substance, I'll forgo it for now.
I love the message: You are a POLLUTER. But you really want to keep on doing the same old, don't you ? Great News! For the small sum of $xx/year, we will clean your conscience for you. And best of all ? Don't worry the details. We'll take care of everything.
No transparency. No oversight. No responsibility. Only a slick message.
Last edited by EricGo; 12-17-2005 at 08:40 AM.
