Tompkins Weekly – May 3, 2010
By Kitty Gifford

Businesses, organizations, schools and individuals are able to offset their carbon emissions by purchasing carbon offsets from the newly created Finger Lakes Climate Fund.

Finger Lakes Climate Fund (FLCF), a program of Sustainable Tompkins, is stewarding tax deductible donations to the fund that will be accessible as grants for projects targeting low- to moderate income households in the Finger
Lakes region. These grants help pay for insulation, high efficiency heating equipment, air sealing and other upgrades to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

“To sum it up, it’s a voluntary program that benefits our community. The funds that people donate for carbon offsets are used to help lower-income families make energy efficiency improvements in their homes so they can save money on energy bills and enjoy healthier, more comfortable homes,” says Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Tompkins.

Funds will be made available through a grant-making process on a quarterly basis. The energy efficiency upgrades are carried out by Building Performance Institute accredited contractors, following guidelines provided by the New
York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Visitors to the Web site are invited to use an online calculator to estimate home energy, vehicle, and airplane travel emissions. For example, a round trip from Ithaca, to San Francisco is nearly 5,000 miles, generates close to 2000
pounds of carbon and costs just about $20 to offset.

Carbon offsets enable the consumer, business, or organization to balance unavoidable emissions with an equivalent reduction on your behalf from a local energy efficiency project. Local carbon offsets allow you to see the results of
your purchase right here in our community. Local offsets also help support the local economy by generating
work for energy efficiency businesses.

The Finger Lakes Climate Fund is a program of Sustainable Tompkins, a citizen-based organization working towards the longterm well-being of our communities by integrating social equity, economic vitality, ecological stewardship, and personal and civic responsibility.

For more information see
http://fingerlakesclimatefund.org and http://www.facebook.com/climatefund.

Kitty Gifford is an independent contractor working on various projects for Sustainable Tompkins.