CarbonFree Surfing Assumptions
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
How we came up with our preset offset options: The pre-calculated offset options for surf related actions in the CarbonFree Surfing program use estimated averages for typical flight miles, driving miles, boat fuel use, etc. In most cases, these averages were compiled using Carbonfund’s carbon calculators in conjunction with Greensurf’s input on typical surf specific actions and destinations. For the boating related fuel use, boat operators and commercial charter boat companies were consulted. Typical offset options for the Surfing Industry are directly related to the averaged offsets, which were already determined for Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree program for Small Business and Events. Typical ---travel figures for surfing professionals and pro athletes on the surfing World Tour come from contacts within the surfing community and pro surfers, with special thanks to Kelly Slater. Carbonfund.org’s Flight and Auto carbon calculators use information from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency (www.eia.doe.gov), the World Resources Institute (www.wri.org) and other related sources to develop an accurate assessment of carbon dioxide emissions emitted per energy type or use.
A note about the averages we used for the preset options: In order to make the offsetting process simple and easy to use, we realized early (in particular for flight calculations) that with the huge range of possible surfing destinations available, we were going to have to come up with averages based on regions for many of our destinations. For a region (like Central America) we would select the closer (like-Nicaragua) and the further (say-Panama) countries within it, and then split the difference to get the average miles flown. We want to clearly state that these averages are our best guess to estimate the typical footprint size for each option, and as such, there could certainly be debate about the average we arrived at; but in the end, we always erred on the side of caution with the mindset that it was always better to do a bit more good than to not do enough. Send in some feedback, we will listen! Email: surfing@carbonfund.org |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offset Your Auto travel
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offset Your Air travel
Notes on Flying Offset Calculations: Unfortunately for travel stoked surfers, flying is a large producer of CO2 emissions and a major factor contributing to Global Warming. In particular, surfers should be looking to offset the flying component of any surf travel, as this is typically the largest part of their CO2 footprint. Air Travel – CO2 emissions in air travel vary by length of flight—ranging from .24 kg CO2 per passenger mile for short flights down to.18 kg CO2 per passenger mile for long flights. For simplicity regarding the airports we used, we chose to use the capital cities of countries in the specific regions for most calculation purposes, so all flights were calculated using Washington D.C. as the starting point. We chose to use the long flight factor for all of our calculations and Carbonfund’s new calculator (as of April 2007) allowed us to take the issue of *Radiative Forcing into account. The use of the Radiative Forcing factor is not yet standard practice for all carbon calculators, but it looks to be headed that way shortly, and it is used or offered by most carbon offset providers, so we felt it was an important factor to use with all flight calculations compiled for the preset options. *What is Radiative Forcing and why is it such a big deal? Well, at high altitudes, the effect of greenhouse gases is considerably different than on the ground level. Aircraft also emit water vapor during flight which can cause the formation of ice clouds called contrails. Where contrails persist, cirrus clouds begin to form which have an additional impact on global warming. Clouds can have a double effect on radiation: they warm the earth by reducing the amount of radiation from the earth that escapes into space but also cool the earth by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space. However, contrails definitely lead to an overall net warming factor, which is estimated to be 2.7 times the normal effect (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1999).(Sources: Emissions factor based on 2006 data collected in the United Kingdom available from the World Resources Institute. For more information on air travel-related radiative forcing, please see this IPCC document: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/aviation/083.htm |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offset Your Boat travel:
Notes on Boating Offset Calculations: Surfing is known as a pure sport, because it’s not a motorized water sport, but sometimes we use these vehicles to go where there are no roads; making it particularly important to offset their impact, since they are in direct contact with the ocean environment. Special thanks to Capt. Bryan Stewart in Maui and CarbonFree partner company Hornblower Cruises and Events in Newport Beach, CA for their help in developing these boating calculations. Regardless if the boat trip happens in Indo or the Channel Islands, according to research on commercial charter boat operations - the average daily fuel consumption for a multi-day chartered boat during a 24 hour day is approximated at 168 gallons. Using this measure the 10 Indo Boat trip was estimated to use 1680 gallons of fuel, and the Local Waters - Day trip option was calculated as using 100 Gallons. These numbers are based on a number of charter yachts which vary in length and in engine displacement. The breakdown is as follows: 5 hours underway=100gallons (20gph) / 5 Hours Idle/Mixed use = 40gallons (8gph) / 14 Hours Gen= 28gallons (2gph) Jet Ski- According to research on commercial jet ski rental operations - spending three hours on a jet ski* emits about 730 pounds of CO2. Per the Tow-In Session option, we used 4 hours of operation and 1000 lbs of CO2. *The two-stroke engines that power most jet skis run on a mixture of oil and gasoline. They discharge as much as one-third of this mixture - unburned - into the water. These machines burn from 8-12 gallons of gas per hour of operation and typically get 3-5 MPG depending on usage. The newer 4 Stroke engines have lots of power, are much more fuel efficient and cleaner to run and typically get 6-10 MPG. If you’re in the market to buy, please help make the shift to 4 Strokes, by doing this, you will not be dumping about 3 gallons per hour of fuel directly into the ocean! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Offsets for the Surfing Industry:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||