Clean Energy - Carbon Offset

Alternative / Renewable Energy

Carbon Footprint Ltd supports a variety of clean / renewable energy offset projects around the world. Examples of carbon offset projects supported through Carbon Footprint's Clean Energy Fund are shown below.

All carbon offset projects in the Clean Energy Fund will be verified against the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

Wind Energy Project in Harshnath, India

The objective of this carbon offset project is development, design, engineering, procurement, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of wind power projects totaling 4.8 MW wind power projects in the Indian state of Rajasthan to provide reliable, renewable power to the Rajasthan state electricity grid which is part of the Northern regional electricity grid. The project will lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions because it displaces electricity from fossil fuel based electricity generation plants.

The carbon offset project activity contributes towards sustainable development of the country and the state of Rajasthan by reducing the dependency on fossil fuel based electricity generation, which ultimately leads to reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon offset project also fulfils several other sustainable development objectives as set out below:

• Carbon Dioxide abatement and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through development of renewable technology
• Reducing the average emission intensity, average effluent intensity and average solid waste intensity of power generation in the system
• Conserving natural resources including land, forests, minerals, water and ecosystems and
• Developing the local economy and create jobs and employment, particularly in rural areas, which is a priority concern for the Government of India

The total estimated reductions from this carbon offset project are 16,591 tonnes of CO2e

Hydropower Generation in South America

The objective of this carbon offset project is to reduce the emissions through the displacement of fossil fuels through clean renewable energy generation. South American electricity matrix expansion is moving towards a larger participation of thermo / hydro power generation and therefore increases the importance of renewable sources like this carbon offset project.

The installation of small hydropower plants is the direct proof that the energy company is committed to the environment and sustainable practice through the generation of electricity utilising clean renewable sources, and in compliance with all environmental regulations. This carbon offset project is a reference on how one can expand generation capacity in a sustainable way.

Fuel Switch from fossil fuels to agricultural waste, in Africa

The purpose of the carbon offset project activity is in offering local farmers the opportunity to improve their livelihood stream through the sale of agricultural “waste” products, while at the same time allowing the project sponsor to proceed without importing costly fossil fuels.

A company operating a crude palm oil refinery for edible oils constructed a new biomass-fuelled refinery to burn agricultural residues and plantation based firewood instead of traditional fossil fuels. The new biomass boilers primarily utilise agricultural residues, specifically coffee, rice, macadamia, and cashew husks and shells, as well as eucalyptus firewood. In addition, because the boilers will use solid fuels, they will also burn the “spent earth,” a densely packed clayey mass and a waste product of the crude palm oil refining process, which contains residual oil at 20% by weight. Business-as-usual procedures are to dump this spent earth, thereby creating methane emissions through the anaerobic digestion of the organic material.

The current practice in co-operative coffee processing plants is to discard the husks as waste material, which in itself, if stockpiled in anaerobic heaps releasing methane into the atmosphere.

Specifically, the carbon offset project will:

• Increase income/employment opportunities by supplying economic value to a product that has previously been considered to be waste;

• Allow the possibility for spin-off small-to-medium enterprise development as farmers derive additional income from their labor;

• Optimize the use of natural resources, avoid new uncontrolled waste disposal sites;

• Diversify the sources of heat and power generation;

• Use clean and efficient technologies, and conserve natural resources;

• Act as a clean technology demonstration project, one of the first of its kind in Kenya, encouraging development of modern and more efficient cogeneration of electricity using biomass fuel throughout the Country;

• Reduce the land area required in the footprint of the refining facility as compared with the dumping of agricultural waste;

As opposed to a fossil fuel-fired plant, the carbon offset project does not lead to an outflow of foreign exchange capital, since the biomass waste does not have to be imported.