We just planted 295 trees!

Well, not exactly, but the Renewable Energy Credits we just purchased to offset our electricity usage for the rest of 2008 has the same effect.

In an earlier post we talked about the Carbon Offset program we are participating in, and we wanted to share the comparisons outlined in our energy audit.

Your green printer uses approximately 105,200 kWh of electricity per year producing the fabulous eco-friendly printed materials our customers order. Our Impact Summary states that by offsetting this usage, we are helping to avoid up to 71,694 pounds (32.52 metric tons) of carbon dioxide emissions from being emitted into the atmosphere.

This action has an equivalent impact as:

• Planting 295 trees, or
• Not driving 73,157 miles, or
• Taking 6 cars off the road for one year.

We especially like the planting of 295 trees comparison. I bet we don’t use that many trees worth of paper in our green printing program, since almost everything we print is on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. What virgin fiber we do consume is FSC-certified, so at least it is responsibly managed and harvested. It’s awesome that we can “virtually” plant trees to replace what we do use!