The MBCF aims to raise money to facilitate the implementation of meaningful greenhouse gas reduction initiatives in the Monterey Bay community, while providing educational and employment opportunities for local students and professionals, and creating economic and environmental benefits to the entire region.
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All Monterey Bay businesses, municipalities, agencies and residents have a measurable carbon footprint resulting from energy consumption, travel and transportation of goods, solid and liquid waste generation. The Monterey Bay Carbon Fund can help individuals and organizations reduce their carbon footprint.
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The Offset Project (TOP) was formed as a 501-(c)3 non-profit community organization in 2007 on the Monterey Peninsula. TOP is an environmental organization creating programs that fulfill our mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through education and grassroots initiatives. We continually seek to integrate ways for the community to learn and interact and to guide businesses and special events toward carbon reduction strategies.
TOP is a coalition of individuals who empower our communities. TOP has volunteers in the school districts teaching students about waste reduction and at local events providing an interactive approach to sustainable practices. Top works with local businesses and corporations to establish sustainable policies and implement best practices in environmental stewardship.
TOP has developed sensible programs that are attainable and successful. We have worked effectively to influence the policies and principles that make up the fabric of our community. To date, TOP has received three green leadership awards from local business organizations.
Founders Circle
Special thanks to our founding circle members! Members are part of a distinguished group of leadership donors who provided financial support in jumpstarting the Monterey Bay Fund.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the circle, please contact Kristin Cushman at kristin_offsetproject.org
The MBCF program gives local individuals and organizations a way to invest their dollars into their own community, while still meeting their own needs and advancing their own sustainability goals. Instead of purchasing RECs and offsets from out of state sources and thus investing in nameless and faceless projects and companies in far away places, MBCF clients can share in the pride and marketing value of investing in local projects and seeing their dollars at work right here in the Monterey Bay Community.
Each MBCF client can rest assured that their REC and Carbon Offset purchases will lead to real, meaningful, and visible projects in their own backyard. The money raised through the MBCF program will raise local awareness about climate change and air pollution, provide important educational opportunities for local students and professionals, create new green jobs and economic development for our community, reduce negative impacts on our local environment, and help local schools and non-profits reap the benefits of money-saving renewable energy installations.
Other Value:
MBCF holds the highest standards as a vendor of REC's and Carbon Offsets:
MBCF is the only vendor of local certified RECs and Carbon Offsets that currently resides in the Monterey Bay Area.
MBCF provides RECs and Carbon Offsets that are produced by projects right here in California, ensuring that all our client dollars stay in our own state economy. Over time, MBCF will work to create a purely local supply of RECs and Carbon Offsets (produced by renewable energy installations and other greenhouse gas emission reduction projects within the Monterey Bay Region) that can meet the local demand.
All of the proceeds raised by MBCF will be devoted entirely to local greenhouse gas reduction initiatives in the Monterey Bay Region, allowing our clients to share in the pride and marketing benefits of supporting local projects and creating local jobs, educational opportunities and environmentally beneficial economic development.
MBCF sells only third-party verified and audited RECs and Carbon Offsets, ensuring that the products meet the the highest industry standards for quality, validity, and chain of ownership. MBCF also provides competitively priced national RECs and Carbon Offsets.
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and Carbon Offsets represent the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in one location like a solar pv or wind energy facility, or methane recovery or reforestation project to offset the GHGs produced in another location, like your home or office. But with other REC and Carbon Offset providers out there, why choose MBCF?
1. Certification = Quality
2. Buy Local
3. Non-profit vs. For-Profit
4. Investing in the Monterey Bay Community
5. Financial Transparency
6. Product Transparency
7. Project Transparency
8. Investment in the Future
Start reducing your environmental footprint, while supporting meaningful GHG emission reductions in the Monterey Bay Community.
How it works. View flyer.
The MBCF will direct money to local renewable energy projects at Monterey Bay schools and non-profits thereby:
Through the MBCF program, The Offset Project will continue to benefit and unite the Monterey Bay Community, while reducing local green house gas emissions and creating new green jobs and educational opportunities.
The Offset Project is a certified provider of Green-e Climate Renewable Energy Carbon Offsets. These rigorous, industry-leading certifications ensure that all products offered by MBCF meet the highest standards for quality, validity, and consumer protection.
