Calculate your Carbon Footprint: how green are you?

Climate change, fuel economy, renewable energy…all are terms that we’ve been learning more about as media ramps up its “green” initiative coverage.

This week NY Auto Giant and Carbon Neutrality (another Long Island based company) have launched an innovative carbon emission reduction program that will add to our environmental dictionaries the following ground-breaking terms:

Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsetting, Carbon Neutral, and Carbon Credits.

A Carbon Print (Carbon Footprint) equals the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted over the life of a product or service or… YOU. Like our unique fingerprints each one of us has a carbon print which is the amount of carbon gas we emit through our everyday actions. Carbon Offsetting is the act of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. A popular example of carbon offsets is to plant trees to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions. You contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through unavoidable actions like heating your home but you can subtract from
that negative impact, your positive actions (like recycling) that work toward reducing the dangerous gases in the environment. The net number yields your unique carbon footprint. It’s not an abstract theory; the Environmental Protection Agency features a fun and informative “Personal Emissions Calculator” on its website www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

As an example: Stacey Simmons from Merrick, New York lives in a 2000 square foot home with her husband and two sons. Stacey drives a mini-van that averages 18 mpg and her husband commutes to work by train. In the winter, she keeps the heat at 68 degrees and cools the house in the summer to 75 degrees. Although Stacey is diligent about recycling newspaper, plastic, glass and aluminum, the EPA website estimates her household’s net carbon emission to be over 60,000 pounds a year!
The ultimate goal is Carbon Neutrality referring to neutral (meaning zero) total carbon release. This is accomplished by balancing (offsetting) the amount of carbon released into the environment with an equal amount removed. So don’t feel guilty about buying your large SUV, as long as you balance to as close to zero that purchase’s emissions with an equal amount of energy-saving actions like buying Energy Star appliances, furnaces and light bulbs.
If your energy-saving actions come up a bit short of your goal of achieving carbon neutrality you can make use of Carbon Credits. Carbon Credits are exchanged, sold, purchased or donated by commercial and individual customers who are interested in lowering their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis.
In an effort to work towards Carbon Neutrality, New York Automotive Giant is awarding participating dealership customers with 6000 miles of carbon credits. If you purchase a new automobile from Lexus of Massapequa, Atlantic Audi, Atlantic Honda, Lexus of Rockville Centre, or Millennium Honda you’ll be given the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions from your new car purchase. New York Auto Giant will supply you with up to 6000 miles of carbon offsets, a Certificate of Carbon Neutrality and a car window decal for mobile bragging
rights. Your donation will contribute towards projects that support clean energy and will work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These projects include clean energy produced by wind power; farm power which makes good use of animal wastes; and landfill gas capture, which reduces the impact of our own wastes.