Pondering Carbon Costs

Having purchased a diesel powered live-aboard boat (albeit extremely clean burning*), the cost of fuel and the impact on the environment has been a serious concern. Now that we’ve downsized into a house a quarter the size of what we were living in, we wanted to calculate our new carbon footprint and to make an estimate as to what our consumption will be once onboard Meraki - while also maintaining our small house and our vehicles which will be in storage. We understand that it will take a holistic approach by governments, corporations, and individuals to combat the climate crisis, so we wanted to examine what we as individuals can do as it relates to being responsible global citizens and travelers. We looked into carbon offsets - as many travelers have, both to familiarize ourselves and to determine if it made sense.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Carbon Offset as: a way for a company or person to reduce the level of carbon dioxide for which they are responsible by paying money to a company that works to reduce the total amount produced in the world, for example by planting trees.

Carbon offsets are a controversial topic. Supporters tout their ability to improve environmental health, while opposers assert that they don’t really work and that they draw our focus away from cutting carbon emissions at the source. Critics also say that offsetting puts the onus on individuals to take action and takes away from the more impactful solutions that could happen when governments better regulate emissions or organizations make more significant changes in the way they do business. 

Individuals, however, often use them to offset the carbon burned from driving cars or getting on flights. The average driver could theoretically cover their car’s carbon footprint for under $100 per year: carbon offsets typically cost between $2 and $20 per metric ton of emissions removed, according to a Bank of America research published in September. You can buy credits from companies and programs that plant trees or fund renewable energy projects, or even from farmers who reduce or capture methane emissions from livestock.

We calculated our carbon footprint using a couple of online calculators: Terrapass and the EPA both have carbon footprint trackers. Terrapass seemed more comprehensive (and higher) so we used it.  In our larger house, our previous lifestyle, including the house, cars, boat, and annual airline travel generated 201K pounds of carbon.

 Now in a smaller house, and including our future lifestyle; the smaller house, cars with less mileage, airline travel, an estimated annual 1000 gallons of diesel fuel for Meraki, we calculated we’d generate 89K pounds of carbon annually.  We have not been in our smaller home for a full year (only from November-May) and do not yet have our live-aboard boat, so some guesswork and assumptions were used.

 After all the considerations, we decided it was appealing to purchase credits to reduce our impact and in some small way help the environment. We purchased a subscription for carbon offsets (monthly payments) from Terrapass for 111K pounds of carbon or 25% more than calculated.  This should hopefully cover any errors we made in our estimation.  Offsets for 111K pounds of CO2 annually cost $69.48/month or about the cost of dinner out. We feel it is a meaningful way to mitigate our environmental impact. 

Needless to say, we think carbon offsets are a good place to start if you want to get into the carbon-emission reduction game, but in order to be effective in the long-term, we must not rely on them solely. Cutting emissions from the source and then offsetting the remainder is the best way for us to reduce our carbon footprint and provide the highest environmental benefits.

*Meraki’s engines are two Beta 85T 74 hp engines.  They are 4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engines that meet US EPA Tier III emissions requirements.  They are mechanically controlled without electronics for simplicity.  Our generator is an Onan Marine QD 9kw generator.  It is also a diesel that meets US EPA Tier III emissions requirements. Our solar panels on the roof also help with the batteries and we intend to add a wind generator as well once we know more about our actual usage.