Bonny Doon Elementary School
The Monterey Bay Carbon Fund (MBCF) is working to make a solar PV system possible for the Bonny Doon Elementary School in Santa Cruz, California. The Bonny Doon Elementary site will be the very first beneficiary of the MBCF program, and an overall site evaluation and solar suitability survey are already underway. School officials are excited to participate in the MBCF program and eager to see solar panels on campus buildings.
MBCF hopes that with the help of our generous community partners RC Cubed and the Monterey Bay Resource Efficiency Consortium (MBREC) we will be able to complete the installation of a complete solar PV array at the school in 2011. The project will be completed using local solar installers as well as students studying renewable energy and sustainable construction at local community colleges, providing valuable real-world work experience to the next generation of green job seekers.
The goal is to provide long term utility bill savings and energy security for the school.
There will also be new opportunities in the classroom for the Bonny Doon School students to learn about renewable energy using realtime energy monitoring software that shows how much electricity the system is generating.
MBCF will provide the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) generated by the new system, providing a long term funding stream that will help make similar projects possible at other local schools and nonprofit organizations in the future. This means that each MBCF project will create the foundation for the next, making the program sustainable and self-propelling. Each of these projects will lead to significant, verifiable long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions in the Monterey Bay Region, and will help our communities meet their GHG reduction goals.
Q: What is the Monterey Bay Carbon Fund?
A: The Monterey Bay Carbon Fund is a nonprofit fund that will direct money into local renewable energy projects at Monterey Bay schools and nonprofits and/or other local emission reduction initiatives approved by The Offset Project.
Q: What are the stages in developing the Fund?
A: The Monterey Bay Carbon Fund will move forward in 2011 in two stages.
Stage One. The Offset Project will become a third-party verified and audited provider of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and verified Carbon Offsets. The Offset Project will offer RECs and Carbon Offsets from national and California-only sources, and is working to create a purely local supply capable of meeting local demand. These products would then be sold to local events and organizations, and retired on behalf of those entities so that they can claim the right to all of the environmental benefits associated with the ownership of the RECs and Carbon Offsets. The money raised as a result of these transactions will be allocated to support the implementation of local renewable energy projects and measurable greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction initiatives.
Clients who purchase RECs and/or Carbon Offsets from MBCF will include local events and businesses interested in purchasing renewable energy to power their operations and/or offsetting their GHG emissions. Clients will also include municipalities, government agencies and higher education institutions striving to meet regulatory demands as well as construction projects seeking LEED Certification.
The market for RECs and Carbon Offsets is already established and demand for these products is growing steadily. Californias pending Cap-and-trade program and AB32 legislation is expected to create additional demand for offset products, since they can be used to meet compliance. Stage One of the MBCF program is about capturing a segment of this market, and directing the proceeds back into the community to make local renewable energy projects and GHG reduction initiatives viable and cost-effective.
Stage Two: The Offset Project will allocate money from the Fund to help underwrite the cost of new renewable energy at local schools and non-profits. Local schools and non-profits interested in the possibility of hosting new solar PV systems will be identified. Participating schools and non-profits will receive reliable electricity at low and stable rates, providing energy security, saving them money and reducing GHG emissions.
MBCF will partner with local suppliers, contractors, colleges and students to install the solar PV systems at the lowest possible cost. MBCF will also purchase and resell the RECs generated by these projects, further reducing the project costs. The proceeds generated from those transactions will go back into the fund to help underwrite the cost of future projects. All of this will reduce local GHG emissions and electrical grid loads, while ensuring that the host schools and non-profits enjoy the benefit of cheaper electricity.
The Offset Project will reach out to the community to raise awareness about the MBCF program and the environmental, economic and social issues it is working to address.
MBCF Clients and Partners will share in the pride and marketing value of investing in beneficial local projects and seeing their dollars at work right here in the Monterey Bay Community.
Take the first steps towards reducing your emissions and saving money and valuable natural resources by learning more about your carbon footprint with MBCF. Which of your activities creates the greatest impact on global warming? through the MBCF program, The Offset Project provides numerous tools and resources that can help you get started:
Step One:
Start by learning more about how our lifestyles affect the environment and how you can make a positive difference. We will share easy and effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint and possible save you money!
