CO2-neutral
Many ways to become CO2-neutral
Hotels can achieve CO2-neutral energy consumption in many different ways.
If the hotel lies in open country in the middle of wind-blown fields, it can put up a windmill in its back garden. If the hotel is in a mountainous area with rivers and roaring waterfalls, it can install a watermill. Or if the hotel is situated by a sunny tropical beach, it could mount solar panels on the roof.
But if the hotel is in the middle
of a large city, perhaps in northern and cold climes, much will
depend on the local electricity supplier.
City hotels can, of course, introduce a range of schemes for
the reduction of energy themselves by installing energy-saving
bulbs, avoiding air conditioning, turning down the heat and taking
many other good initiatives. But, ultimately, a hotel's consumption
of CO2 will depend to a great extent on the way in which the
local electricity company has produced the power that is supplied.
Therefore, the simplest way to become CO2-neutral, apart from saving energy, is to purchase and delist CO2 quotas or CO2 credits to the equivalent of the energy consumption of the hotel and.
CO2 quotas
The CO2 quota system is the international community's mechanism
for the regulation of CO2 emissions and most countries endorsed
this in connection with the Kyoto Protocol.
A CO2 quota is a
permit to send 1 ton of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Energy-producing companies are allocated a politically defined, annual number of quotas. If an energy company emits more than the allocated level, the company must purchase quotas to the equivalent of their additional consumption.
CO2 quotas are a financial commodity and can be . By purchasing quotas and removing them from the market, you as a consumer can force energy companies to convert their production to climate-friendly energy, simply due to the fact that quotas will become more expensive or actually more difficult to get hold of. Put more simply: By purchasing and delisting CO2 quotas, you can force the energy companies to build more windmills e.g.
CO2 credits
CO2 credits are also an element of the Kyoto Protocol and are known as flexible mechanisms.
When you purchase a CO2 credit, you purchase a reduction of the CO2 emission in another country - typically a country in the third world - by investing in a climate project aimed at the limitation of the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Put more simply: By purchasing CO2 credits, you invest, e.g., in a new filter for a chimney in India.
Book a CO2-neutral hotel - and join the fight against global warming!
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Read more:
Carbon Footprint Calculator
UN Environment programme
EU Commission Programme
1 tonne less
World Wide Fund for Nature
Earth Hour
Greenpeace
Modstrøm
UN Climate Conference, Cph 09 |
