February 15, 2007

TerraPass: Make Your Airline Flight "Fuel Efficient"

Got folks traveling in from out of town for your wedding? Honeymoon taking you to faraway places? Planning a getaway to, well, get away from it all?

The NYTimes article on green weddings notes that many conflicted couples are "offsetting" the global warming impact of their travel plans by purchasing carbon credits from companies like TerraPass, which help finance projects that reduce the emissions of climate-changing gases like planting trees or financing windmills that replace coal-burning plants.

TerraPass's passes are available on the Expedia website; you can also check them out at TerraPass.

According to the NYTimes article,

Burning a gallon of gasoline or of jet fuel produces approximately equal amounts of carbon dioxide. The airlines say that that each gallon moves a passenger about 20 miles, so a 1,000-mile trip would use about 50 gallons. (At TerraPass, a pass for such a trip would cost $9.95.) A large sedan on the highway would also go about 20 miles on a gallon, but would be much more efficient per person if it is carrying three or four people.

Learn more at TerraPass.