Step Two:
Quantify your GHG emissions by calculating your carbon footprint using our quick and easy online calculator.
Step Three:
Balance you GHG emissions and support Monterey Bay schools and nonprofits by purchasing Carbon Offsets and/or Renewable Energy Certificates from the Monterey Bay Carbon Fund.
Monterey Bay businesses can make a significant contribution to reducing our local greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses generate a substantial portion of our local GHG emissions through their day-to-day operations, including energy use, landfilled waste, employee travel, transportation of goods, etc.
The Offset Project can help your business calculate and reduce its carbon footprint by offering TOP Down Consulting. We assist in designing and creating sustainable plans for businesses and organizations.
We specialize in working with companies to help structure sustainability policies, initiate grassroots ideas and assist you in extending this policy into the community.
1. Break the water bottle habit, go stainless instead-
For each gallon of water bottled, two gallons are wasted, producing the plastic wastes the energy equivalent to a ¼ of a bottles worth of oil.
2. Adjust your appliances to the appropriate settings to save energy-
Turn down your water heater to 120°Fahrenheit, set your refrigerator to 38-42°and the freezer to 0-5°.
3. Eat more raw food-
Less cooking = less power used.
4. Start composting-
Approximately 1/3 of landfill space is taken up by garbage that can be composted.
5. Install a water saving shower head and toilet-
You can save 350lbs. of Co2 per year.
6. Turn off or un-plug electronic devices such as TVs and stereos or seldom used appliances-
This can save thousands of lbs. of co2 every year. Energy used to display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5% of the total domestic energy consumption. Unplugging appliances can save up to $10 per month. You can also configure your computer to hibernate automatically after 30 minutes of non-use.
7 . Buy local foods-
Buying locally reduces the costs in transporting the food to your grocery store. Always check the Country of Origin label.
8. Use smaller pots and pans-
Power is distributed in the pan when you are frying or heating water. A smaller pot uses less energy to heat the food.
9. Increase your recycling efforts-
By recycling all of your newspapers for one year, you alone can save four trees, 2200 gallons of water, and fifteen pounds of air pollutants! Energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a TV set for 3 hours, and is the equivalent to half a can of gasoline.
10. Make your own electricity-
Install solar panels.
we would love to hear your voice!
What are Carbon Offsets?
A Carbon Offset is a reduction of greenhouse gasses measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide- equivalent avoided, sequestered or destroyed. Certified Carbon Offsets can be used to mitigate GHG emissions from any source (i.e. travel, solid waste, home heating and cooling, etc).
The purchasers of the carbon offset can rightfully claim to have offset one metric ton of their own GHG emissions. Carbon Offsets meet the highest industry standards for quality, additionality and chain of ownership because they are verified by the Climate Action Reserve and meet the strictest protocols in the offset business.
TOP believes that we should all do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint drive less, buy energy efficient appliances, turn down our thermostats, purchase biodegradable products, etc. However, it is simply not feasible to reduce all of our emissions. To make up for the GHG emissions we can't avoid, we can help support a project that will effectively reduce emissions at the same level by purchasing Carbon Offsets.
The CAR certified Carbon Offsets offered by MBCF are generated from verified projects right here in California as well as national sources, including reforestation and urban forestry projects, methane recovery projects, etc. Each Carbon Offset purchase comes with a Product Content Label, which provides detailed information about where and how the Carbon Offsets that were purchased were generated.
Purchasing Carbon Offsets from MBCF mitigates (or offsets) the environmental impact of your electricity consumption and provides crucial funding for meaningful and effective GHG reduction initiatives right here in the Monterey Bay Community.
RECs
For the emissions you can't reduce on your own, purchase verified Carbon Offsets and/or Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from the Monterey Bay Carbon Fund and we'll support projects that reduce emissions right here in our community.
The MBCF program is unique in many ways. MBCF is based in the Monterey Bay Region and provides Green-e Renewable Energy Carbon Offsets. We are working to create a local supply of these producst that is capable of meeting the local demand. Unlike many of our competitiors, MBCF's clients will know exaclty what projects their purchases support and where those projects are located. MBCF clients wil also share in the pride and marketing value of supporting meaningful lcoal projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution right here in the Monterey Bay Region.
