Comments on: MyEmissionExchange: Earn Money to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

By: Marissa

Marissa — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:37:13 +0000

Kristen, by maintaining a certain level of month-to-month reduction, you continually receive the SAME level of savings and earnings. For example: reduce your utility bill 10% from January to February and save $100 on your utility bill and earn $15 for your credits. By simply maintaining the same level of energy usage from February to March – without implementing any new reduction behaviors – your utility bill would be the same as the month prior ($100 less than the baseline month) and you would earn an additional $15 for your new credit. You are $115 richer from your energy usage in February without changing a thing!
As for “saving as much as you can” there are an infinite number of ways to reduce your carbon footprint at home. Unfortunately, we cannot give you “credit” for past reduction behaviors. If you feel that there is no further behaviors you are willing to implement, then yes, you make a good point. However, a recent University of Oxford study showed that households cut energy consumption 5-15% JUST by receiving direct feedback about their energy consumption. Your participation in MyEmissionsExchange should increase your consciousness and build on things you have already been doing.

By: Kirsten@Nexyoo

Kirsten@Nexyoo — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:17:00 +0000

Do you keep earning money as you keep up energy-saving practices, or do you just get credit in the beginning? What if you’re already saving as much energy as you can– is there any way to be rewarded for that, or do you have to start off as an energy hog?

By: Marissa

Marissa — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:07:06 +0000

Marissa of MyEmissionsExchange here.
Anna, Great piece! We, too, hope MyEmissionsExchange gets some attention and speaks to those who want to be green as well as earn green.
Anna and Brendan, We measure reductions based on utility data (provided by you), we correct consumption for seasonality and weather variation (using degree days) to determine true carbon reductions. We have to do this so the credits can be certified which is a necessity if you want to sell credits.
Brendan, thanks for the Google PowerMeter tip. It would, indeed, be easier for entry. For now, however, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers, and we want everyone to be able to use MyEEx. We’ll surely keep our eyes open as it develops.

By: Brendan @ PlentyWays

Brendan @ PlentyWays — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:37:13 +0000

I read that they require people to scan their utility bills. That will work, I suppose, but a data feed from Google PowerMeter would be a far more elegant solution. And harder to fake. Brendan .-= Brendan @ PlentyWays´s last blog ..Belu – Carbon Neutral and Biodegradable Bottled Water =-.

By: Green Talk

Green Talk — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:49:19 +0000

Brendan, I actually had that question myself. How can they verify the information. Anna

By: Brendan @ PlentyWays

Brendan @ PlentyWays — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:39:17 +0000

That is an interesting idea, it will be enlightening to see how they develop. Any idea how they verify that people are actually reducing their energy by the amount they claim to be? Perhaps it would make a really good Google PowerMeter tie in. People could use PowerMeter to indubitably reduce their energy usage and MyEex could verify it using a data feed. (Google have already announced that such data feeds will be available via their API). Brendan .-= Brendan @ PlentyWays´s last blog ..Top Ten Electric Vehicles on the market =-.

By: Green Talk

Green Talk — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:22:11 +0000

Luc J, how many kilowatts do you have on your roof and if you don’t mind me asking, how much did you pay for it? Where are you? (You can give me a general area like your state.) Anna

By: Luc J

Luc J — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:01:07 +0000

Hi Anna, thanks for asking, still going strong. We had a good summer, the roof is delivering 3500 Watt peak and covering 90% of our electricity bill. So, even without the emission exchange we’re quite happy.