I know there have been a whole lot of diaries around compact fluorescent lightbulbs (one recent example here). I have participated in quite a few of them. I'm stunned that their isn't a tag for them--damn CFL brings up that Lieberman party....!
But it turns out we have a congresscritter who is taking this seriously--he is changing his office lighting over:
Welch takes fight against global warming personally
From the article by John Donnelly:
Representative Peter Welch, a freshman Democrat from Vermont, wanted to do something personal as well: reduce his office's greenhouse gas emissions to effectively nothing.
So today Welch announced that he was installing low-energy flourescent bulbs, turning down the office temperature, and spending $672 of his own money to buy "carbon credits" from two Vermont renewable energy projects that are part of an emerging business practice called carbon trading. In essence, the two Vermont projects will save the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions that Welch's offices will produce, making his offices "carbon neutral," the congressman said.
That's right--a carbon neutral critter. But I know, you are asking about all that travel to DC...well...
He decided to tally up all the energy used in his official business -- from electricity in the Washington office and a 2,000-square-foot office in Burlington, Vermont, to the fossil fuel consumed from his flights home and staff travel around Vermont, including trips in his 2000 Suburu. It came to the equivalent of the emissions from 10 automobiles in one year, or 56 tons.
He's paying attention. Where is his carbon credit going?
Welch then approached a Vermont-based company, NativeEnergy, which agreed to take his money to help pay for a methane project on a Westminster dairy farm...
Yep. Cow gas. If that isn't fitting, I don't know what is.
Congratulations, Vermonters--you did a good thing by electing this guy. Keep it up!
And Kossacks looking for help should check a whole bunch of tags, but one of my favorites is sustainable energy action
Action item: Inspired by Hoya90 in the comments, I say we challenge our delegations to be the first carbon-neutral delegation. They get to give the money to local projects. It is a winner for everyone. So I'll start: MA residents, please find your critter and forward this Boston Globe article.
{note: image was a free download from Welch's web site}