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Carbon-Neutral Olympics for Vancouver 2010?
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by cyn.khoo | June 4, 2009 at 02:37 pm
119 views | 10 Recommendations | 4 comments
The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) has announced that next year's 2010 Games is planned to be carbon-neutral.
VANOC has secured a $5-million sponsorship from Offsetters Clean Technology, a BC-based company that will provide offset projects and work with Games partners, participants, and other sponsors to reduce Olympics-related carbon emissions.
The David Suzuki Foundation has estimated the Games will produce about 110,000 tonnes of direct carbon emissions and another 220,000 tonnes of indirect emissions from air travel.Offsetters president James Tansey said his company will work with B.C. firms like Nexterra, Sempa Power, Lignol Innovations, Ballard Power and Powertech to create clean technology projects that will neutralize Games emissions.
Proposed projects include fuel cell technology in transit buses, energy efficiency systems, biomass gasification and hydrogen fuelling stations.
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the first Games ever to have an official carbon offsets supplier, and if successful, may be the first to be carbon-neutral.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 15:55 on June 4th, 2009
Personally I think this is impossible - how can it be completely carbon neutral? I'm assuming that they are not including flights in that announcement.
at 16:24 on June 4th, 2009
I am not sure how this can be achieved.
They must keep out of the equation a lot of factors such as the Travel by plane needed for all the athletes to reach Vancouver and go back home afterwards.
Further what about all the energy used to broadcast the games, and the Synthetic close the Athletes wear as well as the Hotels and accommodations, the Dry cleaning and Snow machines....
If they manage to keep in Carbon neutral taking all factors relating to the Olympics into account, then they have My out most respect and I would even become a fan and support the Olympics and so would Greenpeace, the WWF and other such as Robin Wood.
at 20:22 on June 4th, 2009
The 110,000 tonnes is what Vanoc is directly responsible for (constructing the venues, their office for the past 5 years, all the emissions during the Olympic and Paralympic games, etc.). The additional 190,000 is where all the spectator flights are included.
The sponsorship deal means that Offsetters will commit to covering the 110,000, and if the third parties who make up the remaining 190,000 are interested (mostly other sponsors, spectators, media, etc.) they can work with Offsetters to offset their emissions.
at 01:08 on June 12th, 2009
I just find it interesting that the way this system works--and I mean in general, not just where the Olympics are concerned--being "sustainable" doesn't mean changing your actions to be more environmentally friendly at all, just having enough money to pay for doing things as unsustainably as before...