Habitat Music is proud to be New York City’s first Carbon Neutral Music House!!  If you have a green initiative, or just care about the planet and our environment, then you can feel great knowing one of our goals is carbon neutrality and we are always looking to use renewable and shared resources.   At the end of the year, we calculate our footprint and solidify our green initiative by purchasing carbon credits or planting trees. 

If you’re interested in making your company carbon neutral, here are some quick tips:

1. Calculate Carbon Footprint
2. Reduce Carbon Emissions
3. Offset The Remaining Through Carbon Credits (via Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Projects)

1.  Carbon Footprint Calculators
http://www.carbonneutral.com/business-carbon-calculator/index.asp
http://www.carbonfund.org/business/calculator

To Calculate Your Carbon Footprint, You Need The Following Information
http://www.carbonneutral.com/business-carbon-calculator/sbchelp.asp

2.  Steps We Can Take To Reduce Our Carbon Emissions

Simple things like:

• Recycling waste (including ink cartridges)
• Using recycled paper/packaging materials
• Turning computer monitors off every time they’re not being used (screens savers don’t save energy – they save your screen from having an image imprinted on it)
• Turning all equipment off when it’s not being used
• Plugging all electronics into power strips (power strips better control the flow of electricity)
• Meeting clients via phone meetings and videoconferencing (i.e. Skype) rather than traveling to see them
• Reusing CDs/DVDs
• Using Ecocho (ee-coh-cho) search engine – (Ecocho grows (2) trees for every (1000) searches and has a version with a black background that doesn’t require as much energy from your computer)
• Replacing the incandescent bulbs in office with fluorescent bulbs
• Changing air filters on a regular basis (dirty filters cause strain on the HVAC units)
• Using laptops instead of desktops – laptops use up to 80% less energy
• Purchasing appliances from EnergyStar, which use 30-75% less energy http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductCategory&pcw_code=OEF
• In New York City and most of Westchester County, Con Edison Solutions offers GreenPower, allowing you to choose 100% renewable power from the New York region.

3.  Ways To Offset The Remainder

Carbon Offset Purchases (projects involving wind farms, reforestation, hydroelectric dams) – that prevent new emissions of carbon
http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/projects/countries
http://www.carbonneutral.com/cnregistry/projectsearch.asp
http://carbonoffsets.org/projects_unitedstates.html
http://innovation.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=23994

Carbon Offset Providers In North America:
http://www.carboncatalog.org/providers/north-america/?currency=USD