Part of the Smart grid glossary:

A carbon offset is a credit that an individual or organization can purchase to negate a carbon footprint. When the number of carbon offsets obtained is equal to an individual or organization's carbon footprint, that person or organization is carbon neutral. Revenue generated from the purchase of carbon offsets is often (but not always) invested in environmentally-friendly projects, like investments in green computing technologies. The purchase of carbon offsets is a fast-growing industry in the wake of compliance legislation and the development of cap and trade systems.

Next Steps

Read more about it at:
> WikiHow.com explains how to buy a carbon offset.
> CarbonFund.org sells carbon offsets.

This was last updated in March 2010
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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