What does it mean to really go green?

If you’ve ever wondered what it really means to “shrink your carbon footprint,” you’ll find the answer on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. A Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator has been posted on the site that translates measures of carbon dioxide and other emissions into concrete, everyday terms.

 Say, for example, that you implement a lighting retrofit project that reduces your carbon dioxide emissions by 500,000 pounds. If you plug that into the EPA calculator, you will be told that this is equivalent to:

 • The CO2 emissions from 44.5 passenger vehicles

• The CO2 emissions from 25,426 gallons of gasoline consumed

• The CO2 emissions from 527 barrels of oil consumed

• The CO2 emissions from 3 tanker trucks’ worth of gasoline

• The electricity use of 28.3 homes for one year

• Carbon sequestered (removed from the atmosphere) by 5,815 tree seedlings grown for ten years

• Carbon sequestered annually by 48.4 acres of pine or fir forests

• Carbon sequestered annually by 2.2 acres of forest preserved from deforestation

• The CO2 emissions from 9,450 propane cylinders used for home barbecue

• The CO2 emissions from burning 1.2 rail cars worth of coal

• Greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 79 tons of waste instead of sending it to the landfill

This, along with a reduction in utility bills, better light levels, and compliance with Federal energy mandates, makes a powerful argument for switching to energy efficient lighting.

GreenTech Energy Services
email@greentechenergy.com
Phone: 856-439-9400
122 East Kings Highway, Ste 503
Maple Shade, NJ 08052