MBCF is a nonprofit program of The Offset Project (501-c3) and all proceeds benefit the Monterey Bay Community.
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Main office:
The Offset Project
1146 Montecito
Pacific Grove, CA
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Phone: 831.277.0167
What is a renewable energy certificate or REC?
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are commodities that are bought, sold, or traded on the open market. They provide crucial funding for environmentally beneficial renewable energy projects, and offer a cost-effective mechanism for individuals and organizations to reduce their impact on the environment.
One REC is equivalent to one megawatt hour of renewable energy produced. The purchaser of the REC can rightfully claim to have purchased one megawatt hour of renewable electricity, and holds the rights to all of the environmental benefits associated with that megawatt hour of electricity.
All Monterey Bay businesses, municipalities, agencies, and residents have a measurable carbon footprint resulting from their electricity consumption. Many of these entities are beginning to be more cognizant of their own responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, and some are taking steps to offset their electricity-related carbon footprint by purchasing RECs.
The Monterey Bay Carbon Fund is the only local organization in the Monterey Bay Region that sells Green-e Climate Renewable Energy Carbon Offsets. Green-e Energy is industry-leading renewable energy certification program, and all Green-e Climate Renewable Energy Carbon Offsets meet the highest standards for quality, validity, and consumer protection.
The Green-e Climate Renewable Energy Carbon Offsets offered by MBCF are generated from verified projects here in California as well as national sources, including solar pv, wind energy, and landfill gas to electricity facilities. Each REC purchase comes with a Product Content Label, which provides detailed information about where and how the RECs that were purchased were generated.
Purchasing RECs from MBCF mitigates (or offsets) the environmental impact of your electricity consumption and provides crucial funding for renewable energy projects at local schools and non-profits.
MBCF sells only third-party certified RECs and Carbon Offsets, and we work with the industry-leading certification programs. The Green-e Energy program will certify all renewable energy credits sold by MBF (http://www.green-e.org/). The Climate Action Reserve will certify all Carbon Offsets (called Verified Emission Reductions or VERs) sold by MBCF (http://www.climateactionreserve.org/). These rigorous certifications ensure that the products offered by MBCF meet the highest industry standards for quality, validity, and chain of ownership.
MBCF is a vendor of certified RECs and VERs based in the Monterey Bay Area. We provide RECs and VERs that are produced by projects here in California. MBCF also provides competitively priced national RECs and VERs. Over time, MBCF will work to create a purely local supply of RECs and VERs (produced by renewable energy installations and other greenhouse gas emission reduction projects within the Monterey Bay Region) that can meet the local demand. In the past, companies have purchased offsets or supported offset projects that were not local because a local alternative did not exist. Now it does.
MBCF is a project of The Offset Project, a 501-c(3) non-profit organization. This means that our priority is fighting climate change, not profiting from it.
All of the proceeds raised by MBCF will be devoted entirely to local renewable energy projects at Monterey Bay schools and nonprofits and/or other local emission reduction initiatives approved by The Offset Project. This means that our clients can share in the pride and marketing benefits of supporting local projects, creating local green jobs, providing new educational opportunities to local students and professionals, and stimulating environmentally beneficial economic development.
All of our transactions are audited annually by an independent third-party organization to verify the chain of custody of our products and ensure strict adherence to the Green-e Energy protocols. Our annual reports, including financials, will be published online and will be available upon request.
Our products come with a Product Content Label, which provides detailed information about where the RECs and/or VERs purchased came from, including the exact project location(s) and project type(s) (i.e. reforestation, methane recovery, solar pv, wind energy, etc.).
Complete details about every local project supported by MBCF will be published and highlighted on this website, including: project location and type, community partners who contributed to the project, photos, and project outcomes (i.e.- GHG emissions reduced or avoided, money saved, jobs created, etc.).
This pioneering program will unite the community through true private-public partnerships that allow local entities to offset their GHG emissions, while creating local green jobs and educational opportunities, driving new investments in local renewable energy production, conserving precious resources, and saving money for local schools and non-profit organizations. Purchasing certified RECS and/or Carbon Offsets from MBCF provides crucial funding that will make possible local projects that reduce GHG emissions and air pollution in our community for decades to come. These projects will, in turn, produce new RECs or VERs that will contribute to future projects in the Monterey Bay Community. And so on.
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