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Offsetting is a process whereby dirty sources of energy are replaced with clean sources. Any company or individual can offset their carbon footprint. Here is how it works in four simple steps:
1. First you decide to tax yourself. You set aside money to pay to a company that either makes energy from clean sources or facilitates the production of clean energy.
2. You pay the tax to the clean source company. This payment helps makes the clean-source company profitable. (A clean source company has a hard time making a profit because making clean energy is more expensive than making dirty energy).
3. The clean source company is now able to produce clean energy, profitably.
4. The clean energy is distributed onto the public utility grid and therefore displaces or "offsets" energy being produced by dirty sources of energy.
Here is an example. Suppose that demand for energy in the United States is 100 units of energy, and all of it is being supplied by dirty sources. If enough people “taxed” themselves and enabled a clean-source company (or companies) to produce 25 units of clean energy each day, it would reduce (or “offset”) the production of dirty source energy by 25 units each day. In this example, this would reduce the nation’s pollution by 25%. For more information on offsetting, see www.carbonfund.org
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