Alterra's largest contribution to mitigate climate change is not the RE installations, but the land itself.
Currently, and for the past 28 years, approximately 70 acres of marginal land and woodland has been allowed to grow and is sequestering CO2 at the rate of 3 tons per acre per year. This produces the following trivia facts:
70 acres x 3 tons = 210 tons per year, that's 420,000 lbs per year
In equivalent kilowatt hours, using 2.2#/kwh= 191,000 kwh or 191 megawatt hour (Mwh) offset.
Now after 28 years, the numbers become staggering:
Total tons CO2 sequestered: 5,880 tons or 11,760,000 pounds
Total equivalent kwh: 5,345,454 kwh or 5,345 mwh offset
Total equivalent in gasoline: 691,764 gallons or over 20 million miles of driving at 30 mpg
Our annual usage footprint which includes 4 people, 2 homes, 2 shops, some cars, and a few animals comes to about 10 tons of CO2 per year. This represents 1/20 or 5% of the CO2 being sequestered every year by allowing the marginal lands to turn back to a climax forest. Hopefully, this can be sequestered for centuries to come. After the first 100 years the uptake will diminish but the accumulative affect will be stable.
Calculations by Bob Hoffa
Alterra Renewable Energy Experts
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