NHLPA carbon neutral challenge - updated

I blogged about the NHLPA carbon neutral challenge a couple weeks ago.  The data I had was for year 2007-2008 and 523 players signed up - including the highest profile ones like Syd the kid and Alex the Great.  Today I came across this TSN article which stated that 420 players are signed up (for 2008-2009?).  The article also answered one of the questions i posted before - how much is their carbon footprint?!

The answer is 10tonnes of Carbon credits!  Does that feel like the right number?  To put that in perspective, here are some stats:

• The average footprint for people in Canada is 20.00 tonnes
• The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes
• The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes
• The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 tonnes

Of course our footprint is not just about traveling - heating, cooling, electricity, driving, and our buying habits all have carbon emission associated with it.  But you might think that 10 tonnes is not enough for hockey players…

Let’s  put it in perspective of just traveling by air - the carbon emission per km travelled is approximately 200g-CO2-equivalent.  Assume that the Vancouver Canucks travels on average 13 trips per season (3-4 game road trip), and assume that the average trip distance traveled is around 3000km (Vancouver to Toronto is about 3500km).  Using these figures, the distances traveled for a Vancouver Canucks player is 60,000km and the CO2 emission is 14 tonnes!  not that far off the 10tonnes estimated given that the Vancouver Canucks probably travels 30% more than some of the eastern teams!  Anyway, I guess the point is that 10 tonnes is not a bad estimate, even though it might feel otherwise when we find out about our average Canadian carbon footprint!

I also found out that Andrew Ference started this initiative and I even found a blog entry by himself on GreenNexxus!  In Vancouver, Willie Mitchell is our “green” guy as he drives a Prius and apparently walk to work sometimes.  I haven’t seen him on the street but since he lives in Yaletown, i just might have a change.  Here’s an article about Willie and his green habits…

This is the quote from Andrew Ference:

“I’m very proud that we’ve offset more than 4,200 tonnes of carbon emissions this season, which is like taking 840 cars off the road for a year,” Ference said in a release. “But best of all, I’m hearing of more and more players in the dressing rooms talking about ‘going green.”‘

3 Comments

• 

  By Hilary Henegar, March 27, 2009 @ 11:03 am

  This is interesting. It’s great to see athletes getting on board with carbon offsetting.

  Hopefully, as heroes to legions of little girls and boys, they will continue to champion this effort and ultimately influence a generation of future offsetters.

  Though I do wish they’d offset the full 14,000 or so tons instead of just the 10,000. But, hey, I guess they have to start somewhere!

  Thanks for posting,
  Hilary
  GranvilleOnline.ca

• 

  By flo, April 3, 2009 @ 11:05 am

  sorry it took so long to approve your comment! it somehow got to the spam box… thanks for your comments - i’m glad to see a group of people (like NHLers) doing this type of offsetting…. it’s great =))

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1. How much does your NHL team travel? | LoLee Green — August 20, 2009 @ 1:40 pm

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