Carbon Offset Services
SELF provides carbon offset services for businesses, NGOs and special events. The average U.S. citizen produces five U.S. tons of CO2 a year through electricity, home heating, vehicle use and airplane travel. Contributions to SELF’s Carbon Offset Program provide a way to neutralize the effect of those emissions an individual or business cannot reduce. In the United States, these contributions are tax-deductible.
When SELF installs a $400 solar photovoltaic (PV) home system in a remote rural village, it replaces kerosene as the main source of lighting. This offsets the six (U.S.) tons of CO2 that would have been released into the atmosphere over the system’s 20-year lifetime. When the contribution of $400 is invested in a revolving microloan fund, it enables the future financing of 6.6 solar home systems over the same 20-year period. This will offset about 40 tons (6.6 systems x six tons per system = 39.6 tons) of CO2, for a price of about $10 per ton.
Read more about this topic: Solar Electric Light Fund
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