TerraPass targets businesses with latest offset program

OK, this week seems to be the week for carbon offset related hoohah. I spoke last night with TerraPass, the well-known consumer-faced offset provider, about a new program they're offering for business types. So, if you've been tasked with helping your employer get greener in 2008, you should read on.

The effort is called the Carbon Balanced Business Program. So, now corporate types can used a TerraPass calculator to gauge their carbon usage and how much it might cost to offset it. The business calculator lets companies measure on-site energy use, off-site server energy use, and the carbon attributable to company vehicles, business travel and employee commutes. The emissions information is calculated using data from the World Resources Institute Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Once the company knows how much it creates, it can figure out the amount of offsets it needs to purchase.

Several companies have publicly signed up for the new program already including Expedia, Architectural Area Lighting and Butterfield & Robinson. The new effort doesn't have anything to do with TerraPass's deal with the Enterprise, National and Alamo car rental organizations, which is more of a reseller relationship.

Michael Kadish, a spokesperson for TerraPass, says the projects TerraPass funds using the money from the offset purchases are focused on wind power, farm power and energy created using landfill gas capture. Since it was founded several years ago, the company has sold more than 80,000 TerraPasses to individuals. That amounts to more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide offset.