Vermont Rep. Peter Welch (D) has announced that both of his offices — one on Capitol Hill and one back in his home state — will be going carbon neutral.
Welch will offset 56 tons of carbon each year — the amount generated by fuel and electricity use in his two offices and travel for himself and staff — by investing in NativeEnergy, a Vermont-based carbon-offset provider.
The investment will help NativeEnergy install a $1 million manure digester at a dairy farm in Westminster, Vt., and a $150,000 biomass pellet fuel project at Vermont Technical College.
The grand total for their yearly offsets: just $672.
Welch is a cosponsor of Rep. Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Act, which calls for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 and higher automobile mileage standards.
