Trustmarque Solutions are offsetting their carbon emissions through the purchase of carbon credits in a portfolio of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) from a 60/40 mix of renewable energy and resource conservation schemes. The offsetting is organised by The CarbonNeutral® Company, one of the world’s leading carbon offset and management businesses.
Trustmarque is a CarbonNeutral® company, which means that it has measured and reduced all of its CO2 emissions to ‘net zero’. For the past four years it has been working with The CarbonNeutral® Company to retain its ‘net zero’ carbon footprint status by offsetting its CO2 emissions through a number of climate friendly projects around the world. The CarbonNeutral® Company organises for every one tonne of CO2 to be ‘neutralised’ by one tonne saved somewhere else in the world. These projects are additional and without the carbon credits monies the projects would not exist.
About the projects
Callahuanca Hydro Efficiency Project
This renewable energy project improves the operating efficiency of a hydro power plant in the Huarochiri Province of western Peru. The project displaces electricity mainly generated by fossil-fuel power plants and will generate emission reductions of 20,000 tCO² equivalent in 2007, verified and certified to the VER+ Standard.
The project is located alongside the Santa Eulalia River in the western foothills of the Peruvian Andes. The installation of new turbines and generators at the Callahuanca plant will increase capacity by 7.5 MW and so maximise productivity using the current available water flow. The additional clean electricity that is generated displaces electricity from Peru’s National Electricity Grid that would otherwise have been produced by fossil-fuel power stations.
In addition to the development of renewable energy capacity, the project will improve the reliability of regional electricity supply which will benefit the running of key public services such as health clinics and schools.
Quzhai Waste Heat Recovery Project
This resource conservation project captures and utilises waste heat at a cement production facility. The project will generate emission reductions of an estimated 50,000 tCO² equivalent between 2006 and 2008, verified and certified to the Voluntary Carbon Standard.
This project involves the construction of a waste heat recovery power plant at a cement production facility in the northern Chinese province of Hebei. Cement production is a highly polluting process and over recent years china’s production capacity has grown considerably.
As with many industrial processes, cement production creates a considerable amount of waste heat which is usually vented into the atmosphere. Up to 35% of the heat used within this particular facility is wasted.
The new equipment will increase the efficiency of the facility by utilising the waste heat to generate electricity for use on-site. The activity will displace electricity generated by fossil fuel power stations, which mainly run on coal in China. Additional benefits include a dramatic reduction in heat pollution within the facility and reduction in local air pollution.
The CarbonNeutral® Company
Trustmarque Solutions has worked with The CarbonNeutral® Company (formerly Future Forests), leaders in the field of carbon management and climate change solutions, to become a CarbonNeutral® company.