Posts by: erik

Art from the waste stream

There's nothing like spending Friday afternoon at San Francisco's Norcal Recycling Station with a gang of pre-schoolers. There's their obvious excitement at seeing where the construction trash goes, and their stern looks when the tour guide discusses the evils of disposable chopsticks. It's enough to lift anyone's spirits to see these five-year-olds easily identify which materials should go into the… read more →

Hybrids not immune, after all

Well, so much for my gas-electric crystal ball. Last month, I confidently predicted that hybrid sales in December 2008 would reach the same 2.2% of total car sales that they had reached in December of the previous year. But this chart from Green Car Congress tells it differently: Hybrid sales share (the purple line in the chart) continued to fall,… read more →

Peak hybrid?

A couple of months ago I wrote that hybrid car sales were holding up relatively well in the face of the economic downturn. My theory was that though saving money on gas was great, it couldn't account for the whole disparity in sales decline -- there had to be a core of hybrid buyers whose primary motivation continued to be… read more →

Going deep on voluntary carbon markets

  • December 2, 2008
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For those who are looking for a couple of days of in-depth commentary and analysis on the voluntary carbon markets, I thought I'd mention that I'll be speaking at the Voluntary Carbon Markets USA conference on Jan 22nd and 23rd , 2009. Well, I'll be on a panel speaking about how companies are using carbon offsets. The keynote speaker is… read more →

Use more energy to use less energy?

We've all seen Chevron's attempt to convince the country that it is on the side of energy efficiency. Ads in every medium declare sincerely that the company is willing, ready and able to join consumers in using less energy in all forms. Usually I just dismiss the cognitive dissonance and carry on with my day. But this weekend I came… read more →

Is everything off?

There's a lot written these days about the coming boom in home energy monitoring devices and systems. Eventually, we hope to see smart meters that dynamically adjust home energy use to conditions within the home and on the grid. Nobody in the room? Turn off the lights. Too much demand on the grid? Turn down the AC. But there's a… read more →

Holiday gift selection now online

  • November 18, 2008
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Well, it's not quite Thanksgiving but around TerraPass we're already seeing people buying gifts for the holidays. So we thought this would be a fine time to introduce our Second! Annual! TerraPass! Holiday Gift Selection. Please check it out. We've done our best to put together a range of gift ideas, at a range of price points. As you would… read more →

Unveiling the TerraPass 2009 project portfolio

  • November 11, 2008
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This is a big day for us here at TerraPass -- we're unveiling our 2009 carbon offset project portfolio. These are the projects that we support with the proceeds from carbon offset sales on our site and through our partners. The TerraPass Carbon Management Services team will almost certainly add more to the 2009 portfolio as we go, but for… read more →

Fear, greed, and carbon emissions

I shouldn't be feeling so grumpy, not now that climate change and carbon emissions are part of the political conversation at the highest level. But surveying the wreckage of the global financial system, I can't help feeling that some of our most basic human impulses are being laid bare, and that the financial crisis bears directly on the climate crisis.… read more →

More iron than carbon

As a former middle of the pack Ironman triathlete, I have to say I'm somewhat in awe of the professionals who hammer through the race in a little over 8 hours. When they race the world championship in Kona, Hawaii, these folks dive in for 2.4 miles of ocean swimming, ride for 112 miles in brutal headwinds and volcanic heat,… read more →
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