Posted on 07/25/2007 11:41:56 AM PDT by libertarianPA
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co. issued a credit card on Wednesday it says will be the first to cut help U.S. cardholders voluntarily cut emissions linked to global warming.
The card, called GE Money Earth Rewards Platinum Mastercard, allows users the option of automatically contributing up to one percent of their card purchases to buy greenhouse emissions offsets.
In voluntary emissions markets, consumers who feel guilty about their greenhouse emissions can buy offsets, or credits, designed to represent emissions reductions that took place somewhere else, like a solar or wind power farm.
"Earth Rewards cardholders will now have a new tool to complement the ways they are already reducing their emissions," Tom Gentile, an executive at GE Money said in a release. "They can turn everyday purchases into extraordinary rewards."
In addition, GE AES Greenhouse Gas Services, a joint venture between GE and power company AES Corp., said on Wednesday it has strengthened standards for the creation and sale of U.S. greenhouse gas credits. The credits it will generate will meet or exceed international standards, it said, through third party verification and other measures.
The joint venture expects to generate 10 million tons of greenhouse gas credits annually by 2010 under the standard.
A growing voluntary market in greenhouse gas credits has sprouted up as the world's top emitter of heat-trapping gases, United States, does not regulate the pollution.
Last year global greenhouse gas credit trade hit nearly 24 million tones of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to industry watchers.
But the market is not regulated, leading to concerns that some of the credits do not represent real greenhouse gas reductions.
The joint venture's greenhouse credit standard and criteria on the measurement, monitoring, verification and eligibility of emissions credits generated from coal mine methane and landfill methane destruction are available at www.ge-aes.com.
The first customer for the joint venture's credits will the be the Earth Rewards credit card, a company spokesman said.
Credit cards pass methane gas?
Can I put carbon credits on my credit card?
Yeah, well maybe I'm just DIABOLICAL!!!
So there! What are you gonna do about that?? Huh?? Huh??
A fool and his money are soon parted.
< / sarcasm >
prisoner6
"Warmists" have figured out a way to make $$$ out of it.
Kinda' like the lottery....idiots give up their money for so-called "offsets" that are pie in the sky.
Barnum had it right; "There's a sucker born every minute".
If W.C. Field were alive today, he would enjoy this.
* For some reason, this is the first time I have noticed how similar in appearance he is to Bill Clinton. Evidently whoever created this graphic saw the same thing:
Insert eerie "Twilight Zone" music here.
Favorite W.C. Fields line: He's seated on a train, shuffling cards and a gentleman takes a seat across from him at the card table and says "Is this a game of chance?"
Fields replies "Not the way I play it".
I just talked to my pet Jackalope....he assures me this is all on the up and up.
Really.
GE issues credit card aimed to cut emissions make money for GE by tapping into the popular scam-of-the-hour.
There... Fixed it.
Homer: Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol is working like a charm!
Lisa: Thats specious reasoning, dad.
Homer: “Thank you, honey!”
Lisa: By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.
Homer: Hmm; how does it work?
Lisa: It doesnt work; its just a stupid rock!
Homer: Uh-huh.
Lisa: ... but I dont see any tigers around, do you?
Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock...
So, what is the going rate for a ton of carbon offsets these days?
From the corporate viewpoint it’s not so much a scam. They are responding to their customers who would go for such a thing.
This is going to be great theater after a while. When do you think the first carbon credit scandal will be revealed?
To answer my own question, carbon offsets go for about $12/ton on today’s market.
They typical US home generates about 12 tons of CO2 a year.
So you could buy offsets for a typical American home for $144 a year.
But, once everyone starts buying $12/ton credits, the price will spiral upwards. In a market where few are buying, the price is cheap. Once we’re locked into an ever-widening obligation to buy, watch out.
See the glory.....of The Royal Scam.....
So, we will just have to subsidize carbon credits for the working poor, who can't afford to pay the escalating prices. After all, a carbon-neutral lifestyle is a right!
The rich, of course, are screwed, as always.
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