FAQ
What is causing global warming?
Can a website really contribute to global warming?
How is the carbon removed from the atmosphere (tree sequestration)?
Which payment methods do you accept?
What will my tickgreen badge look like?
What is global warming?
Being such a 'hot' topic we are sure you’ve heard about global warming by now.
Over the past 100 years, the Earth's global mean surface temperature has increased by between 0.4° to 0.8° Celsius. The World Meteorological Organization reports that the 10 warmest years in the past 140 have all occurred since 1983. Some of this change may be natural, but over the past 200 years human activity has altered the world's atmosphere, and there is increasing evidence that these atmospheric changes are having an influence on the climate through the enhanced greenhouse effect.
What is causing global warming?
Human activity is increasing atmospheric concentrations of existing greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane). A number of experts believe that these gases are linked to global warming and climate change by way of an enhanced greenhouse effect.
Can a website really contribute to global warming?
Websites can seem like quite abstract, ethereal entities that live 'somewhere in cyberspace', leaving some people wondering just how they can contribute to global warming. In fact, a number of factors involved in creating and running a website produce significant carbon emissions.
From the day the components of your web server (the computer on which your website resides) were made in a factory, to the day it was built, to the transportation process, to the installation in its current location – your website has been contributing to global warming. Every manufacturing process, factory, piece of packaging, ship, aeroplane and truck released greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. And that was before your site even went live!
Then, once up and running, a website is involved in the following activities:
- Website design – your designer / developer used a computer to design your website. This required the use of electricity.
- Your website was uploaded to the internet where it is accessible via a vast network of computers, routers and cables – these all run on electricity.
- Once live, your website receives 'hits' – visits by people surfing the web. The website sits there on its web server 24/7 waiting for these visits, all the time switched on, fuelled by a constant stream of electricity to power its hardware, and connected to the vast networks of the internet.
- Your web hosting company probably operate a data centre, which involves having a very specialised building, a number of security measures, air conditioning equipment to keep the computers cool and any number of sophisticated IT tools – all of which are large consumers of electricity.
- If you have a good web hosting company, they’ll be making periodic backups of your site – this involves invoking systems all powered by electricity.
- When your web pages are viewed, especially for higher traffic websites, the server has to work harder. This means that it will demand more of that precious power – and be responsible for the production of even more greenhouse gases.
Like pretty much everything we do in modern life, our websites create carbon emissions. We can either take action and make the commitment to a greener future or sit back and hope for the best. The choice is ours.
What are carbon credits?
Each carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide either removed from the atmosphere or saved from being emitted.
Carbon credits were one of the outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol. They are a measure devised by the Kyoto Protocol to reduce world Greenhouse Gas emissions, and hence fight climate change. Carbon credits can be created in many ways but there are two broad types:
- Sequestration (capturing or retaining carbon dioxide from the atmosphere), or
- Carbon Dioxide Saving Projects
For each tonne of carbon dioxide that is saved or sequestered, producers may sell one carbon credit.
The carbon credits we provide come from tree sequestration projects, specifically Forests NSW. They are accredited by the Australian Government and exceed the requirements set out by the Kyoto Protocol.
How is the carbon removed from the atmosphere (tree sequestration)?
Remember biology class? Well here’s a quick refresher course…
Carbon storage in forests is part of a natural cycle, whereby some carbon is removed from the atmosphere and incorporated into the plant, and at the same time some carbon is released back to the atmosphere from the decomposition of litter and soil organic matter.
During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed into a leaf through holes (stomata) in the leaf's surface, where it is combined with water (H2O) using energy from light. The products of this chemical reaction are carbohydrates (CH2O), oxygen (O2) and water. The oxygen and water are released from the leaf through the stomata, and the carbohydrates are transported to other parts of the plant where they are used as an energy source and to build structural components of the plant (such as cells).
By purchasing carbon credits from tickgreen you are ensuring that the CO2 you produce is removed from the atmosphere and stored within a tree where it can no longer impact on the Greenhouse Effect.
Where will my money go?
tickgreen is a professional business with a mission to help combat climate change and global warming. We have developed a sophisticated web system that allows website owners to offset the carbon produced by their website in a simple and easy way. The system also allows businesses to display their commitment to the environment by placing the tickgreen badge on their website.
In partnership with our Carbon Credit supplier, Carbon Planet we make this service available to the world at a very affordable price. Carbon Credits retail for around $23 per credit (which equals one tonne of carbon). If, for example, you subscribe to our small business plan for a year, you will be purchasing one carbon credit (which equals plantation of around 5 trees) for that year. So, for the $35 cost, two thirds of your money goes directly to carbon sequestration and has an immediate impact by reducing global carbon dioxide levels. The remaining one third is used for the running (and offsetting!) of tickgreen.com, research into renewable energy sources and development of new, innovative web technologies that will help us combat the climate change issues we face.
What else can I do?
In the short term, you can offset your personal carbon footprint by using a service like Carbon Planet.
You can also take basic steps to reduce, re-use and recycle as much as possible.
Remember – the world is not that big and collective small actions can create big changes. A tiny ripple can result in a tsunami, so if we work together and start now, we can beat global warming and secure a greener, healthier future for everyone.
Which payment methods do you accept?
We accept payment by VISA and Mastercard.
Is this website secure?
Our online order process is encrypted using SSL technology. Look for the padlock icon on your web browser to verify this when you go to the signup page. We never store your credit card details on our server and all payments are securely processed by our payment gateway.
What will my tickgreen badge look like?
We currently offer five different badges for you to choose from. The examples below are low quality and have a watermark on them to discourage copying. The badge you get for your website will be high quality and will look great!
