U2 project to help geothermal plant

An environmental-responsibility project from Irish rock band U2 will bring money to the Dora-1 geothermal power plant in the Aegean province of Aydın.

The project will raise approximately $450,000 for various environmentally conscious power plants if U2 fans purchase carbon certificates offsetting the emissions they generate when traveling to the band’s shows.

The Dora-1 plant will take a share of any funds raised by the initiative.

The transactions are conducted on the voluntary carbon market, which is based on principles that allow people or institutions to buy carbon credits to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions. The system, which allows consumers to contribute to global-warming prevention efforts, also represents a new dimension of global commerce.

The Dora-1 plant, which belongs to Menderes Geothermal Elektrik Üretim, has the right to offer carbon-offset certificates valued at 30,000 tons because it generates power using clean-energy solutions. The plant has issued its certificates through Switzerland’s South Pole, a firm carrying out emissions-reduction projects.

South Pole calculated the amount of emissions the plant would have produced had it generated electricity from fossil fuels. Carbon offsets for that amount have been certified and sold to the Australian firm Climate Friendly, which then sold the certificate to Offset Options. This new electronic marketplace provides Web services aimed at increasing price and product transparency within the voluntary carbon market.

U2 initiative

Superstars U2, who buy carbon offsets to balance the greenhouse gases that they emit during their concert tours, have asked their fans to do the same through a project the band has prepared with Offset Options.

The project has calculated that U2 fans emit an average of 127 kilos of greenhouse gases while traveling to watch the band’s concerts. The firm sells carbon offsets on its Web site to balance the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the tour.

After conducting research, Offset Options identified four projects to support, including ones in China, India and Indonesia, as well as the Dora-1 plant. U2 fans will be able to balance their average carbon emissions by purchasing an offset certificate from one of the four projects for $1.89.

Offsetting carbon emissions is an important tool in creating environmental awareness and encouraging environmental institutions, according to Pınar Öztürk from South Pole’s Turkey office.

“The system can be used for a bank branch. Or it can be used to offset the emissions resulting from the airplane flight of a tourism agency,” Öztürk said. “Individuals can also buy them, as in the U2 project.”