Hey Folks. It is Anna here. Remember me? The one that is always nudging you to practice the 3 Rs: reuse, recycle, and reduce, and pesters you about the toxic hazards in your home and personal care products. Oh yeah, how can I forget? The one who constantly harps on how to green your house and reduce your energy needs.
And what is my mantra? Save green by being green! How about if I told you there was a Company that actually pays you to reduce your carbon footprint?
Folks: Aw come on, Anna. Who pays you for going green? You are just trying to guilt me into changing my lifestyle, right?
Anna: Really, Folks. Check out MyEmissionExchange. Want a short overview? Check out the above video.
So what the deal? Why are they paying you? The Company states:
“We truly believe that the only way to avoid being a flash in the pan is to align your individual economic self-interest with the interests of our planet. In order to actually effect change, we at myEex feel it is necessary to make individuals responsible for the external cost of pollution. How do we do this? With money. We incentivize people with the prospect of earning money for reducing their footprint. Our objective is to create a global exchange where individuals around the world can economically benefit from reducing their carbon footprints. Yep – what’s good for your wallet can be good for our planet.”
So how does it work? You create your own account. Then you enter in your past year’s electric and heat bills. The website offers suggestions on how to reduce your home energy use. As you being to reduce your usage and enter those figures in your account, MyEex does the calculations and tells you how much credits you are earning. Thereafter, the Company awards members carbon credits similar to those currently granted to companies, states and counties and pays you the earnings via Paypal.
Now, I have to admit this is where I thought the plan was a little sketchy. How do they pay you? Is there a carbon credit stock market? Actually, there is a voluntary cap and trade program and according to the Environmental Leader,
“With an estimated 123 million tons of carbon credits traded in 2008, the voluntary carbon market across the world nearly doubled from the 65 million tons of credits traded in 2007.”
The article further states:
“The primary motivators for companies to purchase carbon credits were for purposes of corporate social responsibility and public relations. However, purchases of carbon credits as an investment vehicle or for resale has grown, as well.”
So who’s buying those credits? Companies who produce too much carbon and want to buy credits to reduce their emissions. This is where your personal carbon credits can come into play. (Still need more information on carbon credits? See here for a good explanation.)
Folks: So get back to how I am going to get paid.
Anna: According to the Company’s website,
“MyEmissionsExchange is partnered with OceanConnect ltd, an international company that specializes in the brokerage of energy resources. OceanConnect provides the technical support and infrastructure for trading and bundling the individual carbon credits accumulated by MyEmissionsExchange.”
The Company further states that it makes a commission on the brokerage of your carbon credits. So, the more you do your part, the more green they get paid.
So how much money can you realistically earn? The NY1 Money Matters reporter, Tara Lynn Wagner, indicated in her segment about the Company,
“You’re not going to get rich off selling your carbon credits. If you earn two or three credits a year, you might make around $60, depending on the market. However, the real money comes not in what you earn, but what you save on monthly energy bills by using less energy.”
According to Paul Herrgesll of the Company, he predicts in the segment that the average size family could see a savings of $400 to $600 energy savings by reducing their energy usage. See, the long term savings is in your reduction of your energy bill. In addition, Marrissa Miraval of the Company states that you could easily save $50 by “just unplugging things.”
Folks: Okay, you got my attention. Sign me up. Heck, I will be greener if I can earn some green. So where is my Kermit t-shirt?
Anna: I knew I would get your attention.
How about you out there? What’s your thoughts?
Tip via twitter from A Sea of Change, Imagine a World without Fish. Check out when this film may be airing in a town near you.
Similar Posts:
- Double Impact: Change Your Carbon Footprint. Earn Money for Charities.
- Solar Leasing: The Solar Affordable Option through One Block Off the Grid
- Stove Project Impacts Indigent Women and Earth. The Paradigm Project
- ElioSolar Integrates One Solution for Solar Window Shade and Hot Water
- Why the Stealth Toilet with its .8 Gallon per Flush Stole My Heart
Luc J says
September 11, 2009 at 3:11 amThat’s very interesting. As you mention, the money involved is just a small incentive to get started and realize the real savings in your home. Amazing how people keep coming up with new business models.
Still, wish I’d know this before installing the photovoltaic panels on my roof.
.-= Luc J´s last blog ..Cool Your Lap Without Draining Your Laptop’s Battery =-.
Green Talk says
September 11, 2009 at 4:47 pmLuc J, how is it going with your roof top sun goddess? Anna
Luc J says
September 14, 2009 at 4:01 pmHi 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.
Green Talk says
September 14, 2009 at 11:22 pmLuc 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
Brendan @ PlentyWays says
September 15, 2009 at 6:39 amThat 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 =-.
Green Talk says
September 15, 2009 at 11:49 pmBrendan, I actually had that question myself. How can they verify the information. Anna
Brendan @ PlentyWays says
September 16, 2009 at 8:37 amI 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 =-.
Marissa says
September 17, 2009 at 10:07 amMarissa 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.
Kirsten@Nexyoo says
September 17, 2009 at 12:17 pmDo 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?
Marissa says
September 18, 2009 at 10:37 amKristen, 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.