Now a new website called My Emissions Exchange promises to bring the carbon market to your front yard. If you can drastically reduce the electricity you use in your home, the site will certify your personal emissions reductions and then broker those credits to companies looking to burnish their green reputations.
When the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act on June 26, it was a landmark moment for environmental politics. If the bill passes the Senate to become law — no sure thing, given the 60 votes needed in the upper chamber — it would establish the first national caps on carbon emissions. It would also create what would almost certainly be the world's biggest greenhouse-gas market, since companies would have the option to buy and sell carbon credits and offsets. Every smart, efficient enterprise that can rapidly bring down its emissions will be able to make a mint on the carbon market — and so will the carbon middlemen.
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How would you like to get in on the action? National cap and trade may be reserved for the big players, but U.S. carbon emissions are made up of a billion individual decisions — including yours — every day: how much we drive, how much electricity we use, what we eat. Now a new website called My Emissions Exchange promises to bring the carbon market to your front yard. If you can drastically reduce the electricity you use in your home, the site will certify your personal emissions reductions and then broker those credits to companies looking to burnish their green reputations. "You're rewarded in two ways if you bring down your personal emissions," says Tom Reilly, the company's president. "You pay less in utility bills, and then you generate carbon credits that we can sell." You win — and so does the earth.
