About Touring Green

About Touring Green

Background

Carbon emissions contribute to global warming. Progress in meeting this challenge of climate change depends on individuals, businesses, and governments taking prompt and effective action.

Touring Broadway shows, orchestras, and ballets travel millions of miles every year to bring quality entertainment to people across the USA and around the world. The trucks moving much of the equipment for these productions burn diesel fuel, emitting thousands of tons of carbon dioxide, a leading contributor to the climate crisis. Recognizing this, Clark Transfer President Norma Deull asked the Clark team to design a program to reduce these emissions where possible, and to "offset" the remaining carbon impact by funding alternative energy and conservation programs which prevent other emissions. Working with its fleet of independent Owner-Operators, Clark Transfer is engaged in an ongoing internal project including exploration and introduction of new technologies, education and incentives aimed at shrinking the "carbon footprint" of trucking live entertainment.

To deal with the remaining emissions, Clark Transfer conducted extensive research and consultations before selecting NativeEnergy, as the Touring Green program offset provider. NativeEnergy is a leading international provider of high-quality carbon offsets. Clark Transfer has identified an initial portfolio of specific projects offering short- and long-term offsets and, along with its own direct corporate contributions, is offering its customers the opportunity to participate in the program by purchasing these offsets from NativeEnergy.

The enthusiastic response of the live entertainment industry to the Touring Green program, as demonstrated by the impressive initial group of program participants, is very encouraging.

How Does Touring Green Work?

Participants in the Touring Green program are helping fund new renewable energy and carbon emissions reduction projects through NativeEnergy. These projects balance out – or neutralize – the global warming impact of transporting theatrical equipment. They displace greenhouse gas emissions that otherwise would have to come from burning fossil fuels for energy production or from the release of methane into our atmosphere.

The program is:

Easy: Clark Transfer has done the work of partnering with NativeEnergy, a premier high quality offset provider to help build and support offset projects that are effective at a modest cost.

Inexpensive: For a penny and a half ($0.015) per mile for each trailer, participating productions can offset the carbon emissions from moving their shows with Clark Transfer. This pricing will apply for the first year of the program and may change thereafter as a new blend of projects is selected and initial projects are fully subscribed.

Effective: This program funds a blend of projects to reduce both current and future emissions. These include new wind turbines, methane digesters on family farms and gas capture projects at landfill sites.

The projects funded are intended to more than offset current year emissions over a multi-year period and be better than “carbon-neutral.” (Carbon neutrality is calculated on a multi-year basis because new generating facilities have long-term impact. Using the blend of projects funded, this program is expected to offset more than 64% of the current year emissions from moving equipment in the first year, 95% in the first ten years and 128% in the first 20 years. The actual amount offset is likely to vary from this estimate.)

Clark Transfer includes a separate charge for the Touring Green program in each participant’s bill. Clark Transfer remits 100% of the amount received to NativeEnergy, which applies these funds to the selected group of projects. NativeEnergy reports to Clark Transfer and Touring Green participants about the projects funded, about the economic and social benefits created, and about the impact on global warming solutions.

Why Offset?

Emission of greenhouse gasses resulting from human action contribute greatly to the climate crisis, an issue with considerable and well-publicized consequences. It is clear that solving this growing problem requires many actions on multiple fronts, by governments, corporations and individuals. Solving this problem will require the use of alternative sources of energy and conservation to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere. For many industries, including trucking, only modest reductions are currently practicable. The best option therefore is to reduce what we can and offset the balance through funding of high quality renewable energy projects that prevent at least the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by moving our shows.

Why NativeEnergy?

When Clark Transfer began looking at potential offset programs, we faced a bewildering array of more than 30 companies offering many different types of offsets. We researched these companies and projects extensively. We concluded that NativeEnergy has both an excellent reputation and the best blend of projects and services for our needs. NativeEnergy has extensive experience working with leading environmental and socially responsible business partners, and has worked closely with Clark Transfer to create a custom program for our industry designed to be easy, effective and inexpensive.

NativeEnergy offers a full range of carbon offsets and has a wealth of information available on its website: www.nativeenergy.com. NativeEnergy can help offset emissions from personal travel, home and business operations, special events and other business activities. For information about other opportunities to offset carbon emissions, contact NativeEnergy at business@nativeenergy.com or 800-924-6826

What Projects Does Touring Green Fund?

Clark Transfer and NativeEnergy have selected a blend of projects affording both short- and long-term benefits for the first year of the program (April 2008 - March 2009). Future projects will be selected with similar characteristics, and we will provide updates as the mix of projects changes over time. Project information, including any changes, will be available at this website.

Current projects include:

Family Farm Methane Project - Touring Green funds will help pay for the development of a manure digester on a family farm in Pennsylvania, which powers a generator and displaces on-site fossil fuel use and emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

The Des Plaines Landfill is located in Cook County, Illinois, about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Chicago. Landfill gas (LFG) is a powerful greenhouse gas, the natural byproduct of the actions of anaerobic bacteria that causes the decomposition of organic matter within a landfill. The capture of this waste component of the landfill maturation process has considerable environmental benefits. The emission reduction project’s two internal combustion engines generate about 1750 kilowatts and deliver electricity to the local utility.

Farmer-Owned Distributed Wind Projects in Minnesota and South Dakota. These new wind turbines will help farmers reduce their electricity costs, while helping stabilize the electricity grid with distributed, small-scale power generation.

Additional details about these projects can be found by clicking here.

How Much Carbon Will These Projects Offset?

Calculating the estimated impact of a project is complex and involves careful analysis of the specific project and its surrounding environment. We are confident that NativeEnergy conservatively estimates the benefits created by these projects. NativeEnergy’s methodology is described in detail at: http://www.nativeenergy.com/pages/how_we_calculate/34.php. The actual amount offset may vary from NativeEnergy’s estimate. In the Touring Green program, estimated offsets are expected to exceed 64 percent of the current year emissions from moving equipment (including loaded and related unloaded miles) in the first year, 95 percent in the first ten years and 128 percent in the first 20 years.