GREENING CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

What is the BEST choice? Sustainability is the goal. Conservation is always the best choice. Walking in humility is a profoundly admirable quality in anyone. And some livelihoods, some ways of participating, some events simply do not realistically allow for those ways.

What is the better choice? Ignoring the waste and havoc one finds oneself conscious of creating or offsetting it and by doing so calling so many others’ attention to a better way to be in the world?

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is paying Carbonfund.org for offsets to make its consumer electronics trade show (CES 2008) carbon neutral. Carbonfund is a non-profit organization so all of CEA’s payments will go toward offsets.

The Carbonfund.org logo. (click to enlarge)

Eric Carlson, Carbonfund.org executive director, citing the organization’s website: “…flying from [New York] and to [Las Vegas]…the carbon footprint of that flight… Roundtrip that's 2.19 tons of CO2 and that's about 4,800 pounds of CO2. To offset that is just over $12…”

The Greening of CES; Is this year’s Consumer Electronics Show going to be the largest carbon-neutral event in the world?
Brian Braiker, January 5, 2008 (Newsweek)

WHO
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Carbonfund.org (Eric Carlson, executive director)

WHAT
- For CES 2008, the annual Consumer Electronics Show, CEA has purchased through Carbonfund.org $110,000 in carbon offsets in order to make the event as nearly carbon neutral as possible.

WHEN
January 7-10, 2008

WHERE
Las Vegas Convention Center and supplemental locations, Las Vegas, NV

CES 2008: A lot of exhibits, a lot of energy consumed. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- CES normally draws 140,000 attendees
- Carbonfund.org inventoried CES’s carbon emissions (guest hotels/rooms, freight, exhibit sites, shuttle buses, etc.) and calculated 20,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents.
- 63% from hotels, 24% from freight, 12% from the convention center and hotel exhibit spaces.
- Hotels emissions come front-end activities (the room, hallway lighting, the minibar) and back end activities (cleaning of towels, production of food, behind the scenes things). You end up with an average per-night carbon footprint.
- Exhibit space energy is basically electricity and gas.
- CES is offsetting its own employee travel but not the travel of attendees. The Carbonfund website offers a link through which attendees can offset their own travel.
- Offsets: 1/3 renewable energy investments, 1/3 reforestation projects, 1/3 funding industrial efficiency improvements.

Travel can be offset at the Carbonfund.org website. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Braiker, Newsweek: “When you think of CES you certainly don't picture a particularly Earth friendly event.”
- Eric Carlson, Carbonfund: “I think every responsible consumer should offset as much of their personal life as they can. When you travel you have an impact on climate change. You can do something about it…By offsetting your travel you drive investment in clean energy…What an offset really represents is the additional funds needed to make a project cost-effective. The good news is that if we want to fight climate change, there are solutions out there that don't cost too much.”