Comments on: Do Google's carbon offsets add up to much?

Google's decision to purchase controversial carbon offsets is flawed, but it doesn't obscure legitimate efforts to measure and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

[gerrrg]

This green stuff takes time. Even as we speak, LEED continues to change to reflect local importance of specific greening strategies. Over time, the process of measuring your carbon footprint and attempting to become carbon neutral shall be easier.

The key here, is that Google made carbon offset a priority, such that they have employed various strategies to meet this goal. Even if the claim to carbon neutral is suspect, they have done far more to reduce their footprint than other companies.

[Bytrat]

The real question of how to account for the energy en entity uses is how far upstream and downstream from your operation that have to be accounted for? Other companies will do thier own greenhouse gas accounting for thier own operations. Do you account for thier emissions as well as your own? If you start doing that then we should be so green that there wouldn't be any emissions what so ever as everybody would have accounted for every product ever produced which is basically an unreal expectation. Just accounting for your own operation is sometimes hard enough unless you go completely green (all of your direct energy requirments met with re-newable energy). But where does your responsibility to stop taking care of your emissions and you start taking on the resposibility of others? Should you be worrying about your employee's or your suppliers or your customers?

[William Crow]

What is this BS?

[BtmnHatesRbn]

This BS is a bunch of idiotic Marxist trying to boss everybody around and trample on the private rights and liberties granted by the Constitution and stated in the Declaration. Remember, Communists in America are green, not reds.

[martin1212]

Yup, Google is just a bunch of commies trampling on your private rights. Riiight...

[ikramerica--2008]

It's a way to separate fools from their money. :)

[Spacefirst]

There needs to be some sort of balance and common sense to the green thinking. Not every building needs to be upgraded nor does every way of life need to be changed. Just as the horse and buggy died out so will the gas engine. In two thousand years the people of the earth will think we were silly talking about global warming as they sit in the next ice age. Some of the Leed Building points are great for new construction projects. Simple things work too. Like turing off your computer when you are done with it or maybe a liberal going on a walk or a conservative going fishing.

[ikramerica--2008]

And they'll be burning everything they can find to keep warm.

[decarbonator]

It would be good if the author checked the facts a little bit deeper before repeating some rip offsets phrases after a guy nobody heard about.

Quoting the U.S. Government Accountability Office from llast August is like calling torture enhanced interrogation techniques.

Google's offsets came from a company which is a JV of GE and AES. Google has too much to lose in bad publicity to buy some low quality offsets.

[jonathan0766]

What happened to global cooling from the 1970s? What happened to global warming?

Oh right.... The fraud is now called global climate change. Hey, where are all those hurricanes I was promised? Where's that rising ocean water? Where's all that melting ice in Antarctica (fact: ice is increasing in Antarctica)? Thanks for the laugh. As if carbon were a pollutant. It's a naturally occurring (volcanoes spit out more carbon than humans, tax them!) requirement for nearly all types of life. Last time I checked, about 97% of the earth's plant life requires it to exist. The only thing you'll get by pumping out more carbon, is more plant life. Environmentalism is just a new god for some to pray to now that socialism and communism are intellectually bankrupt.

[HeavyJim]

@jonathan0766...wait a little bit and someone will confirm all the horror stories with "facts" found on the internet.

[susannamurley]

Offsets are no longer controversial. Regulations and standards have matured so much that you can find reputable offsets that are real, additional and permanent. Offsets have funded the vast majority of renewable energy projects in the US, have started to stem the tide of deforestation in other countries and have replanted trees all over the world. Enviros have been trying to save the trees for a generation now and now were finally figuring out how to do it. I don't understand why Romm and others continue to criticize companies who are starting to fund these environmental projects through offsets. Google is being a leader in this movement and should be praised for it.

[loose_screw]

Why don't we see articles like this about Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, or other tech giants? Why are so many stories focused on Google? It's like CNET has a love/hate relationship with Google.

[monkeyfun14]

Because Microsoft,Apple,Yahoo, and other tech giants are following regulations.

[gggg sssss]

What a load of bull carbon. The same Al Gore that is spreading doom and gloom, is also selling carbon credits. And supposedly inteligent people are falling for this.

Bernie Madof was a fool, he could have made more selling carbon credits.

[shootfirst]

So umm dude you polluted just writing this article. Here's a real fact everything pollutes in this world and always has, whats the big freaking deal. Clean energy isn't really clean its just less pollution or so they want you to think. Get it right the universe will go as it will, us doing whatever doesn't really matter and going green is just some BS they cooked up to sell products and impede innovation. Sure we shouldn't use resources we don't need to, but until data comes from sources that is not above greed and corruption I don't give a crap about it as they are always changing their tune to meet what sounds good to a generation of frakking morons.

[illmill82]

Like the article says, no company can truly be carbon free since just using power causes pollution. I think carbon offsets are just away for these companies to feel better about themselves while they are destroying our planet. However, Google is one of the <a href="http://best-resveratrol-supplements.info">greener companies</a> out there.