My SUV is now carbon neutral, is yours?

I own a 2002 BMW X5, it is almost seven years old and has about 124,000 miles on it.  It is a great car and I love it, so when my “green” friends say, “How can you still be driving that thing and think you are green”?  I get a little upset.  I am green!  Really!  I recycle, use green bulbs in my house, walk or carpool when I can, eat organic and local, take short showers, have my sprinklers on a drip timer and the rest of the yard planted with indigenous water friendly plants, etc. etc.  I’m really trying to do all the right things.  I’m not perfect, but clearly I’m better than most, but that aside, I take a lot of flack for owning an SUV.  

This weekend was no different, in fact it seemed worse.  My attempts to logically tell them that it is a nearly seven years old and I have no intention of buying a new car fell on deaf years, as did my argument of the total environmental cost of owning a Prius being higher than even a Hummer. [reference: The Belmont Club: Which is Greener: the Prius or the Hummer?, the Recorder, and Samizdata].

 

So here is what I’ve done…  I found a site called ClimateCare which allows you to estimate your carbon footprint for your home, travel, gifts, and yes, your car. 

ClimateCare helps people like you make a difference to this unique planet, lowering business  and individual carbon emissions because we all want to make the biggest impact we can in tackling climate change.  We do this by helping you reduce your CO₂ emissions, giving you the advice you need to reduce your carbon footprint or calculate and buy carbon offsets through transparent projects in renewables and energy efficiency.

Once estimated, the site gives you suggestions as to how you can offset those carbon emissions or purchase credits.  I have completely offset the entire life of my car to date, all 125,000 miles that have been driven and I have a certificate to prove it!  For comparison purposes, my car costs about $100.00 per year to offset, a Prius costs about $50.00 for similar mileage (that doesn’t sound that much better to me).  Ironically, I spent $100.00 filling up my tank today at $4.33 per gallon, so over all the cost of offsetting the carbon footprint of my car seems totally worth it.  And the bonus of being able to end the constant discussion is even better.  My SUV is now greener than the vast majority of cars on the road. 

My car is greener than yours!