Vote: +5

"* A quick guide to carbon-ecotalk!

Carbon Balancing
Often confused with carbon offsetting, but generally more concerned with reducing personal carbon levels, rather than compensating for them. Carbon balancing sometimes refers to a new technology that will reduce overall greenhouse emissions.

Carbon Calculator
A tool to help you to work out the size of your carbon footprint.

Carbon Dioxide
Also referred to as 'carbon' and 'CO2'.
A compound that we tend to think of as being the main greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide exists naturally in the earth's atmosphere but, due to its ability to absorb some infrared wavelengths of sunlight and the fact is stays in the atmosphere for a long time, is an important factor in global warming. It is thought that CO2 contributes up to 12% to the greenhouse effect.

Carbon Footprint
A measurement of how much CO2 is released into the atmosphere as a result of your everyday lifestyle. A carbon footprint is generally expressed in tons of CO2 and takes into account the way you travel, what you eat and how much energy you use in your home. Average national carbon footprints vary greatly, from 0.04 tonnes in Cambodia to a whopping 19.8 tonnes in America. The average British footprint is 9.4 tonnes.

Carbon Neutral
Carbon neutrality is a term generally used when a certain amount of carbon is offset by payment or by giving up other carbon-producing activities. For example, a flight from Edinburgh to Southampton produces 0.12 tonnes of CO2 per person, which can be offset by paying £5. Once this payment is made, the flight can then be referred to as carbon neutral for that individual.

Carbon Offsetting
This is a term that refers to reducing carbon levels somewhere else in the world to compensate for your own CO2 emissions. A common example of offsetting is paying a company to plant trees to counterbalance the emissions produced by your air travel. However, some critics believe that paying for individual 'eco-sins' is the wrong way to reduce overall CO2 emissions and may even help to legitimize the continued production of greenhouse gases.

Carbon Trading
This is an administrative approach to controlling carbon and one that provides financial incentives for lowering pollution levels. The system works by putting a cap on the total emissions levels for a particular country, and then giving various business tradable carbon credits that relate to the amount of CO2 they are allowed to emit. Businesses can then buy and sell these credits as they expect to fail or meet their emissions target. This system also allows corporations to retire their carbon credits in return for a tax deduction. Over time, the amount of carbon credits available will be lowered, therefore reducing the amount of emissions in the environment."

By: My Green Cleaner :: 3 years ago

Vote: +0

"How much a Solar PV system cost? could you provide more info? thanks"

By: Hess :: 3 years ago

Vote: +0

"Brilliant. will calculate and will let you know."

By: Hess :: 3 years ago