Maybe you are like a lot of people who consider the problem of controlling carbon emissions an issue for governments or big-industry to solve. Likewise, you are probably like most Americans in trying to find ways to add-back the equity lost over the recent housing crisis. We’ve found a start-up company, EarthAid.net, that believes it has developed a way to allow consumers to help reduce CO2 emissions, and add much needed equity to their homes, while getting a little cash-back in the process.

The idea may sound complicated but it is actually fairly straightforward. Users register online at EarthAid.net and allow the company access to the users online account management system via their local utility. Most utilities have adopted these systems as a means to reduce costs and enhance communications with their customers. Earthaid.net now has the user’s baseline energy use. This is one of the unique features of Earthaid.net as this baseline is unique to each user and is based on the actual historical data provided by the utility.

Next the user is given energy saving ideas which in most cases is specific to their geography. Each “tip” is accompanied by a link to the governing agency which manages that particular program. These tips will sound familiar; solar panels, tankless waterheaters, insulation ideas. It’s having both the idea and the redemption process in one spot that is especially helpful. The user is one or 2 clicks away from determining whether a given tip will work for them.

The intervening stages are as varied as each household but after the homeowner successfully invests in their chosen energy saving projects, their overall energy use will decrease. EarthAid.net tracks this and quantifies it as CO2 reduction on the user’s homepage. Here is the truly distinguishing feature that EarthAid.net has employed. Each year, EarthAid.net will aggregate the overall reduction in carbon emissions across its userbase and sell them in the Carbon Credits market. Proceeds from the sale are then issued in the form of a check back to the userbase. This ”carbon credit profit sharing” in no way impacts the existing incentives such as tax offsets or utility credits the consumer receives by investing in these energy saving projects.

EarthAid.net President Benjamin “Ben” Bixby gave us a demo of the site during a recent interview. “It is a web-based solution so the user is not required to buy any software or hardware,” explains Bixby. “There is also a social networking aspect where approved ‘friends’ can share and compare information. And because the usage data is from the utility, there is less opportunity for green exaggeration.”

Bixby notes that response has been strong since it’s soft launch in April and from all across the country. “The users range from green enthusiasts to the average homemaker trying to save money wherever possible,”  he said.

EarthAid.net’s efforts have not gone unnoticed in the environmental community. They are up for an award from the Sustainable Brands Conference, an annual event which showcases brands who have made sustainability a key feature in their ongoing business plans.

When asked why EarthAid.net is currently only targeting residential customers, Bixby says “Residential end-use of electricity, natural gas, oil, and propane consumption accounts for a large portion of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, but also offers enormous opportunity for financing distributed, low-hanging-fruit efficiency and renewable energy improvements all around the country. Putting carbon markets to work for American households will make possible emissions and pollution reduction on a colossal scale.”

Bixby does acknowledge that EarthAid.net is likely to add an offering for small business in the near future. In case you are interested, the DOE reports that Residential energy use contributes about 20% of the overall CO2 emissions in the U.S.

As a cherry on top of this great idea, EarthAid.net will store your usage information indefinitely for electrical, water and natural gas accounts. So in the event you want to show potential buyers how the energy investments have worked, it’s only a mouse-click away. “Not only do you have a home with energy efficient features, you’ve got independent third-party data to show how those features will save the prospective buyer money.”

So if you are looking for a way to do your part in reducing CO2 and wouldn’t mind saving a little green in the process, EarthAid.net may be the solution consumers have been waiting for.

First let’s rewind the clock to 2007 when Greenwood County, South Carolina was attempting to address the emissions from it’s maturing landfill. It was not unlike the more than 2,300 landfills in the U.S. in this regard. It’s basic chemistry, decomposition produces various gases and the EPA has guidelines or how these are to be dealt with. In the case of Greenwood County, there was a rapidly approaching EPA deadline that was making this all the more critical.

Now enter Fujifilm Manufacturing who was looking for a cheap source of energy to power its 500 acre complex. With more than a thousand residents employed at Fujifilm, they are clearly an important member of the Greenwood community. Through a creative partnership with Methane Power LLC , the methane from Greenwood County’s landfill is piped a few miles to Fujifilm’s campus. The new energy source accounts for 40% of the site’s electricity and saves Fujifilm nearly 50% on their energy costs annually.

James “Jim” Voss, Methane Power’s President and CEO told us that the Fujifilm project was one of several U.S. projects the company has underway. “We have a number of similar projects where we are utilizing landfill methane to produce energy or, at a minimum, to destroy the methane to produce carbon credits. We are constructing an electricity plant in NC (Durham), and have active projects elsewhere in North Carolina and New York.” The approach that Methane Power uses is unique in that it does not own or run the landfills from which the methane is generated. Methane Power buys the rights to the methane and then resells it to end-users looking for alternative energy sources.

Capturing methane energy after a landfill is capped.

Sounds ingenious doesn’t it ?!? Take a problem such as landfill emissions and convert to a revenue source for the landfill operator and a cheap source of power for end-users. And, as a cherry on top, the end-user receives carbon credits for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Fujifilm expects to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 10% or more annually.

The EPA is fully on-board with LFGTE. They have an entire program dedicated to this opportunity and a website to assist with educating the public at-large. The EPA states that there are 480+ operational LFGTE projects and estimates that there are 520 additional landfills in the U.S. that are good candidates for this type of project

So why don’t we hear more about LFGTE? Jim Voss says it’s the result of several factors. He says that because Wind/Solar Energy projects are larger in scale, they tend to attract more of the major players and media attention. Not coincidentally, Wind/Solar Energy also receives significant financial incentives from the government. “GE, Bank of America, etc invest in wind because of the magnitude of the business and the size of each project.  They don’t invest at all in LFGTE — we’re a small, tiny portion of the business.  Hence, the “industry” is people like me — I don’t have the resources to promote anything other than my projects.  I’m not feeling sorry, mind you, because it is this very nature of the business which allows small companies to exist.”

The U.S. trails the E.U. when it comes to LFGTE for many of the same reasons we trail them in other areas of renewable energy. Jim states, “The EU has much more ambitious renewable energy goals which places a greater economic premium on these projects; and second, the underlying electricity prices and delivered thermal energy prices (ie, for natural gas) are materially higher.  Consequently, the developer can undertake the project with a much more firm and robust financial return — this makes it easier to attract debt and equity for project development.  The US is well behind in this market, and more other renewable energy markets.”

So to recap…solve the problem of landfill emissions, create needed revenue for the landfill operator, create medium-sized companies like Methane Power, provide cheap power to end-users and reduce greenhouse emissions….LFGTE sounds like a shovel-ready project just waiting for the Obama administration to endorse and fund.

Details on the Fujifilm project in Greenwood, S.C.