Guest blog for Smart Energy

By Peter Weisberg, Offset Project Analyst at The Climate Trust

09.18.09

A recent census by the USDA demonstrates that while the number of small and large farms in the United States is growing, medium-size farms are rapidly being consolidated into large-scale operations. I recently visited Smart Energy’s Farm Power digester in the Skagit Valley of Mount Vernon, Wash., and the trip reminded me of the important role medium-sized farms play in our communities. The visit inspired me to share with Smart Energy customers how your contributions are supporting family farms, in addition to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

With funding from Smart Energy customers, Farm Power recently constructed an anaerobic digester that captures methane from the manure of 1,200 cows on two dairies. The manure is converted into electricity—enough to power about 550 homes. You can tour how the digester operates in a slide show at The Climate Trust’s web site www.climatetrust.org/slideshow.html.

In addition to making renewable electricity, one of the byproducts of the digester can be processed into bedding for the cows. In return for fueling the digester with manure, Farm Power is providing Beaver Marsh Farms and Harmony Dairy with free bedding for the cows. Bedding is a significant cost to dairy farmers, and Farm Power estimates that the free bedding will save the dairies $100,000 to $200,000 every year. This cost savings is especially significant at a time when the U.S. dairy industry is suffering financially.

The Farm Power digester is one example of the innovative technologies and practices that can help keep medium-sized farms a part of our communities. This offset project never would have been implemented without the funding from Smart Energy customers. Your support is making a difference to rural economies as well as the environment.

Kevin Maas, left, and his brother, Darryl, not pictured, are the founders of Farm Power, the builder and operator of the digester. Garrett Kuipers, right, is the owner and operator of Beaver Marsh Dairy, where the digester is located.

Guest post provided by Peter Weisberg, Offset Project Analyst at The Climate Trust

The offset geeks at The Climate Trust — myself included — like to joke about the warehouses for our “inventory.” Of course, we don’t have warehouses because our “product” is intangible. We buy greenhouse gas emissions that didn’t occur because of our funding. These emission reductions are called greenhouse gas offsets.

Since offsets aren’t tangible products like light bulbs, it is critical for Smart Energy customers and other buyers to be assured that the offsets they are buying are real and accurately counted. The Climate Trust works diligently to guarantee the quality of projects that the Smart Energy program funds. One key way we do so is by ensuring that Smart Energy funds given to project developers are necessary to overcome barriers to implementation of biogas offset projects.

Take, for example, the Farm Power anaerobic digester in Mount Vernon, Washington. The Climate Trust reviewed the business plan and determined that the project was financially marginal without offset funding. In addition, the bank loan for the project was contingent on offset funding. These factors should assure Smart Energy donors that their funds are responsible for the methane reductions resulting from this project that converts cow manure into energy.  

After contracting to buy offsets from projects like Farm Power, The Climate Trust monitors the projects to ensure they are producing the contracted offsets. For Smart Energy, we are using monitoring protocols such as the Climate Action Reserve, which outline procedures for accurately measuring methane emission reductions. Quality monitoring protocols are very conservative, always erring on the side of underestimating a project’s reductions. Major environmental organizations, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, Union Of Concerned Scientists and Sierra Club, issued a letter of support for the credible and transparent protocols created by the Climate Action Reserve.

Every year Farm Power and other Smart Energy projects will be monitored according to a reputable protocol. A third-party verifier (with no financial interest in the project) will review the monitoring reports annually to ensure the protocol is accurately applied. Farm Power’s original monitoring data, the verification report from the third party and other data are available online. 

The Climate Trust ensures the additional and accurate measurement of offsets from Smart Energy projects to provide Smart Energy customers the confidence that their biogas offsets are helping to mitigate climate change and to preserve our environment.

For more information about these and other quality criteria, you can read the Offset Quality Initiative’s paper Ensuring Offset Quality.