Web site allows unused emissions to be sold

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Although the proposed carbon cap-and-trade policy has yet to pass in the United States, a new Web site makes it possible for U.S. residents to reap the benefits of other nations’ cap-and-trade systems, while promoting a greener lifestyle.

My Emissions Exchange offers a means for people who reduce their personal carbon emissions to earn money. This is done by selling unused emissions to overseas companies that need to offset their own pollution, said Paul Herrgesell, project manager for the company, whose Web site is called myeex.com.

Herrgesell said companies based in countries with strict emissions standards — France, Canada and the United Kingdom, for example — are required to purchase carbon credits to offset any carbon they emit over the legal limit. Many nations that are members of the Kyoto Protocol have cap-and-trade systems.

“It’s a cap-and-trade market,” Herrgesell said. “There’s no adherence in the United States, but people are still looking to buy the credits from all over.”

Herrgesell said the company accomplishes its mission by looking at all the ways customers leave a carbon footprint, then measuring how much they reduce that footprint.

To sell carbon credits, customers must be verified and certified, something myeex.com can do by measuring home utility bills, he said.

So while customers are saving money on utilities, they’re also making extra cash on the carbon trading market.

“If you can save emissions, then we can verify and sell them for you,” Herrgesell said.

“The driver here is, if you reduce carbon, you reduce energy. Both are good for the environment, and you get rewarded.”

Carbon credits vary in quality and can bring in a range of prices, said Marissa Miraval, a My Emissions Exchange spokeswoman.

Miraval said the company takes a small commission from traders’ profits.

“The average carbon credit in the U.S. is selling for between $10 and $25,” she said. “Being that we’re a company, we do take a small cut of the profits, much like a traditional brokerage.”

The company suggests lowering the thermostat or cranking down the air conditioner, lowering the water heater temperature and turning off unused and unnecessary lights to earn carbon credits.

Some students, such as advertising freshman Chris Chew, already put forth an effort to recycle and conserve energy. But Chew said people often don’t put forth their strongest effort, because there is a lack of incentive for them to do so.

“It’ll give people a way to see the results and a way to get rewarded,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to be paid for something they should be doing for free and good for the environment?”

Herrgesell said a major turnoff for people in being more environmentally friendly is not seeing results, something the company looks to change.

“A lot of people would be interested in it, but people haven’t taken advantage or jumped in because they can’t measure the results,” he said.

“People like to see results. With our Web site, we measure results to show people.”

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