RINGGOLD, Ga. — Catoosa County will soon be helping the “green conscious” to reduce their carbon footprint, and earn money for the county, too.
The county will sell carbon credits earned through the measured burn off of methane gas from the closed county landfill.
Commissioners approved this week a contract with consulting engineers GeoSyntec to assist the county when it wants to sell carbon credits earned from March 2007 to February 2008 and from March through December 2008.
“We will decide when to sell our credits,” Commissioner Ken Marks said, noting the county can hold the credits until the market makes it most profitable.
GeoSyntec will be paid $16,000 for work dealing with carbon credits earned from March 2007 through February 2008 and $14,000 for those from March through December 2008.
Catoosa Public Works Director Olney Meadows said the current rate on the Chicago Climate Exchange for a credit of one metric ton carbon credit is $5.40.
“The price fell to about $2 a ton last fall, and that was not a good time to sell carbon credits,” Mr. Meadows said.
Mr. Meadows said the county earns credits by burning off methane that would otherwise escape into the air and contribute to the greenhouse effect.
“We do not know the precise number of credits or the total monetary value we will have for sale until it is checked by a verifier. But, it will obviously be considerably more than (the cost of) the contract with GeoSyntec,” he said.
The county has studied with GeoSyntec the possibility of capturing the methane to use for production of electricity.
“We continue to look at potential commercial sale of energy from the landfill methane,” Mr. Meadows said. “When the county does sell commercial energy from the methane, it will continue to receive carbon credits due to keeping the methane from the atmosphere.”
Mr. Meadows said the Chicago Climate Exchange is a voluntary market with members pledging to reduce their carbon footprint by a certain percentage by 2010.
“Failure to reach the goal requires a voluntary member to purchase carbon credits,” he said.
Mr. Meadows said methane gas is considered 20 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. In Europe, where most nations signed Kyoto Accord, a carbon credit sells for $18 to $20 a ton.
ON THE NET
The Chicago Climate Exchange:
www.chicagoclimatex.com/
