Super User
New Search Engine Makes it Easy to Plant Trees – For Free
Ecosearch.co Uses Google Search, Facebook to Plant up to 500,000 Trees
Bethesda, MD, Sept. 8, 2011 – Carbonfund.org Foundation is proud to announce the launch of Ecosearch.co, a free online search service that enables anyone to help protect the environment simply through their everyday web searches. Ecosearch.co generates revenue from Google, which it uses to support international reforestation projects.
Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley Reforestation Initiative
Location: USA
Project type: Reforestation Project
Standard: American Carbon Registry
Verification/Validation: Environmental Services, Inc.
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Restores watershed alongside Mississippi River
- Reduces soil erosion
- Restores wildlife habitat
Community Benefits
- Local employment
- Improved area for recreational activities and tourism
The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley Reforestation Initiative aims to reforest at least one million acres throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois. Considered North America's rainforest, this region is a vital habitat for migratory birds and numerous plant and animal species. The project will also sequester CO2 emissions. Previously encompassing 22 million acres of temperate forest, the region now holds only four million acres of unfarmed forestland.
PURUS Protection of Tropical Rainforest and Bio-diversity Project
Location: Acre, Brazil
Project type: Forest Conservation and Avoided Deforestation
Standard: Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance Standard Gold Level
Verification/Validation: Scientific Certification Systems
Environmental Benefits
- Reduce carbon dioxide emissions
- Mitigate climate change
- Conserve habitat for endangered and threatened species
- Improve local water quality
- Retain top soil and control erosion
Community Benefits
- Establish alternative sources of income and employment opportunities
- Social projects and programs such as building a new school and health clinic
Project Description
In the world’s largest rainforest, the PURUS Forest Conservation Project involves numerous local and international partners that will protect nearly 90,000 acres from slash-and-burn forest clearing and prevent millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This project will also provide essential ecosystem services such as erosion control, water cycling, filtration and storage, nutrient recycling, and habitat for thousands of native Amazonian animal and plant species.
Avoided deforestation projects are critical because about 20 percent of global warming is attributed to deforestation, which reduces the Earth’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. Moreover, fallen trees decompose and release methane, a heat-trapping gas about 23 times more potent than CO2.
This Project has been successfully validated to both the Verified Carbon Standard and the Gold Level of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS).
The PURUS project was developed by CarbonCo LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Carbonfund.org Foundation, working to protect habitats, endangered species, and local communities through rainforest conservation projects.
Truck Stop Electrification Project
Location: US: Arkansas, California, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
Project type: Energy Efficiency
Standard: American Carbon Registry / Environmental Resources Trust’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Protocol
Verification/Validation: Environmental Resources Trust
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigate climate change
- Reduce localized air and noise pollution
- Reduce fuel usage and the environmental harm caused by fossil fuel extraction
Community Benefits
- Development of new technologies and additional jobs created
- Better resting conditions for drivers
- Provide alternative to idling in parking lots or road shoulders
New Zealand Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb Project
Location: New Zealand
Project type: Energy Efficiency
Standard: Verified Carbon Standard
Verification/Validation: Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Reduces localized air pollution
- Reduces fuel usage and the environmental harm caused by fossil fuel extraction
Community Benefits
- Expansion of new technologies
- Reduced consumer electricity bills
- Consumer cost savings from CFLs' longer lifetime
Small Scale Indian Wind Projects
Location: Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, India
Project type: Wind Energy
Standard: Verified Carbon Standard
Verification/Validation: TÜV Rheinland Japan Ltd
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Limits impact of energy production on local environment
- No localized water or air pollution
Community Benefits
- Locally sourced, renewable energy
- Development of new technologies and additional jobs created
- Additional revenue for communities
- Tax base for local governments
North Country Landfill Methane Project
Location: Bethlehem, New Hampshire
Project type: Methane Destruction
Standard: American Carbon Registry / Environmental Resources Trust’s Monitoring, Reporting & Verification Protocol and the Chicago Climate Exchange
Verification/Validation: First Environment, Inc.
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Waste management
- Odor control and less localized air pollution
- Reduction of local water pollution
Community Benefits
- Development of new technologies and additional jobs created
Project Description
Carbonfund.org supports the North Country Landfill Methane project which safely and effectively disposes up to 7,200 gallons of landfill leachate a day from a municipal solid waste landfill in Northern New Hampshire. This project not only prevents methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from being released into the atmosphere, it also protects the area’s local groundwater from landfill leachate.
The destruction of methane from such projects is important in the fight against global climate change because methane is approximately 23 times more efficient as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. One of the real concerns about climate change is that as the frozen tundra of areas such as Siberia and Northern Canada melt, an enormous amount of methane - which was previously trapped in the permafrost - will be released into our atmosphere.
New York State Landfill Methane Project
Location: Rodman, New York
Project type: Methane Destruction
Standard: American Carbon Registry / Environmental Resources Trust’s Monitoring, Reporting & Verification Protocol
Verification/Validation: First Environment, Inc.
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Waste management
- Odor control and less localized air pollution
- Reduction of local water pollution
Community Benefits
- Development of new technologies and additional jobs created
New Bedford Landfill Gas-to-Energy Project
Location: Greater New Bedford, Massachusetts
Project type: Landfill Gas-to-Energy
Standard: American Carbon Registry / Environmental Resources Trust’s Monitoring, Reporting & Verification Protocol and the Chicago Climate Exchange
Verification/Validation: First Environment, Inc.
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Waste management
- Odor control and less localized air pollution
- Reduction of local water pollution
Community Benefits
- Locally sourced, renewable energy
- Development of new technologies and additional jobs created
Neria Small Hydroelectric Project
Location: Karnataka State of India
Project type: Hydroelectric Energy
Standard: Verified Carbon Standard
Verification/Validation: Det Norske Veritas (DNV) International Climate Change Services
Environmental Benefits
- Mitigates climate change
- Run-of-river requires no dams to be built
- Reduces local air pollution
Community Benefits
- Locally sourced, renewable energy
- Additional employment opportunities
- Increased local investment in clean energy