This month we increased our participation in Xcel Energy’s WindSource Program to 500 kWh from 100 kWh. This allowed us to save 670 Ibs of CO2 emissions, up from 134 Ibs saved in March.

You’ll see that our office operations used 49.8 kWh of electricity. You’ll also see that we offset 500 kWh of electricity, how is this possible? How can we offset more than we consumed?  The 5 blocks of Windsource (500 kWh) we purchase from Xcel Energy get applied to our entire building’s electric consumption. So even if we don’t use 500 kWh for the month, the remainder of what we don’t use is applied to another tenant in our building. This allows us to still account this as an “offset” even though we’re technically offsetting someone else’s CO2 emissions from their electric consumption.

In total, we produced 1,505.93 Ibs of CO2. You’ll see that our biggest source of carbon emissions was gasoline for the vehicles and equipment producing 1,384.00 Ibs of CO2 emissions. Our Office operations produced 121.93 Ibs of CO2.

We mainly offset that amount by participating in Xcel Energy’s Windscource and by planting 21 trees, with a 501(c)3 organization called One Tree. Bringing us to a NET CO2 emission of -2.0 Ibs for April.

Our net CO2 emission Year to Date is -4.1 Ibs.

See the entire break down and how we got to carbon neutral here: April Monthly Carbon (CO2) Report.

A few things I’m excited about:

This month we moved to using all organic lawn fertilizer! Completely eliminate our use of synthetic and chemical fertilizers to grow good looking lawns. Organic fertilizers are also safer for children and pets.

Thanks for helping us make the world a greener place, one yard at a time.

-Mike Krzesowiak

April’s Tree Planting Certificate