Carbon Balance Program
PSE helps natural gas customers offset carbon emissions
What is the Carbon Balance Program?
The Carbon Balance Program allows PSE’s natural gas customers to shrink or completely eliminate the carbon footprint
associated with their natural gas usage. Customers do this by voluntarily purchasing carbon-offset blocks proportionate to
some or all of their natural gas use. While natural gas is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, there are greenhouse-gas emissions,
primarily carbon dioxide, associated with burning the gas.
Where do carbon offsets come from?
Natural gas customers voluntarily purchase blocks of carbon offsets, through PSE, from independently verified dairy-digester
projects in the Pacific Northwest. These “digesters” capture and reduce large amounts of greenhouse-gas emissions produced
by the waste from dairy herds.
How do residential customers participate?
Natural gas customers can purchase carbon-offset blocks priced at $4 each. Each month, the carbon-offset charge is added
to their PSE gas bills. You, the customer, decide how many blocks you want to buy. One $4 block is equivalent to removing 400
pounds of carbon dioxide from the environment.
How many carbon-offset blocks should a customer purchase?
The average PSE residential natural gas customer uses 68 therms of natural gas per month. Each therm of burned natural gas
produces nearly 12 pounds of carbon dioxide – or about 800 pounds per month. A customer can be carbon neutral, offsetting
100 percent of his or her natural gas use, by purchasing two 400-pound blocks per month. That offset adds $8 to a monthly
natural gas bill.
Can commercial and industrial customers participate in the program?
Yes, commercial and industrial customers can join the program with a minimum purchase of two blocks for $8. Because
natural gas usage varies greatly between individual commercial and industrial customers, PSE will work directly with individual
customers in these groups to help determine their annual gas usage and the number of blocks needed to achieve a 100
percent offset.
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